The horrific Indian Ocean earthquake/tsunami disaster that claimed more than 150,000 victims between Indonesia and the African east coast left me petrified. I pray sincerely for the repose of the victims' souls.

Alternatives 2005 — Contemporary Art Spaces in Asia

Although culture is probably not exactly what people in the quake-stricken regions feel like talking about at the moment, I'd like to introduce a guidebook related to Asian culture that was published in November 2004. Strictly speaking, it’s a new edition of a publication that first appeared three years ago, and that I wrote about in this column at the time.

The title is "Alternatives 2005 — Contemporary Art Spaces in Asia", and that’s just what it is (though including Australia). Introduced are a total of 170 alternative spaces and other art-related facilities in 16 Asian (Oceanian) countries/regions. Each entry comes with information such as the place’s name, address, phone/fax number, e-mail, URL, access information, director’s name, opening hours, year of establishment, operating body, equipment, summary of activities, and sometimes a short comment. The book is organized by countries/regions, and each chapter begins with an introduction by a leading art personality of the respective country. The guide is fully bilingual (Japanese/English), and should be helpful for both professionals and art fans.

The style hasn't changed much since the first edition, but the volume has increased significantly, and information on the places' activities and other details were updated. That’s of course an obvious step, as the situations of art (not only) in Asian countries change by the year. One of the most favorable things about the guide is that it is available both at bookshops and online. While the first issue was published exclusively by The Japan Founation and was sold only at their facilities, the new edition is a joint publication by the Foundation and Tankosha.

In my column three years ago I wrote that "the pity about this book […] is that it is published by an official organization, and therefore its distribution is limited." The fact that this has now changed probably indicates an improvement in the Foundation’s promotion strategy — a point I criticized in my original review. It’s like: what’s the sound of a gigantic tree that collapse deep in the middle of an uninhabited forest? The point is that the forest is uninhabited, and where there are no ears to hear, there’s no sound. Translated to the situation of cultural events or publications, one can say that they simply don't exist in our media society when nobody can see them. Therefore it’s needless to mention that proper PR and distribution are immensely important.

Then, however, I heard from a person in the business that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the authority under which The Japan Foundation operates, is considering the guide an undesirable publication: "Why feature such abstruse nonsense as alternative spaces, and not museums?"… If this is true, it shows that here we have some officials who don't have a clue about where and how new art these days is being created, in Asia and in the world. That’s nothing but the wild view of somebody doesn't know what he’s talking about, and I'd like to believe that something like this doesn't exist in this country’s cultural bureaucracy.

In my "message from the editor" introducing the Korean art special (vol. 5) of ART iT magazine I wrote the folowing: "Asia is hot. Asia is fascinating. But in Asia we hardly know each other. Atruly sad state of affairs." In order to improve this situation, I believe that this kind of publication is playing an enormously important role.