The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) will be hosting the 8th Asian Art Biennial titled "Phantasmapolis (未至之城)" from Oct. 30 to March 6, in hopes of re-evaluating Asia’s past and present through sci-fi perspectives to re-examine topics about Asian cities, technologies, conflicts, gender and fantasies of the future.
The multinational curatorial team includes Taiwanese curators Takamori Nobuo (高森信男) , Ho Yu-kuan (侯昱寬), Filipino curator Tessa Maria Guazon, Indian curator Anushka Rajendran, and Thai curator Thanavi Chotpradit.
The title of the exhibition "Phantasmapolis" is a portmanteau formed by combining two Greek words "Phantasma" and "polis," which mean "apparition" and "city" respectively. With the city as a framework, the theme investigates the idea of "Asian Futurism" as well as the historical context of how sci-fi topics and materials have been utilized and represented in Asian modern and contemporary art.
This year's biennale will invite 38 groups of artists from 15 countries to participate and exhibit 417 sets of work and literature. The categories of works include on-site production, multimedia installations, graphic paintings, videos, photography, film screenings, symposiums and document manuscripts, among others, linking up different fields and time points.
In addition to the main theme, the biennale will also present "Documentation of Research Project," "Video Project" and "Seminar and Publication Project" to echo the potential of Asian futurism.
The opening ceremony of the current biennial exhibition will be held at 6 pm on Oct. 30, inviting avant-garde artist Betty Apple (鄭宜蘋) to deliver a special opening performance.
The first event at the biennale "Songs from the Moon Rabbit－2021 Asian Art Biennial Forum" is currently available for registration.
For more information on the biennale, please visit NTMoFA's YouTube channel, and Facebook page.