Time of others

The concept of the Asia-Pacific escapes easy definition. The notion of a discreet, homogenous continental or maritime unity is foreign to the region. Endeavours to define geographical borders or identity systems of cultural affinities have therefore been invariably based on political agendas and ideological assumptions. Attempts to enforce such systems have, at various times, created psychic fault lines that remain active today, especially when it comes to histories of conflict and repression. While such traumas remain unresolved, the geopolitical conditions of the regions are ever shifting. Engendering both opportunity and disparity at cultural and economic levels, globalization has accelerated internal contradictions within the Asia-Pacific: while the region arguably remains as unacceptable "other" to itself, it is also an expanding market and a political ally.

With respect to this juncture, Time of others focuses on the question of how difference and otherness are constructed, maintained or challenged in contemporary Asian and Pacific societies today. Otherness, here, is considered to operate not along racial, sexual, class or religious lines, where the recognition of difference would revolve around simply representing the subordinated other. Rather, it is posited as a potentiality that is immanent to all subjectivities and which might emancipate them from fixed identities, enabling an ethic of sharing—a politics not of identity, but of assemblage. Otherness, rather than a force of division, can be a source of renewal that may yet allow us to establish genuine understanding through the recognition of difference in its various dimensions.

As a curatorial collaboration between Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Singapore Art Museum and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Time of others brings together the works and ideas of artists from the Asia-Pacific to create a shared platform, in which differences are negotiated as tools for reflection. As the first in the touring exhibition, the exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo presents 24 artworks by 18 artists, including the collections of participating museums, artist loans and commissions. The exhibition will travel to Osaka, Singapore and Brisbane between 2015 and 2016.

Artists:
Kiri Dalena, Graham Fletcher, Ho Tzu Nyen, Saleh Husein, Jonathan Jones, On Kawara, An-My Lê, Lim Minouk, Basir Mahmood, mamoru, Miyagi Futoshi, Pratchaya Phinthong, Bruce Quek, Shitamichi Motoyuki, Natee Utarit, Vandy Rattana, Võ An Khánh, Danh Vo

Curated by:
Che Kyongfa (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
Hashimoto Azusa (The National Museum of Art, Osaka)
Michelle Ho (Singapore Art Museum)
Reuben Keehan (Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art)

Organized by:
Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
The Japan Foundation Asia Center
The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Singapore Art Museum Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art