Current Guangzhou time

This year for the first time ever, the Guangdong Museum of Art (Guangzhou) organizes a unique combination of the renowned Guangzhou Triennial and the new Asia Biennial, featuring works that present Asian history, Asian culture, Asian trade and the problems facing contemporary Asia.

This Asia Biennial will be one of the largest regular art events around Asia, with an international curatorial team and artists from all over the world. This ambitious project aims to extend the topics on Asian consciousness and Asian experiences from Asian Art Curators' Forum held by GDMOA back in 2013, discussing Asian art development under a global context.

Curatorial Theme:

In a world dominated by a global ‘World Time’ awareness (the perspective of acceleration, speed, visibility, ultra-capitalism, knowledge production, and exhaustion) the first Asia Biennial/fifth Guangzhou Triennial focuses on a local understanding of ‘Asian time’ (the perspective of tranquility, reflection, concentration, and emphasis on values and wisdom).

The First Asia Biennial / Fifth Guangzhou Triennial not only intends to give an impetus to a topical way of thinking about time that comes from the arts, which may lead to a response to the crisis currently unfolding in the face of globalization and capitalism. The historical and current context of Guangzhou will also be involved as a starting point for searching alternative models and multiple perspectives able to better articulate the notion of “Asia Time.” Subsequently, new modes of thinking about Asia could emerge going beyond geographically and historically defined concepts.

Curatorial Team