Art AsiaPacific SUMMER 2006 No. 50

EDITOR’S LETTER 6

HAPPENINGS

STATE OF THE ART

SERIAL THRILLERS AND THE ART OF THE STEAL 50

NEWS
BEIJING BEIJING’S FIRST GALLERY CELEBRATES 15 YEARS 55
NEW YORK MALAYSIAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE VISITS NEW YORK
LONDON AND NEW YORK ASIAN ART TREADS TRANS-ATLANTIC WATERS NEW YORK AND YOGYAKARTA CEMETI ART HOUSE WINS ACC AWARD, SPURS QUAKE RELIEF 57 LONDON CRYSTAL BALL ENLIGHTENS LONDON PUBLIC 57 VARIOUS LOCATIONS INDIAN PAINTER INCITES RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY 58 DUBAI DUBAI EMERGES AS MIDDLE EAST CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER 59 PASSINGS SHIN SANG OK, 1926-2006 60 WHISPERING GALLERY 61

THE POINT
INDONESIA’S BIENNALE BUBBLE 63

HOT SPOT
CHRISTIE’S DAZZLING HEIGHTS 64

ONE ON ONE
CAO FEI: GLOBAL PLAYER 66

PROFILE
GUAN WEI’S PERILOUS JOURNEYS 70 SUDARSHAN SHETTY: TOYING WITH OBJECTS 76 YOSHINAGA MASAYUKI AND THE PAGEANTRY OF SPEED 80

THE BIG PICTURE
SOI SABAI’S TEMPORARY ART CONNECTIONS 74

FEATURES
DISTANCE UP CLOSE: THE ASIAN BIENNIALS By Gregory Burke 86
CURATING BY COMMITTEE: BEHIND ASIA’S BIENNIALS By Andrew Maerkle 90
TIAN YIBIN: IN A SEA OF REVOLUTIONARY PIXELS By Don J. Cohn 96
INDIA’S NEW PROGRESSIVES By Nancy Adajania 102
CONTINENTAL DRIFT: THE ULLENS CENTER FOR THE ARTS By Elaine W. Ng 106
FROM LHASA TO LONDON: GONKAR GYATSO By Claire Harris 110

REVIEWS
AUCKLAND Simon Denny: Old Things_116 WELLINGTON Islanded: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan_116 TOKYO MOT Annual 2006: No Border_117 SEOUL Diving Comedy: A Retrospective of Bahc Yiso_118 TAIPEI Hyper Reality: Contemporary Images from the Museum Collection_118 HONG KONG Li Wei: A Pause for Humanity_119 HONG KONG Konstantin Bessmertny_120 BEIJING Fancy Dream_120 BANGKOK Michael Shaowanasai: Good: New Paintings 2549_120 MALAGA Anish Kapoor: My Red Homeland_121 LONDON Tim Lee_122 NEW YORK Bill Henson_122 NEW YORK Ranjani Shettar_123 SAN FRANCISCO Michael Arcega_124

FILM REVIEW
LADY VENGEANCE 126

BOOK REVIEW
PALESTINIAN ART 128

PROJECTS IN THE MAKING
MITHU SEN’S STATELY MANNERS 139

WHERE I WORK
UJINO MUNETERU 140

COVER IMAGE: Tian Yibin - From the "Dance Across the 38th Parallel" series (2005) C-print. Courtesy the artist.