Staff Picks

Over the past twenty years, no other part of the world has undergone as many changes as the Asian and Islamic regions. Since 1997, the London based Asian Art Newspaper has been covering on a monthly basis the world of Asian and Islamic art. Each issue has been featuring an interview with a contemporary artist, providing the reader with the opportunity to discover an artist through his own words and not through the lens of a curator, an art historian or a dealer. The featured illustrations allow the reader to have a clear understanding of what the artist's practice and vision are about whether dealing with painting, sculpture, installation, photography, performance, video, film or music. The book compiles some of these interviews, covering the Asian and Islamic contemporary art scene and providing a relevant snapshot of this area's developments."--Provided by publisher.

Offers a fascinating and expansive examination of Arab film culture in wider historical and geopolitical contexts. Centered on the movement of moving pictures, it explores the considerable impacts of travel and mobility on the nature of Arab cinema – from migration and expulsion, to pilgrimage and tourism. Starting with the inventive traditions of Arabic travelogues, the text traces the manifold pathways that converge in the cinemas of Syria, Palestine and Dubai. Syrian production bursts out of long-held practices of studying abroad, this time in the film schools of the Eastern Bloc. Palestinian movies react to international assumptions about the Holy Land, informed by pilgrimage accounts – ironizing the supposed freedoms of the road movie. Dubai launches its fledgling industry off the back of centuries' worth of trade route management, logistics expertise and labor migration. Contributing to the burgeoning field of transnational cinema studies, this compelling, buoyant and urgent text is essential reading for students of Film, Media Studies, Communication Studies, Arabic, Middle Eastern Studies and Tourism.

Embracing over a thousand years of history and an area stretching from the Atlantic to the borders of India and China, this is an unrivalled synthesis of the arts of Islamic civilization. From the death of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day, Robert Hillenbrand traces the evolution of an extraordinary range of art forms, including architecture, calligraphy, book illumination, painting, ceramics, glassware, textiles and metalwork. New to this edition is a chapter ranging from c. 1700 to c. 1900, a period very often neglected in books on this subject. Hillenbrand explores how recent centuries, far from being a dark age, have seen incredible artistic ferment and creativity across the Islamic world. Full-colour illustrations of masterpieces of Islamic art and architecture - from Moorish Spain to contemporary Iran - show the far-reaching stylistic developments as well as the recurrent preoccupations that have shaped the arts of Islam since the seventh century.--publisher's description

"Arab graphic design emerged in the early twentieth century out of a need to influence, and give expression to, the far-reaching economic, social, and political changes that were taking place in the Arab world at the time. But graphic design as a formally recognized genre of visual art only came into its own in the region in the twenty-first century and, to date, there has been no published study on the subject to speak of. A History of Arab Graphic Design traces the people and events that were integral to the shaping of a field of graphic design in the Arab world. Examining the work of over eighty key designers from Morocco to Iraq, and covering the period from pre-1900 to the end of the twentieth century, Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar chart the development of design in the region, beginning with Islamic art and Arabic calligraphy, and their impact on Arab visual culture, through to the digital revolution and the arrival of the Internet. They look at how cinema, economic prosperity, and political and cultural events gave birth to and shaped the founders of Arab graphic design. Highlighting the work of key designers and stunningly illustrated with 360 colour images, A History of Arab Graphic Design is an invaluable resource tool for graphic designers, one which, it is hoped, will place Arab visual culture and design on the map of a thriving international design discourse"--Provided by publisher.

