Pan-Austro-Nesian Navigation Guide

2022/05/05 Views：1566

Once upon a time, humans sailed across the surging ocean, traveling, along the ocean currents, to far-away lands. From the migration of the Austronesians to the adventures in the Age of Exploration, these voyages generated countless cultural encounters and collisions, which have contributed to making the world we know today. Now, a new wave is rising again; notably, the COVID-19 pandemic has been raging from 2020 to 2021. While the tide of globalization used to make our communications more frequent, nowadays, we are no longer a network in which everyone is free to contact one another; instead, we have done everything within our powers to become an island, isolated from one another.

In the meantime, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA) is ready to present “Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival”: the deepest and most contrasting exhibition in the age of the pandemic. The meaning of each word in “Pan-Austro-Nesian” is:

Pan ─ expansive, all-inclusive visions that transcend boundaries.
Austro ─ plural, non-center-constrained perspectives.
Nesian ─ multilateral oceanic connections.

Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival creates a common ground where issues are shared across blood ties, languages, ethnic groups, and national boundaries. Even though the outbreak makes many forms of physical interactions impossible for the exhibition, perhaps in this scenario of “closure” and “blockage”, we will be more likely to reflect on the meanings of "connection" and "openness".

In a time of travel restrictions, we hope reading this publication will be a new journey for you. The reader is the boat sailing across the ocean, and the artists’ works are the islands that emerge in the ocean, each has its individual experience and stories while still being connected to the others.

Furthermore, the present publication is the first issue of Art Accrediting since our transition from bimonthly to biannual publication, as well as being an exhibition catalogue in the form of an essay collection. In the first part of the issue, KMFA director Yulin Lee introduces the curatorial concept as the head curator of this exhibition. Curatorial Consultant Zara Stanhope compares the planning of “Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival” to other biennales and art festivals whereas another Curatorial Consultant Reuben Friend focuses on exploring the concepts of the ocean and islands. The second part of the issue details information on all of the artists and artworks in the art festival for the reader’s reference. Finally, the third part contains the curatorial team’s insights into the artists and their creative concepts produced in the process of curating the exhibition.

We warmly invite you to join the exploration of “Pan-Austro-Nesian Arts Festival” with us.

Executive Editor,
Hsieh Yu-Ting (Tammy)