The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts and Mori Art Museum are proud to collaboratively present the SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, focusing on the most striking contemporary art in Southeast Asia. Since the 1980s, the development of contemporary art in respective countries has reflected the changes and complexities of ethnical, political, economics, cultural, and historical issues of the region.
 
The “sunshower” in the title refers to a meteorological phenomenon often seen in Southeast Asia, while also serving as a poetic metaphor for its complex, tortuous history and the vicissitudes of the region. The post-WWII decolonization throughout the world led the countries in the region to democratization and internationalization. They have undergone periods of colonization, of autocratic or military dictatorship, of economic growth and collapses. Despite the tumultuous past, the rapid economic and urban development in more recent years came truly drastic changes.
 
After a near-three-year-long field research conducted in Southeast Asian region, the team selected artworks by 47 artists from 10 ASEAN member countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. Combined with artworks from collections of Mori Art Museum and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, the exhibition seeks to explore diverse practices of contemporary art since 1980s from 6 different perspectives: Passion and Revolution, Fluid Histories and Memories, Diverse Identities, Between Development and Inheritance, Medium as Meditation, and Archiving. These themes capture the multifaceted dynamics of Southeast Asian contemporary art that cross waves of time.
 
SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, the most comprehensive Southeast Asian contemporary art exhibition to date, is presented for the first time in Taiwan. The exhibition showcases the inconceivable dynamism of Southeast Asia through the medium of contemporary art at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.
 
 
*Original Exhibition was organized by Mori Art Museum, The National Arts Center, Tokyo and the Japan Foundation Asia Center, and curated by 14 curators from Mori Art Museum, The National Arts Center, Tokyo and independent curators from Southeast Asia.
 
 
Supporters
Ministry of Culture
Kaohsiung City Government
Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung City Government
 
Organizers
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
Mori Art Museum
 
Major Sponsor
Taishin Bank
 
Sponsors
Wearnes Motors (Taiwan) Limited
Sun Young International Architecture Group
RSI Reliable Source Industrial
Sunchain Art Association
Museum Friends Association
 
Media Sponsors
Qing Jing Lin Real Estate Co., LTD.
Omni Media
 
Collaboration Partners
MoNTUE (Museum of National Taipei University of Education)
Open-Contemporary Art Center
TheCube Project Space
TKG+
Mind Set Art Center
Project Fulfill Art Space
Chi Wen Gallery
Absolute Arts Group
 
Media Partners
ARTCO Monthly
Art Emperor
Artist Magazine
 
Equipment Support
Samsung Taiwan
 
Appointed Hotel
Silks Club
 
Special Thanks to
JUT Group
Spring Foundation
Taiwan High Speed Rail
ALIEN Art Centre
 
 
 
Curatorial Team
[ The National Art Center, Tokyo ]
Yoneda Naoki (Curator) / Kida Sayuri (Associate Curator) / Mukasa Yuiko (Assistant Curator) / Minami Yusuke (Director, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art / Former Deputy Director, The National Art Center, Tokyo)
 
[ Mori Art Museum ]
Kataoka Mami (Chief Curator) / Tokuyama Hirokazu (Associate Curator) / Kumakura Haruko (Assistant Curator) / Araki Natsumi (Curator) / Kondo Kenichi (Curator) / Tsubaki Reiko (Curator)
 
[ Independent Curators from Southeast Asia ]
Merv Espina (Artist / Curator, The Philippines) / Vera Mey (Curator, Singapore) / Ong Jo-Lene (Curator, Malaysia) / Grace Samboh (Curator, Indonesia)
 
[ Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts ]
Lee Yulin (Director)/ FangLing Tseng (Director of Exhibition Department) / Alice Ko Nien-pu (Associate Curator) / Fang Yen Hsiang (Associate Curator)