This timely volume is the first to cover the post-90s wave of New York-based, Asian-American art collectives including Basement Workshop, Godzilla: Asian American Art Network, Godzookie and the Barnstormers. Envisioning Diaspora puts these groups into an art-historical context, focusing on the impact that the 1960s Asian-American art movement has had in the U.S. and internationally through interviews and never-before-published archival images. Curator, filmmaker and arts writer Alexandra Chang traces the term "Asian American," which began as an outgrowth of the late-1960s civil rights movement and has become integrated into the contemporary mainstream multicultural discourse. She examines the formation of artist collectives, delving into the identity politics, aesthetics and diaspora of Asian-American art. Dynamically designed by Jonathan Lo, the book includes three custom bookmarks and a cover that flips out to reveal a full-color image of an artwork by Barnstormer Kenji Hirata, photographed by the artist GION.--publisher's description

"This book examines modernity, popular culture and trauma in contemporary art in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Việt Nam and Cambodia-two countries linked regionally and historically in terms of United States imperialism"--publisher's description

For the Japanese, the concept of design is not limited to functionality or materiality it is deeply connected with ancient culture and rituals. In this sense, a chair is much more than what you sit on, a cup more than what you drink from: these objects are to be reflected upon, to be touched and cherished. As mass manufacture became widespread in the post-war period, fascinating cross-cultural exchanges began to take place between Japan and the West. And in recent years, a new generation of designers has taken Japanese creativity into entirely new territory, reconceptualizing the very meaning of design. Showcasing over 80 designers, hundreds of objects, and contributions from both Japanese and Western designers inspired by Japan, this volume will remain the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.

"This collection of seventy-three letters written in 2020 captures an unprecedented moment in politics and society through the experiences of Asian American artists, curators, educators, art historians, editors, writers, and designers." -- back cover.

"Essays and photographs that document the anti-Asian riots of 1907 in the context of contemporary anti-Asian sentiment. White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver explores the conditions leading up to and the impact of a demonstration and parade in Vancouver, Canada, organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League and the ensuing mob attack on the city's Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities. Emblematic of a systemically racist era, White Riot reveals the social and political environment of the time, when racialized communities were targeted through legislated as well as physical acts of exclusion and violence. Based on 360 Riot Walk, a 360-degree video walking tour by artist and author Henry Tsang, White Riot offers an intersectional approach to this pivotal moment in the history of racialized communities and a cultural and social context for understanding for the current wave of anti-Asian sentiment. It features photographs of the riots colourized by Tsang as well as those of contemporary Vancouver where the riots took place. Essays by Tsang and others speak to the colonial times that preceded and followed the 1907 riots, as well as issues that Chinese and Japanese communities (and other racialized communities) in North America are facing today. White Riot poses the question: in the current ethos of anti-racism and decolonization, what does it take to reconcile our collective histories within the legacy of white supremacy? Includes essays by the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, Paul Englesberg, Melody Ma, Angela May and Nicole Yakashiro, Jeffery R. Masuda, Aaron Franks, Audrey Kobayashi and Trevor Wideman, and Andy Yan, with an introduction by Patricia E. Roy."-- Provided by publisher.

"Our project tells the story of Vancouver’s early Chinatown as chronicled through the lens of its first Chinese photographer: Yucho Chow. His work is a visual record of the many souls who passed through this historic neighbourhood: a place that welcomed and served everyone, no matter their skin colour or religion or ethnic background.
It took over eight years to gather just 200 of his photos. They were found one photo at a time – one family at a time. Most of the images had been hidden away for decades in family albums and boxes. Some were located in the files of private collectors. And a number of photos were discovered in institutional archives, although many of the images were not identified as having been created by Yucho Chow. His studio seal had long vanished from the photo. A few were found on EBay. "

"In the 1990s and 2000s, contemporary art in India changed radically in form, as an art world once dominated by painting began to support installation, new media, and performance. State-run institutions decreased the support they had given a modernist avant-garde, and art was cultivated instead by a booming market as well as new nonprofit institutions that combined strong local roots and transnational connections. The result was an unprecedented efflorescence of contemporary art in India. Among the first studies of contemporary South Asian art, Infrastructure and Form engages deeply with sixteen of India's leading contemporary artists and art collectives to examine what made this development possible. Karin Zitzewitz articulates the connections between formal trajectories of medium and material, curatorial frames and networks of circulation, and the changing conditions of everyday life after economic liberalization. By untangling the complex interactions of infrastructure and form, the book offers a discussion of the barriers and conduits that continue to shape global contemporary art and its relationship to capital more broadly"--publisher's description

