ArtReview Asia Summer 2022 Issue Explores AI Consciousness, Collective Practices, and Asian Cultural Narratives

The Summer 2022 issue of ArtReview Asia features Lawrence Lek's AI character Black Cloud (2021) on its cover, examining existential questions about consciousness and empathy toward artificial entities. Fi Churchman notes the relatability of Lek's videogame-inspired work, which engages with utopian freedom and individual agency. Mark Rappolt assesses histories of India's 1947 partition and Pakistan's creation through the legacy of activist Mahasweta Devi, while also referencing Arundhati Roy's view of art as resistance and Gayatri Spivak's analysis of caste inequities predating colonialism. Elly Kent traces Indonesia's collective artistic lineage, connecting it to Documenta 15 curated by ruangrupa and the country's agrarian-subsistence cultures. Claire Cao analyzes Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa's psychedelic films that transcend animation conventions through transnational influences. Chinese artist Guanyu Xu presents a collaged artist project across the magazine's pages. Deepa Bhasthi critiques the Indian state's use of the female form to promote narrow national identity while repressing women's rights. The issue includes reviews of Documenta 15 and the 12th Berlin Biennale, summer exhibition previews across Asia and beyond, and book reviews covering Jessica Au's Cold Enough for Snow, Veeraporn Nitiprapha's Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat, and Mieko Kawakami's All the Lovers in the Night.