Everyday Life: 4th Asian Art Biennial, 2013
5 October 2013–5 January 2014

National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
No. 2, Sec. 1, Wu Chuan W. Road
Taichung 403 Taiwan, R.O.C.

Curator: Iris Shu-Ping Huang     

Everyday Life presents creative trends observed in Asian arts in the recent years, and it further focuses on the “everyday-ness” in daily experiences, and as well as the aesthetic development with the return to everyday life. Furthermore, the theme of Everyday Life also embodies another layer of meaning, as it anticipates to investigate and reflect on the emerging irregular social conventions and systems and to regain a genuine sense of self-esteem and consideration for the essence of life in a social setting.

In the midst of the rise of a cultural phenomenon which brands itself as the “new Asian experience” of the 21st century, traditional core concepts are being replaced by everyday trends, and the phenomenon also signifies that people’s everyday responses have gradually become the base for mainstream values, with “day-after-day recurrences” being fully re-examined. As the main structure returns to being comprised of the basic elements and with the return to individuals’ internal values, people’s emotional capabilities are being re-examined, with thoughts returning to the core essence.

Asia is faced with the challenge of how to respond to reality, and “how to live the everyday life” is a situation that we must deal with on a daily basis. People are concerned with how to dwell in the everyday life, which includes ways to coexist with life’s different uncertainties and irregularities. As the features of everyday life are no longer ordinary and realistic, Everyday Life thus intends to reflect on this sense of ironic everyday-ness. It inches closer to reality to carefully experience life’s current conditions; however, it also needs to break away from conventions and to examine the unordinary aspects present in life.

The objective of the theme of Everyday Life for this year’s biennial is to contextualize the chaotic and irregular life that we are facing in today’s time, with perceptual experiences and rational assessments of life’s minute conditions. The exhibition will include about 20 contributing artists from Asia presenting artworks of different styles and genres, and they will offer their unique viewpoints for the social landscape that is increasingly being made into a spectacle. The exhibition also intends to invite artists from Israel, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to produce new projects locally, and these artworks will present various aesthetic language and personal social realizations through diverse perspectives and different reflections for life.

Gohar Dashti, “Volcano,” 2012. Inkjet print, 120×80 cm. Courtesy of the artist.