Contemporary Asian Photograph is an exhibition series that takes a close look at contemporary culture and art practice from Asian artists’ perspectives. The exhibitions concentrate on specific pieces of history and life experiences, but also attempt to construct or discover relationships between historical contexts from varied perspectives. Specifically, they make observations either from different geographical locations synchronously, or from the same location at different times. The personal experiences and collective consciousness are linked with multiple historical trajectories charted by the vicissitudinal political and social forces.

In “Crisis of Now” of this series we invited three Taiwanese artists—YAO Jui-Chung, YANG Che-Yi and Yunyi LIU—to present their contemporary photography through multi-cultural observations. Each of these projects demonstrates the persistent authority that photographers have always relied on—that a camera allows you to step into situations and take a look and also to step back, reflect and comment. The title of the exhibition is direct reference to the historical background, the turbulent political and social landscape of Asia in this timeframe[BM1] . In recent years, Asia has not only arisen as an urgent geopolitical issue thanks to the wrestling among these historical driving forces, but has also become the gasoline and electricity by which the engine of capitalist market is powered for the process of neoliberal globalisation. It has also served as a wrestling ring for different forces in international politics, which is by no means a result of historical contingency but a product in response to times of crisis.

Published in association with the exhibition CRISIS OF NOW - CONTEMPORARY ASIAN PHOTOGRAPHY PART 1., December 6 - 16, 2018. MALZFABRIK SCHÖNEBERG, curated by Chun-chi WANG.

This publication includes a series of texts: an essay written by LU Peiyi, “The Power of Action: Yao Jui-chong and the Sample Survey of Idle Public Facilities in Taiwan”, an essay written by Kuo Li-Hsin “Photographic Metaphors of a Contemporary ‘Renaissance Man’– Humanistic Concern in ‘Shan-Shui’ by YANG Che-Yi”, and an essay written by Bo-Yi SHEN, “Call of the Ruins: The Photographic Collages”.

Exhibition and Publication are realized by the IDOLONSTUDIO (Union of European Asian Artists), supported by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan), Kulturabteilung der Taipeh Vertretung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

Publication Editor : Chun-chi WANG
Publication Graphic Design : Lukas Küng ( Burrow, Berlin )
Print run : 200
Exhibition Setup : Fabian Leukert ( Berlin )
Venue Support : Malzfabrik Schöneberg.