Pan-Asian art show weaves a worthy but off-key narrative of colonial exploitation
Bold and ambitious in scope, group show at Para Site art space in Hong Kong points a finger at legacy of imperialism, but doesn’t suggest what can replace Western liberal democracy – and evokes ethnographic museum displays
“A Beast, a God, and a Line” is an exhibition based on cultural connections between seemingly disparate Asia-Pacific societies that was first shown at the Dhaka Art Summit in Bangladesh in February.
Curated by Cosmin Costinas, executive director of the Para Site art space in Hong Kong, it is an ambitious undertaking in both mission and scale. Indeed, Para Site has temporarily hired an extra floor beneath its home in the Wing Wah Industrial Building in Quarry Bay to show the works by nearly 60 artists.
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One common denominator for many of the contributors is that they are based in countries where an Austronesian language is, or was once, spoken. This linguistic distinction links Taiwan (through its aboriginal Formosan languages) to Malaysia (and Malay speakers in Singapore), Indonesia, the Philippines, the Pacific islands, New Zealand, Hawaii and Madagascar – a region spanning roughly 15 time zones.
It frees its members, at least within the exhibition confines, from the normally inescapable gravitational pull of mighty America, China and other major economic and political powers.
Beyond language, the exhibition points to other shared traits, such as shrugging off the colonial straitjacket – or, as the curatorial statement has it, the “process of replacing its colonial cartographic coordinates, a process this exhibition proudly serves”. This perhaps helps to explain the otherwise incongruous presence of artists from places of non-Austronesian heritage such as India and Hong Kong in the show.