Art for (and within) a Citizen Scene & Be Water, My Friend

Publication details

Further contributors	reinaart vanhoe, Zoénie Liwen Deng, Emily Shin-Jie Lee, Iris Ferrer, Julia Wilhelm
Publication	Published in collaboration with framer framed, Amsterdam

vol.1: Art for (and within) a Citizen Scene connects people working within South-East-Asia contexts to share their creative practices. Through speculative, open-ended conversations, the contributors explore questions such as: If we shift our attention away from artistic practices based on object production and individual success, what do other kinds of practices bring about? How to understand those practices in their materialisation and relation to their surroundings? What does collaboration mean today, and what positions do artists take in these collaborations? The book sheds light on practices in communities where collaboration is common in daily life, where art is seen not only as a self-contained profession, but also as a way of living.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Art in the Context of Daily Practices – reinaart vanhoe & Emily Shin-Jie Lee

• Strolling South: Reflecting on Our Institutionalisations and Otherwise Collectivity by Elaine W. Ho & Zoénie Liwen Deng

• When We Talk About the Advancement of(art) Practice – Bunga Siagian, Ismal Muntaha (Jatiwangi Art Factory) & Dicky Senda

• DIY Ethos and Collective as an Organizational Structure – Wok the Rock & Willy Chen Wei-Lun

• We Need a Title for This Conversation, Don’t You Think? – Mayumi Hirano & Sig Pecho

• We Sell Reality? Who are “We” and What do We Mean by “Reality”? – Rieneke de Vries & Brigitta Isabella

• Workshop Report – Julia Wilhelm

• Art as Holistic Practice – Kristy Ilyas, Múz Spaans, repelsteeltje, Elena Kolesnikova, Chellysia Christen & Naomi de Wit.

vol.2: Be Water, My Friend: Non-Oppositional Criticalities of Socially Engaged Art in China by Zoénie Liwen Deng looks at different forms of socially engaged artistic and cultural practices in China. These practices address a range of social issues in the country’s cities, including the unequal treatment of migrant workers and denigration of urban villages. Through anthropological fieldwork and critical analysis, the book explores how socially engaged art offers creative and critical approaches to these issues in the context of the contemporary Chinese regime. Becoming Water stresses how art practices in China have developed forms of criticality that avoid explicitly opposing political authorities.