Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

and the local by working with international curators and artists in a process of re-examining the meaning of Oriental concepts of the Universe. Another part of this new network is a much less visible but more fascinating one consisting of artist-initiated spaces situated in between real life and art activities . They are often small, temporal and flexible in scale, structure and function, converted from buildings with functions other than artistic and continue to be functioning beyond art. They are the most stimulating and continuous venues of meetings, expressions and exchanges between the art world and other d iscipl ines. Public participation is also strongly encouraged . In other words, they offer the most dynamic spaces for the most dynamic and experimental talents . From New York to Tokyo, from London to Bangkok, from Taipei to Johannesburg, one can visit tens of them . In a certain way, they should not only be seen as a part of the 'mainstream' institutions but also the most interesting part of it. In the coming year, it's clear that this new network of 'glocal' creation will become more and more significant and a truly global force. It's going to be the most innovative and exciting laboratory and battlefield of creation . Mutation of art language The consciousness of networking as a sign of the times, or the intellectual base of the current cultural change, provides a basic orientation for art language which is, as pointed out above, going through remarkable mutations towards multi-oriental ity, openness, fluidity and hybrid ity. Art creation, to an unseen extent, is struggling to go beyond conventional space and time frame such as museum and other art institutions . It is increasingly evading contexts of real life such as urban space, transcend ing the borders between public and private, art and non-art, fiction and reality, etc. Obviously, global cities, especially non-western 'glocal' cities which are undergoing intense negotiation with global isation, are the most relevant contexts for such mutations. One should notice that, as the Japanese architect ltsuko Hasegawa articulates, today cities are evolving towards a kind of 'process city' that exists and develops in permanent changes of its scale, structure and function . This constant evolving process, by opening and modifying new spaces, offers infinite possibilities for artists to intervene into the urban spaces with imaginative and bravely experimental projects and improvisational actions. In almost every city connected with the global network one can appreciate by observing these kind of actions . In the drastically expanding cities of the Asia Pacific area, these types of actions are particularly frequent, impressive and meaningfu l . Because of the lack of stable infrastructure for art experiments, the artists automatically and systematically use the city space itself to express themselves . They launch actions to interrupt the 'normal' rhythm of urban life like urban guerrillas. They introduce various and occasionally surprising gestures, either resorting to conceptual statements, or installation , or performance, even by means of mass media and cyberspace, etc., to turn the city life into events of creation or moments of reflection, critique and envisioning. Art is hence becoming a process of inventive interventions into the urban life of the process city. More often than not, they are particularly interested in collaboration with architects, urbanists and computer special ists in order to bring art beyond its own l imited compound. It is also very interesting to note that contemporary art creation in the Asia Pacific region, l ike other non-western regions, has a long h istory of confrontation and exchanges with the West. Its current negotiation with and creative rewriting of modernity, modern isation and global isation are results of this h istory. This history has been somehow determined by the interactive mode of negotiation between challenge and response to the challenge: the western invasion and colon isation , as a first step of global modernisation, was a serious challenge to the survival of Asian nations. De-colonisation and modernisation then came as a new challenge to the development of these nations. Today how to overcome the financial crises under the pressure of globalisation is a new challenge . . . all these have left profound marks in the history of Asian urban architectural and artistic creation . Their expressions, whether in the time of economic boom or crisis, social reconstruction or turmoil, are always original, innovative and efficient answers to d ifferent challenges. The cityscapes of metropoles like Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta are fruits of th is kind of interaction while the cities themselves are turned into laboratories for new ideas and expressions . Walking on the streets of those cities, one can be 1 05