Asian Artists Respond to Urban Transformation in 21st Century Cities
Artists across Asia are developing innovative methods to engage with the dramatic urban changes reshaping their cities since the late 20th century. Moving beyond traditional photojournalistic or documentary depictions, these creators integrate the specific effects of their investigated sites directly into their artistic processes and materials. Their approaches emerge from local and interregional contexts within Asia, entering into dialogue with Western urban aesthetic traditions while simultaneously departing from them. This artistic engagement is driven by the ongoing, profound transformations of the built environment in Asian cities at the turn of the 21st century. The work represents a significant shift from earlier modernist approaches to urban representation. The analysis is presented in Volume 13, Issue 3 of ARTMargins Online, a publication from 2024. The issue is copyrighted by both ARTMargins and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The specific article is authored by Nancy P. Lin and Iftikhar Dadi.
Key facts
- Artists across Asia are responding to dramatic urban transformations.
- These transformations have been ongoing since the late 20th and into the 21st century.
- Artists are moving beyond photojournalist, documentary, and modernist approaches.
- They incorporate the effects of specific sites into their artistic modes and processes.
- Site effects are sometimes integrated into the artists' materials.
- Creative approaches emerge from local and interregional contexts within Asia.
- The approaches are in dialog with Western urban aesthetic forms and traditions.
- The analysis is published in Volume 13, Issue 3 of ARTMargins Online in 2024.
Entities
Artists
- Nancy P. Lin
- Iftikhar Dadi
Institutions
- ARTMargins
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Locations
- Asia