Artistic practices in contemporary Asia

Abstract

Welcome to Art & the Public Sphere Volume 7, Issue 1, one of the few art journals that focuses on the complex web of regional and international challenges that confront local cultural, religious and political forms of artistic practices in the public sphere. Fundamentally, the journal frames its niche area of examining the critical relationship towards the traditional and conventional debates about art, especially in the context of it being part of or engaged with the public/public sphere. In the past decades, the global geopolitical economy has shifted its focus from Europe to United States, and then in the new millennium, to Asia. Under the geographical premise of Asia, this issue focuses on the selection of papers that address the artistic practice that linked art to the broader shifts of political, social and public spheres. The contemporary artistic practices in Asia have long evolved and have grown exponentially since the 1990s, with the increasing regional biennials and triennials, the establishment of new contemporary art museums and the success of various Asian artists. This encouraged the establishment of various alternative artistic practices that reflected the everevolving and mutative artistic practices in contemporary Asia. Globalization, mobility and the threats and opportunities that new technologies have expanded are also reflected in such artistic practices. Globalization enables the potentially breaking down of boundaries and revolutionizes the way artists think and see. Technologies, low-cost carriers, international