Anida Yoeu Ali: Coconut Road (2012). Fra Buddhist Bug serien. Digitalt c-print. Courtesy kunstneren
Kunsthall Trondheim is proud to present the travelling exhibition A beast, a god, and a line. With its central anchor in an area commonly referred to as Asia-Pacific, the works on view bridge geographies and timeframes. Ancient and contemporary travel routes, personal biographies, political and environmental violence, and a revisiting of historiographies are but a few of the threads transcending the show. Textiles are a recurring theme and form that weave these diverse layers of history and cultural perspectives together. Many artists and practices included in the exhibition have not yet been exhibited as prominently in Northern Europe. Nonetheless, the show insists on going beyond the limitations of geopolitical regions by pointing to a fragmented and decentred art world and connections that transgress national boundaries.
The exhibition works from today’s loss of confidence in the ideals and certainties of liberal democracy that have shaped globalisation in the previous decades. Across Asia-Pacific, as well as in Europe and most of the world, alternatives and challenges to Western modernity are currently proposed or unfolding. The artists in the exhibition investigate traces of colonial domination, as well as the different ramifications of that hegemony today, when cultural and environmental genocides continue to unravel landscapes, communities, and worlds, particularly among the most marginalised indigenous groups. Many of the artists in A beast, a god, and a line are among the most powerful voices who are today reinventing the significance of matter, objects, and forms, their genealogies and deep significance.
Curated by Cosmin Costinas, director of Para Site, Hong Kong
The exhibition is organised by Para Site, Hong Kong; Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka; and the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw. It was on view at these institutions as well as at The Secretariat (Pyinsa Rasa/TS1), Yangon, throughout 2018. The exhibition will travel to MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai in 2020.
The iteration in Trondheim is organised by Kunsthall Trondheim and Para Site, Hong Kong.