"Whose Chinatown? Examining Chinatown Gazes in Art, Archives, and Collections, brings together an art history of Chinatowns and their communities by historical and contemporary Canadian artists such Emily Carr, Unity Bainbridge, Yucho Chow, Fred Herzog, Paul Wong, Mary Sui Yee Wong, Morris Lum, and aiya哎呀, among others. Drawing from private collections in Vancouver and across Canada, such as the Beatrice and Raymond Jai Collection, and the Chung Collection which holds more than 25000 rare items related to Chinese Canadian history assembled over 60 years and is now housed at UBC, the show will also be augmented with public archives and collections. Complementing the artworks, artefacts, and archival materials is a robust public programming. This exhibition aims to question how narratives are constructed around the idea of Chinatown and the colonial notions that underwrite some of these relations."

Provides a comprehensive introduction to the development of Asian design in the modern period, tracing historical threads and offering a theoretical framework within which to chart the history of design in Asia. Rather than a singular 'Asian history', the book presents a series of studies centered on trade routes, colonial relationships, regional networks, and cross-cultural exchanges. It builds on existing resources beyond design history in an effort to map the field, focusing particularly on relations between Asia and the West, and also across Asian design cultures. Opening with a brief overview of trade and exchange networks in the 17th and 18th centuries, the bulk of this study comprises analysis of the development of modern design in Asia during the 19th and early 20th centuries, a period of rapid modernization. Final chapters bring these central ideas into a contemporary and highly relevant context.

This anthology gathers writings, documentation and ephemera from Godzilla: Asian American Arts Network, a collective based in New York from 1990 to 2001, which was formed to provide a support structure for Asian American artists, writers and curators to stimulate visibility and critical discourse for their work. Edited by curator Howie Chen, the book gathers archival material from the group's wide-ranging activities, which included producing exhibitions and forums to social change advocacy surrounding institutional racism, the politics of representation, Western imperialism, the AIDS crisis and violence against Asian Americans. Godzilla created a social space for diasporic Asian artists and art professionals, including members Tomie Arai, Karin Higa, Byron Kim, Paul Pfeiffer, Eugenie Tsai, Lynne Yamamoto and Alice Yang, among others. Founded by artists Ken Chu, Bing Lee and Margo Machida in New York and eventually expanding into a national network, Godzilla's aim was to function as a support group interested in social change through art, bringing together art and advocacy, and to contribute to changing the limited ways Asian Pacific Americans participate and are represented in broad social context in the artworld and beyond. This comprehensive chronicle of Godzilla: Asian American Arts Network assembles art projects, critical writing, correspondences, exhibition and meeting documentation, media clippings and other archival ephemera to convey the political and cultural stakes of the time.

"In the past 30 years, discourses on queerness and the central political issues of LGBT life that originate in the United States-- like same-sex marriage-- have been exported and used to identify the presence of queer community in other parts of the world. QUEER KOREA brings together historical, ethnographic, and literary essays that establish a queer historiography of Korea. Editor Todd Henry asserts that Western forms of queerness, and the reading practices used to identify queerness in the American academy, are insufficient to describe the range of queer life on the Korean peninsula. He argues that particular developments in Korean modernity-- including its histories of colonialism, nationalism, and authoritarianism from the turn of the century to the Cold War-- have informed the language and politics of queerness in Korea and the Korean diaspora. In addition to compiling the first volume focused on queerness in Korea, including work from the South Korean academy, this volume asserts that placing queerness at the center of Korean studies, rather than at the margins, produces new analytic possibilities for the field."- Publisher

Who Cares? is an anthology that compiles 16 essays on curating art in and of Asia. One of the themes addresses the politics of care, commonly understood as the basic role of curators, with regards to art and artists, across time and contexts.