To A Faraway Friend
Busan, Korea 02.07.22 - 02.10.22
To A Faraway Friend
This exhibition’s title, To A Faraway Friend: Beyond Afro-Southeast Asian Affinities, takes inspiration from the 2021 novel ‘Future Stroll Practice’ by Park Solmoe. The book unfolds across the historic streets and quiet alleyways of Busan, tracing historic moments in the Republic of Korea’s democratization movement, which shares affinities with wider histories of independence movements in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Taking place at the ASEAN Culture House, these works presented in the show by 16 artists from the Republic of Korea and the nations of ASEAN reflect on the geopolitics of diplomatic encounters, moments of friction, and strategic alignments that have shaped, and continue to shape, geopolitical landscapes across the globe since the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War.
Featured Artist
Tada Hengsapkul
Thailand
Tada Hengsapkul is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist, whose practice is often concerned with investigating and resisting various forms of control — at the level of the body, the collective, and society.
He explains the context in which he works: “Now Thailand has a crisis about controlling the large amount of people who have come out to claim rights and liberties.”
Tada addresses this crisis by purposefully positioning concerns specific to Thailand as being also emblematic of much more widely shared questions and experiences. The location in which the artist lives and works functions for him as a nexus point, at which manifold external and internal interests intersect.
Artist
There are 16 artists from Southeast Asia and South Korea, selected from various backgrounds and mediums to exhibit.
