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The exhibition, “Weaving the Asian Democracy” seeks to inductively present the pasts, presents and futures of various Asian democracies through the win- dow of media art. I.e., instead of discussing democracy as a metanarrative from a general perspective, it will display diverse, unsung stories of our lives within the democratic system in an item by item exposition. This is a large-scale exhi- bition, featuring 58 artists from 24 Asian countries. As an extension of the 2014 Asian Arts Space Network exhibition, “The Mirror and Monitor of Democracy in Asia,” the theme of the identity of Asian countries’ diverse democracies and the future’s alternative democracy in the twenty-first century is discussed again. In the future, as well, the consultative body of the Asian Arts Space Network, as a non-hierarchical and democratic community, will continue to develop this subject and make it more concrete. This exhibition consists of two themes. 1. “The Wefts and Warp Threads of Asian Democracies” seeks to reinterpret the various significances and identities of Asian democracies through the perspectives of different Asian societies and public artists. Asian countries, who had to accept democracy as modernized Western prod- ucts since foreign powers initiated diplomatic relations in the twentieth centu- ry, have grown through rapid changes. Western democracies, transplanted over different historic and cultural specificities, have differentiated into various forms in their interpretive and adaptive processes to form essential parts of Asian identities. The Republic of Korea and Taiwan are still struggling with a dichot- omous democracy stemming from left-versus-right ideologies, India involves a doctrinaire democracy centered around religion and Thailand demonstrates a condition of monarchial values comprising democracy. As such, the significance of democracy must be recognized differently by Asian countries with different social and historical contexts. We will enjoy an opportunity to compare, if for a moment, Asian countries’ diverse phases of democracy through art in this exhibition. 2. It will seek a new humanist democracy for the twenty-first century through public art activities. Today, democracy is faced with a new crisis. The detailed aspects of the cri- sis are diverse. They include international conflicts and class struggles due to economic inequalities, religious clashes, an expansion of far-right nationalism and the advent of a New Cold War Era for East Asian nations. Today’s world is experiencing mounting economic, political and social pressures from this crisis. While the forms of such pressures vary, at the source is involved the workings of the so-called neo-liberalism. Since capitalism, selected by Western democ- racy, has continuously evolved into its new expression of neo-liberalism, the entire world has been captured by the logic of capital. Democracy is sinking into inertia while its partner, capitalism is peaking. What social roles could the arts have at this point in time? This exhibition ruminates on the significance of the twenty-first century’s new, harmony-oriented democracy and the arts’ public roles. This represents a will to transcend retracing the various identities of Asian democracies past and present to discuss and forecast the twenty-first century’s new, harmony-oriented democracy and the arts’ public roles. The exhibit, “Weaving the Asian Democracy” is a modest question regarding the discourses of our time, when democracy and capitalism have already peaked and are now faced with the crisis of self-dissolution. In the future, as well, the Asian Arts Space Network Forum intends to strive to find its own answers for the important discourse of Asian democracies through continued research and visual-image-making activities. We will be able to advance, if modestly, further toward the public discourse of democracy and the arts through such various attempts. Finger Pointing Worker + Takeuchi Kota | Japan Pointing at Fukuichi Live Cam 2012, single channel video, 24’40” Halil Altindere | Turkey Who Shot the Artist? 2009, single channel video, 01’51” Hamra Abbas | Kuwait Text Edit 2011, single channel video, 04’35” Irwan Ahmett | Indonesia Propeller People, 2011, video/public Intervention, 03’18” Lu Yang | China Reanimation! Underwater Zombie frog ballet! 2011, single channel video, 06’06” Renan Ortiz | Philippines Ode to Empire 2012, single channel video, 05’11” Şener Özmen | Turkey What does an artist actually want? 2012, single channel video, 02’19” Sompot Chidgasorn-pongse | Thailand Diseases and a Hundred Year Period 2008, experimental film, 20’00” Svay Sareth | Cambodia Mon Boulet 2010, single channel video, 08’25” Yao Jui-Chung | Taiwan Long Live 2011, single channel video, 05’30” Zheng Yunhan | China Singing with Me 2003, video(MTV & documentary), 07’00” Chang Li-ren | Taiwan Battle City 2012, EP01channel video, color, sound, 06’56” Lu Yang | China Moving Gods 2015, single channel video, 04’43” Nika Machaidze | Georgia Merry go round 2015, digital video, 04’51” UuDam Tran Nguyen | Vietnam Waltz of the Machine Equestrians 2012, HD video, 04’34” Viraj Liyanarachchi | Sri Lanka The So Called Democracy 2013, single channel video, stop motion, 05’26” http://loop-barcelona.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Both-Sides-Now_LOOP-2016_ENG.pdf https://loop-barcelona.com/activity/weaving-the-asian-democracy/

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