Ken Lum's Writings Collection Examines Art World Power Dynamics and Identity
In 2020, Concordia University Press released 'Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life 1991-2018,' a 320-page collection by Ken Lum. This book gathers nearly thirty years of Lum's essays, reflections, and diary entries. A Vancouver native from a Cantonese background, Lum explores how cultural signals influence the interpretation of images, focusing on issues like non-identity, colonialism, and the politics surrounding public art. The volume includes a preface by Kitty Scott and features a visual essay. Lum challenges prevailing Eurocentric narratives and critiques the art world's consensus, drawing on the ideas of thinkers such as Giorgio Agamben, while sharing insights from his experiences in Martinique and the Dakar biennial.
Key facts
- Ken Lum's book 'Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life 1991-2018' was published in 2020 by Concordia University Press.
- The 320-page collection spans writings from 1991 to 2018, organized chronologically by decade.
- Lum is a conceptual artist born in Vancouver to a working-class Cantonese family.
- The book includes a preface by curator Kitty Scott and opens with a visual essay of juxtaposed images.
- Lum explores themes of non-identity with the art system, colonialism, and art in public space.
- He references thinkers Giorgio Agamben and Okwui Enwezor, and artist Hans Haacke.
- Lum discusses teaching in Fort de France, Martinique, and visiting the Dakar biennial in 1998.
- His public art includes 'Melly Shum Hates Her Job' in Rotterdam and work with Monument Lab in Philadelphia.
Entities
Artists
- Ken Lum
- Andre Malraux
- Karyn Olivier
- Giorgio Agamben
- Okwui Enwezor
- Hans Haacke
- Chen Zhen
- Ian Wilson
- Steven Henry Madoff
- Paul Farber
- Amelia Jones
- Luc Boltanski
- Eve Chiapello
- Alexander Alberro
- Cristina Albu
Institutions
- Concordia University Press
- Sharjah Biennial
- Stanford University Press
- Fundación Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla
- MIT Press
- Monument Lab
- Witte de With
- Sass-Fee Summer Institute of Art
- Verso
- ARTMargins Online
Locations
- Montreal
- Canada
- Vancouver
- Hong Kong
- St. Louis
- Philadelphia
- United States
- Brooklyn
- NYC
- New York
- Rotterdam
- Netherlands
- Fort de France
- Martinique
- Dakar
- Senegal
- Nairobi
- Kenya
- London
- United Kingdom
- Seville
- Spain
- Cambridge
- Massachusetts
Sources
- ARTMargins —
- ARTMargins —