Ocula Report Havana Biennial 2019: Constructing the Possible 17 Apr 2019 : Federica Bueti for Ocula I first visited Havana in November 2016, a few days after Fidel Castro died, and just under a year before Hurricane Irma hit Cuba in September 2017. Since then, much has changed, including the hand-painted signs that punctuate the journey from the airport to the city centre, which today do not celebrate the revolution so much as the 'Unidad y...
Ocula Conversation Andrew Stahl and Guo Xiaohui The exhibition Beyond Boundaries at Somerset House in London (12 March–2 April 2019) marked the historic contributions of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (CAFA) and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, on the occasion of their 100th and 150th anniversaries, respectively. Spread across several rooms of Somerset House's...
Ocula Report The National 2019: New Australian Art 13 Apr 2019 : Elyse Goldfinch for Ocula The National 2019: New Australian Art features work by 70 contemporary Australia-based artists split across three venues: the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Carriageworks, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) (29 March–21 July 2019), as curated by Isobel Parker Philip, curator of photographs at AGNSW; Daniel Mudie Cunningham,...
Ocula Report The Lowdown: shows to see during Hong Kong Art Week 23 March 2018 Once again, the Hong Kong art machine is gearing up for Art Basel in Hong Kong (29–31 March 2018), now in its sixth edition. With surrounding art fairs like Art Central (27 March–1 April) opening alongside the main event, and an ever-expanding list of exhibitions and happenings taking place, here is a selection of things to see during the...
Ocula Conversation Yoshitomo Nara Artist, Japan In Hong Kong, during April, to receive one of three prestigious Asia Arts Game Changer awards from the Asia Society, Yoshitomo Nara spoke to Ocula about his work, and how he finds the solitude he needs to create, by living in the small and distant city of Aomori, in northern Japan.Born in 1959, Nara studied at the Aichi Prefectural...
Ocula Conversation Shahzia Sikander Artist, Pakistan and New York From being the first in a pioneering group of artists who breathed new life into the ossified tradition of Mughal-era miniature painting, Shahzia Sikander has left a trail in gouache across genres and cultures, gathering an astonishing number of accolades along the way. Still smiling from what looked to be an exhilarating exhibit of her...
Ocula Report If We Build Them, Will You Come? 6 Feb 2015 : Sophia McKinnon for Ocula In 2014, I spent twenty days traveling across central and southern China exploring a cross section of roughly twenty of China’s thousands of new museums. This anomolous ‘museum boom’ has spawned much speculation over the driving factors and futures of this new generation of institutions. It has also catalysed discussion on how...
Ocula Conversation Xu Bing Artist, China Xu Bing is a Chinese-born artist, who was resident in the United States for over ten years, but now lives in Beijing, where he serves as the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He is most well known for printmaking and installation pieces, as well as the use of text to investigate how language and its presentation impacts our...
Ocula Conversation S. Alice Mong Executive Director, Asia Society, Hong Kong S. Alice Mong became the Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center in 2012. Prior to joining the Asia Society, Ms Mong worked for almost a decade in New York, where as Director of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) she was responsible for transforming MOCA from a New York Chinatown institution to a leading national museum. Ms Mong...
