SPEAKING ALONE Thavibu Gallery 21 February - 15 March, 2009 Curator: Shireen Naziree
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An Exhibition of Conceptual Art from Myanmar/Burma AUNG MYINT, AYE KO PHYU MON, NYEIN CHAN SU SPEAKING ALONE Thavibu Gallery 21 February - 15 March, 2009 Curator: Shireen Naziree An Exhibition of Conceptual Art from Myanmar/Burma AUNG MYINT, AYE KO PHYU MON, NYEIN CHAN SU SPEAKING ALONE Thavibu Gallery 21 February - 15 March, 2009 Curator: Shireen Naziree Published 2009 by Thavibu Gallery Co., Ltd Silom Galleria, Suite 308 919/1 Silom Road, Bangkok 10500, Thailand Tel. 66 (0)2 266 5454, Fax. 66 (0)2 266 5455 Email. [email protected], www.thavibu.com Layout by Wanee Tipchindachaikul, Copydesk, Thailand Copyright Thavibu Gallery All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. SPEAKING ALONE Shireen Naziree Myanmar... the past has been punctuated with so Most pertinent to the understanding of Myanmar’s many waves of repression that any sort of sensible cultural landscape with its melange of activity is society must renegotiate its relationships with its rich Myanmar’s capital – Yangon. Yangon is above all a historical past as well as with the dynamic flux that commercial centre with a rich history of international represents the rest of Southeast Asia. Geographically exchange. Throughout the British colonial rule that speaking, Myanmar’s isolation has become the face lasted almost a hundred years, Yangon was a hub of its current national identity which is underwrit- of international commerce. Colonial Yangon with its ten by the extreme conditions that affect its civil and spacious layout and mix of exquisite colonial and tra- social environment. Decades of social deconstruction ditional architecture was known for its beauty. Despite and economic unease have reconfigured its geographic its current dilapidated state, the arts inevitably have representation, which is clearly distant from the global t h e i r f o u n d a t i o n i n t h e c i t y ’ s f o r m e r p a s t g l o r y . intersection of technology and visual culture that allow Yangon has a number of private art galleries and openness, free movement and interconnectedness. artists whose work continues to be a vital export This national fragility results in wasted vitalities and the commodity and source of income, although it is true forced isolation of a population and culture obliged to that there are fewer foreign visitors nowadays. play their assigned roles with quiet dignity. With virtually no state support and with only two This dynamic inevitably leads one to consider whether art academies offering basic training best suited these forces allow for a blossoming of artistic activ- f o r a r t i s a n s , Y a n g o n d o e s n o t h a v e t h e g r a s s r o o t s ity and natural dialogue among artistic and cultural initiatives necessary for an innovative and internation- practitioners. As raw material, this uncertainty can be ally competitive art scene. While it is not uncommon transformed into visual poetry and become a point of to encounter numerous self-taught artists, it could departure for unanticipated artistic expeditions through o n l y b e e x p e c t e d t h a t s e r i o u s p r o f e s s i o n a l a r t i s t s irony and allusion, as well as homage to traditional (either progressive or conservative) would become cultural and moral values. Keeping in mind Myanmar’s increasingly committed to finding discursive av- rich cultural past and its current national identity, it goes enues to explore issues and expose their art envi- without saying that any shifting of cultural conditions r o n m e n t w h e r e “ a l m o s t e v e r y b o d y a s p i r e s t o b e a n will affect the production of art in meaningful ways. artist.” This attitude is not only embedded in the Speaking Alone 3 polarization that has dramatically altered every facet of r e i n t e r p r e t t h e c o m m o d i f i c a t i o n o f a r t a n d i d e a s t o economic practice, but also lies in a historically-based remind us what it really means to have the liberty to nostalgia that has become one of the foundational think differently. sources of artistic inspiration. With Yangon’s cultural landscape seemingly isolated, Although artistic production is often permeated with it is tempting to question how conceptual art practices the nostalgia of a quiet paradise that idolises the past may be perceived to have long-lasting effects while and is deeply engaged in the serenity of Buddhism, claiming to be original yet inclusive, autonomous yet simultaneously there exists a desire to reflect on the relevant. An art space such as the Lokanat Art Gallery present with its contemporary values, as well as his- in downtown Yangon has served as a vital social and tory. In addition, there is the mapping of an expanded intellectual gathering point of the city’s artistic scene field by subtly negotiating the relationship between the s i n c e t h e 1 9 7 0 s . W i t h i n i t s d o w n t o w n l o c a t i o n i n visible and the invisible. This refers to the subliminal a time-scarred building, Yangon’s art community aspects of culture that are articulated through every- has literally preserved an artistic lifestyle of quiet yet day events and daily practices, which suggest a more determined opposition to the flattening of cultural circuitous commentary on Yangon’s contemporary meaning and imagination. This has occurred at a art scene. time when the speed of an electronically linked planet i s r e f l e c t e d i n t h e s w i f t e x p a n s i o n o f a r t p r a c t i c e s Conceptual art and performance art often focus on beyond traditional painting and sculpture to an negating art’s commodity status, a crucial dimension inclusiveness that represents the best possible means that the global contemporary art market now mani- of making personal artistic statements. Freed from festly appropriates. A handful of Yangon artists clearly the constraints of the canvas, conceptual art allows embrace conceptual art practices and performance the artist freedom to express any concept through art that subtly focus on the notion of social sculpture, any means, especially relating to the politics of the which in turn consistently addresses the structures day or the politics of the self. o f p o w e r , c h a l l e n g i n g t h e c o n t r o l l e d a m b i g u i t y t h a t generally characterizes art in order to promote criti- Aung Myint’s art is a clear product of the dynamic cal awareness and dialogue. In a place where art feels interplay between art and life in Myanmar. more literal than ever, conceptual art practices actively 4 Speaking Alone A self-taught artist, Aung Myint graduated as a his own synthesis of Theravada Buddhist influences in psychologist from the Rangoon Arts and Science traditional Burmese art (where non-realist depictions University in 1968. Although his interest in art began reflected the artist’s inner visions and spirituality) and at an early age, it wasn’t until 1969 that he actively t h e i n t e r p r e t i v e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f W e s t e r n a b s t r a c t pursued artistic expression when he participated in a expressionism (amongst others), Aung Myint became group show in Yangon. Sympathetic to the political a leading figure on Yangon’s art scene. struggle that has nurtured present-day Myanmar, he sought new ways of seeing that would parallel his Aung Myint and his peers were seeking new dimen- concerns. Given the lack of support and exposure to sions of expression and were ready for a new explosion modern art during the latter half of the twentieth cen- in art. The work Beginning and End in 1995 marked tury, largely as a result of the introduction of socialism Aung Myint’s debut as a pioneer of performance in 1962, Aung Myint became one of the founding a r t . T h e a e s t h e t i c t h a t d e v e l o p e d , i n h e r i t e d f r o m h i s members of Yangon’s Inya Gallery of Art in 1989. With vanguard experimental art, would extend itself to earn him international recognition and become an important element in the development of new media art in Myanmar. A renowned painter (Aung Myint was the recipient of the Juror’s Choice Award at the 2002 ASEAN Arts Awards competition), he used his experience of examining the illusory space of the canvas to configure his place in performance art by making of himself a piece of material, which together w i t h m o v e m e n t a n d o t h e r e l e m e n t s a l l o w e d f o r complex and emotional statements.