Asia Triennial Manchester 08

Programme 5 April - 1 June 2008 Venues: Castlefield Gallery, Chinese Arts Centre, Cornerhouse, The International 3, Manchester Art Gallery

Castlefield Gallery

Channel_A (Taiwan) p-10 (Singapore) Saturday 5 April - Sunday 1 June To what extent does location, nationality and geography play a role in the production, direction and dissemination of contemporary art? For ATM08, Castlefield Gallery has invited two artist groups from the islands of Taiwan and Singapore to present new site-specific work in the island of Great Britain. Channel_A (Hongjohn Lin and Ella Raidel) from Taiwan and p-10 (represented by Woon Tien Wei, Jennifer Teo working with collaborators Jeremy Chu and Kai Lam) from Singapore have both developed work that engages with the cultural, political and social climates they operate in, through different avenues of enquiry. Channel_A has developed work responding to the 17th Century born George Psalmanaazaar, a bogus Taiwanese who was welcomed into the high society of London. In his book An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, he depicts Formosa (Taiwan) as a fanciful wonderland generating elaborate myths around every facet of life, from the costumes worn, to the language spoken and religious traditions to their diet. Based on his life and the book by Psalmanaazaar, Channel_A has reinvented Psalmanaazaar’s identity in the world of real-estate to explore the notion of property and fantasy in present day Manchester and Taiwan in an attempt to continue one of Psalmanaazaar’s unfulfilled tasks. p-10 has developed a Symposium of the Local around the idea of ‘localness’ within a framework of interpersonal dialogue. Through a series of investigative meetings they aim to unpack the loaded term of ‘the local’ and the implicit meanings it holds within the context of the international art Triennial / Biennial. The symposium will bring together British based artists and groups who produce work in response to their local context and explore different notions of their ‘localities’ thus offering a comparative study of creative strategies employed by these artists and their engagement with their local communities. In addition to the new work by Channel_A and p-10, Castlefield Gallery will host the teahouse hub in the Upper Gallery in which visitors will be able to drink tea brought to Manchester by the artists showing at the various ATM08 venues across Manchester thereby representing the participating countries of Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. There will also be a travelling teahouse located throughout Greater Manchester, a network of temporary sites that will host a range of talks, panel discussions, performances, workshops and events commonly linked under the teahouse idea.

Chinese Arts Centre

Contemporaneous - Ink Animation by Chen Shaoxiong & Qiu Anxiong (Mainland China) Saturday 5 April - Sunday 15 June Chinese Arts Centre is the international agency for the development and promotion of contemporary Chinese artists. Guangzhou based artist Chen Shaoxiong has lived through the period of intense change in Southern China that has seen the region go from communist isolation to an economic capital. People, cities and time are themes that run through his work, through which he hopes to illuminate the relationship between the individual and society. Shanghai based artist Qiu Anxiong is interested in traditional Chinese myths. Blending portraits from daily urban life with Chinese legends, Qiu’s animations use the aesthetics of traditional ink painting to tell the story of a well-known myth whilst exploring the social issues surrounding the particular mythical phenomenon. For Contemporaneous, Qiu will be showing new animation responding to the world’s potential energy crisis.

Mao Yan Yang Breathe Artist in Residency Saturday 1 March - Wednesday 30 April Open Studio Friday 25 - Wednesday 30 April Mao Yan Yang is a painter from Chongqing, China. His paintings incorporate stock images from Time Magazine to present a different slant on twentieth century history and its relation to contemporary China. By placing historical figures behind a wall of microphones, Mao suggests how the role of the media informs our political history, and questions how much of what we believe is the actual truth. During his residency Mao Yan Yang will continue his interrogation of the media´s depiction of events focusing on the Triennial´s theme of protest.

Kongkee (Hong Kong) Breathe Artist in Residency Thursday 1 May - Sunday 29 June Open Studio Thursday 26 - Sunday 29 June Hong Kong comic artist Kongkee explores his interest in social interactions and sense of place through his striking comic style drawings and animations. For his residency at Chinese Arts Centre as part of ATM08 and Tatton Park Biennial 2008, Kongkee will work with Manchester s elderly Chinese community inviting them to share their perceptions of the city. Using his findings, Kongkee will create new works documenting his journey through the real and imagined Manchester.

Cornerhouse

What do you want? Shaina Anand, Shilpa Gupta, Jasmeen Patheja, Tejal Shah, Surekha Saturday 5 April – Sunday 1 June

Cornerhouse presents work from five female artists living in India and working amongst a new politically aware generation of artists. What do you want? challenges popular cultural opinion, contemporary political issues and controversial social situations, with the artists using photography, performance, objects, video and new media to analyse problems faced by Indian women. For this exhibition each artist will create an environment where current social issues and problems can be experienced and considered from the artists’/subject’s point of view. Looking at particular issues or situations that face young Indian women, they also recognise that these same issues affect generations of young people around the world, especially those living within traditional family structures. Curated by Kathy Rae Huffman, Cornerhouse Visual Arts Director

The International 3

Han Bing (Mainland China) Saturday 5 April – Saturday 31 May

The International 3’s project features Chinese artist Han Bing whose work uses photography, video and performative social interventions to question everyday living and the impact of human progress. Han Bing’s art manifests a kind of amor mundi investing ordinary objects with a subtle sense of the sacred.

For ATM08 he will involve up to 100 local people in an outdoor performance. This European Premiere is a continuation of his international “Cabbage Walk” series. Bing and each participant will take a cabbage for a walk on a lead around Manchester City Centre.

The Manchester “Cabbage Walk” will take place on Saturday 12 April. Visit the Triennial and The International 3 websites for further information.

An exhibition of Han Bing’s video works of previous cabbage walks will also be shown at The International 3.

Manchester Art Gallery

Choe U-ram (Korea) Urbanus Female and Urbanus Male Saturday 5 April - Sunday 21 September Choe U-ram uses the latest precision engineering technologies to create robotic sculptures inspired by plant and sea life. In a UK first for the artist, two stunning ‘machine-organisms’, Urbanus Female and Urbanus Male, will take up residence in Manchester Art Gallery’s atrium throughout the spring and summer.

Gwon Osang (Korea) Saturday 5 April - Sunday 21 September Gwon Osang uses hundreds of photographs to build up the exterior surface of each beautifully crafted sculpture. His extraordinary life-size human figures have both photo-realist and surreal qualities. For ATM08 Gwon will present Control together with a new commission – a sculpture of Manchester musician Graham Massey, which is the result of his residency in the city last year. Gwon Osang will also present his first major UK solo exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery from 21 June to 21 September.

Asia Triennial Manchester 08

Künstler: Shaina Anand, Chen Shaoxiong, Shilpa Gupta, O-Sang Gwon, Han Bing, Kongkee , Mao Yanyang, Jasmeen Patheja, Qiu , Tejal Shah, Surekha , U-Ram Choe, Channel A  (Hongjohn Lin / Ella Raidel), Gwon Osang, Choe U-Ram, Han Bing ...