Aasia flew to Kiasma

During the first decade of its operation, Kiasma has also profiled itself as a presenter of contemporary Asian art. Asia is always topical. The continuously-developing field of contemporary art of the continent and the output of hundreds of talented artists cannot be comprehensively covered in just a few exhibitions. Drawn in the Clouds – Asian contemporary art at Kiasma brings fresh greetings from 12 contemporary artists from Japan, China and Korea.

With increasing globalisation, Asian countries also affect everyday life in Finland. The rapidly-developing economic and cultural area is no longer as distant temporally or mentally as it used to be. The Asian metropolises have gained significance as stages for global contemporary art. More and more exhibitions of Asian contemporary art are organised both in Europe and the United States. Major art events are organised in China, Korea and Japan, and many Western galleries are opening new offices, particularly in Beijing. The direction of the art trend ebb and flow is turning and balancing. The West no longer has the monopoly on contemporary art.

The Drawn in the Clouds exhibition comprises airy works that symbolically reach from the ground towards the clouds. The sky, with all its metaphors and symbols, has played a central role in many Asian religions and cultural traditions. Now, taking off from the ground in the artists’ works takes place in this moment as if in a dream coming true, as gliding between the earth and sky, detached from everyday reality, breaking the laws of scale and gravity. Personal memories and experiences of the artists play a key role in stories where the imagined is often seen as reality. The works share the same refined technical realisation and wealth of visual narrative and details. Many of the works comment on the collision between the rapidly progressing social change and traditional cultures.

Drawn in the Clouds – Asian contemporary art will be on display at Kiasma until 1 February 2009. The exhibition is curated by the Museum Director Berndt Arell, Chief Curator Arja Miller and Curator Jari-Pekka Vanhala. The exhibition is sponsored by Finnair, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary.

REMEMBRANCE OF HOME

The Korean Do Ho Suh opens the Drawn in the Clouds exhibition with his work displayed in the lobby. The work, float-ing in air and made of green transparent cloth, is a fragment of the wall of the artist’s home. It represents memory and longing for the past, a permanent haven in the identity of incessantly travelling artist. A private place, the artist’s home, becomes part of a public space and the architecture of the exhibition space. Do Ho Suh has made several actual-size textile versions of his apartments in Korea and the United States. The works made out of transparent cloth, soft and thin, embedded with fine details, seem ghostly dream images about to be materialised.

SHOUTING IN SPACE

In his installations, Tsang Kin-wah uses words and short sentimental sentences, which form ornamental figures. The traditionally beautiful, harmless and restrained decoration seen from afar turns out, at closer inspection, to be a critical outpouring by the artist. The decisive experience in the formation of Tsang’s chosen expression took place in the early-2000s when he was studying in London. What, at first, at felt like a nice and tolerant major city revealed its intolerant and racist face. At Kiasma, Tsang is going to realise his new instal-lation in the staircase of the southern end of the building. The work leads the audience from the lobby to upper floors and visually links together works of the Drawn in the Clouds exhibition displayed in different places.

PAPER SHADOWS

The Japanese Kako Ueda makes her works by cutting monochrome black or red paper. Skilfully realised small animal, human and floral subjects create a larger picture with symbolism linked with the cycle of nature. From everyday materials, Ueda carves out with her knife delicate lace-like surfaces. With their shadows and out-reaching parts they appear like reliefs. Paper-cutting is an ancient technique requiring skill and patience, which has been used, for example, for making models for the ornamentation of kimonos. Ueda brings the technique, which has often been identified with hobbies and handicrafts, up-to-date and makes it art.

HOME AS A RUNWAY

The location of almost all of Hiraki Sawa’s video works is his small flat in London. However, the subject matter of the works is far from humble because they deal with international air traffic. In his early video Dwelling (2002), he staged, with a relatively simple animation technique, dozens of aircraft circling around the air space of his flat. The planes take off and land in harmony without a threat of an accident. Sawa has created a believable imaginary micro-world, which seems like a small boy’s dream, or an illusion. Even though Sawa’s works are created in his cramped flat, walls do not stop the flight of his imagination.

STAGED REALITY

Li Wei’s background and identity are in performance art and occasionally dangerous performances. In his photographs, Li Wei challenges gravity: in them people are floating in air, falling to the ground or travelling to great heights. The energetic and daredevil-like nature of the works has been achieved with wires and scaffolding but without actual trick photography. With his consciously theatrical photos, Li Wei refers to the immensely fast pace of change and instability in China. In his photos, he presents with a staged and consciously-constructed reality, similar to contemporary society, that which we believe in even though we know it is not true.