ArtAsiaPacific

For over 20 years, ArtAsiaPacific has been at the forefront of the powerful creative forces that shape contemporary art from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. Covering the latest in contemporary visual culture, ArtAsiaPacific is published in Hong Kong, with over 30 editorial desks worldwide. Our annual issue, the Almanac, is an alphabetical tour d'horizon of the 67-odd countries covered in ArtAsiaPacific, spanning Afghanistan to Vietnam. The Almanac also invites influential art world figures to comment on the major cutural events that have shaped the past 12 months. Now also available on the iPhone!

FOUNDATION

ArtAsiaPacific

CONTRIBUTOR

HORIZON BOUND

Withdrawal Aesthetics

NEWS

AN ENGULFING CALAMITY

GRAND DESIGNS

OBITUARIES

SHRINKING SPACES

STEPPING UP

MERGERS AND REFURBS

KUDOS PLUS CASH

NEW MARKETING STRATEGIES • Although average collector spending has declined, in-person events remain an expensive but necessary proposition for galleries. Meanwhile, art fairs are searching for ways to become platforms for bigger clients than art dealers, with sponsorship deals for luxury brands and even tourism boards looking to attract wealthy tourists.

STABLE HOMES, FALLING PRICES • The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2024 reported that sales in the first half of 2024 at major houses were down 26 percent, year to year. In mid-December, Sotheby’s laid off more than 100 employees after New York sales in November earned less than half compared to 2023.

GROWTH POTENTIAL

2024 TIMELINE

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR

MANAL ALDOWAYAN

ARCHIE MOORE

YUKO MOHRI

TRƯƠNG CÔNG TÙNG

DO HO SUH

STEPH HUANG

CITY REPORTS

AUCKLAND • Born in Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1967, Brett Graham creates large-scale sculptures and installations that investigate the contested colonial histories of his Maōri homeland—chiefly the subjugation of Indigenous land and culture. In this interview, Graham emphasized the importance of Indigenous knowledge when it comes to tackling the climate emergency, as well as the influence of his father, the sculptor Fred Graham.

TOKYO • Ei Arakawa-Nash was born in 1977 in Iwaki City, Fukushima, and is a queer Japanese American performance artist living in Los Angeles. His exhibition “Paintings Are Popstars” at the National Art Center, Tokyo, curated by Naoki Yoneda, featured collaborations with more than 60 musicians, painters, and others in what the artist called a “group-solo show.”

EVERYONE WANTS A SLICE

SHIFTING GROUND

STEPPING OUT OF THE SHADOWS • Working under the pseudonym “Siberian Butterfly,” Chinese artist Xiyadie transforms traditional Chinese papercutting into a medium of radical autobiography. His intricate compositions—in which flora, fauna, and human figures all intertwine—chronicle intimate narratives as well as the broader evolution of queer life in China since the 1980s. Following his 2023 breakthrough solo exhibition at The Drawing Center in New York, Xiyadie’s international presence expanded in 2024 through his participation in the 60th Venice Biennale’s main exhibition; a solo presentation at Hong Kong’s nonprofit Blindspot Gallery (“Butterfly Dream”); and group exhibitions at Ames Yavuz, Singapore; and the Macalline Center of Art, Beijing. This momentum continues into this year with his three-meter-wide work Kaiyang (2021) (previously shown at the Venice Biennale) being displayed at Hong Kong’s nonprofit Para Site, while a number of his works will be included in “Queer Histories” at Museu de Arte de São Paulo, curated by Adriano Pedrosa and Julia Bryan-Wilson.

WEATHER REPORT: ART AGAINST TIME

PERFORMING LIFE • A performance artist active in Hong Kong since 2020, Florence Lam...