Curated by Merv Espina, Mami Kataoka, Vera Mey, Jo-Lene Ong, Grace Samboh, and Naoki Yoneda
At a time when Western alliances such as NATO and the EU are under unprecedented threat, other international post–World War II consortia have taken on renewed significance.“Sunshower” marks the fifty-year anniversary of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), a ten-country trade partnership founded in 1967, with a major presentation of eighty-five artists from the member nations. Hoping to sidestep the often-reductive frameworks of large-scale, geography-based surveys, the fourteen-person curatorial team (of which the core group numbers six) has adopted a rubric of nine subthemes: cartography, conflict, identity, history, archiving, spirituality, indigenous culture, social practice, and the quotidian. Through such groupings, the show, which spans two Tokyo venues, promises a diverse picture of a region, room for digression, and, perhaps, an alternative approach to thinking about international relations. Travels to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan, Nov. 3–Dec. 25.
