1993 APT1 Conference : Identity, tradition and change

I discourse: gender, race, tribe , c lass , c a s te , religion, po litica l a ffilia tion . Many people have been to or seen the ca ta logues of exh ib itions where a r t seems to have been se lec ted because it corresponds to an o t h e r - cu ltu ra lly fe lt need to r e p r e s e n t wha t a p a r t i c u l a r cu ltu re does not hab itu a lly priv ilege in its own s e l f - r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s . There is some p a r ticu la r ly effec tive work of th is kind in Triennale exh ib its by Dede Eri Supria and Montien Boonma. But th e se works imply a comment a l e a s t on the gaps in the discourse of the a r t cu ltu re from which they come: shou ldn 't they always be exh ib ited alongside t h a t towards which they are opposed, a t le a s t if only from an a r t - t h e o r e t i c a l pos ition? e. N on - a r t oppositions which s t r u c t u r e art: c ity and coun try Modern Asian a r t is fr equen tly chosen from among a r t i s t s working in c ities for u rban audiences. The r e a l i ty of many of the coun tries in our region is of large c itie s liv ing off and away from large ru r a l areas. But whilst modern a r t d iscourses may no t be found in the coun trys ide , some s itu a tion s which involve p a r t i a l analogues to t h a t from which modern a r t arose, p a r ticu la r ly the d e - s a c r a l z i a t i o n of a r t by its rep roduc tive ava ilab ility may be found in the coun trys ide . Para lle l to d e - s a c r a l i z a t io n of a r t is a r e - s a c r a l i z a t i o n of th e reproduced image by its assoc ia tion with religious p raye rs or r ep lica t ed slogans, theological be liefs or politica l ideology7, worship ceremonies or po litica l movement r i t u a l s a t the level of small p e a s a n t groups in bo th c itie s and coun tryside. I th ink of the widespread exposure of p e a s a n t s to religous imagery produced by modern reprographic means in India or of p ropaganda pos ter s d isp layed in large boards, of of group propaganda w riting and drawing a c tiv itie s in China. This important aspec t of contemporary a r t discourse in many Asian coun tries ra re ly finds i t s e l f in to in t e rn a t io n a l exh ib itions un less under some