A roundup of ArtReview Asia’s spring reading recs
Nightmare Wallpaper, 140928 – 190701, by Pak Sheung Chuen, Para Site, HK$360 (hardcover)
During the Umbrella Movement in 2014, when Hongkongers took to the streets demanding more transparent elections, Pak Sheung Chuen, who made a career out of gently interventionist conceptual gestures, felt his art was out of touch with political reality. So he joined protesters in the occupation of the city centre… continue reading
Winter in Sokcho, by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, Daunt Books Originals, £9.99 (softcover)
She doesn’t have a name, or at least no one speaks it. She works in a quiet, dilapidated guesthouse in Sokcho, a fishing town and popular holiday destination in northern South Korea. It’s off-season, desolate and cold. Unsure of what she wants in life, she is adrift… continue reading
An Ecotopian Lexicon, edited by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson and Brent Ryan Bellamy, University of Minnesota Press, $24.95 (softcover)
Like microplastics, mentions of the Anthropocene have been everywhere for a while now. From articles about climate change to scholarly essays on psychotherapy (‘ecological grief’, anyone?), the current geological epoch named after humankind’s impact on earth is inescapable (even if you don’t believe in it)… continue reading
The Emperor of China’s Ice, by Jun Yang, illustrated by Yuuki Nishimura, Verlag für Moderne Kunst, €15 (hardcover)
A catalogue in the form of a children’s book, or a children’s book in the form of a catalogue, The Emperor of China’s Ice explores the myth that inspired Jun Yang’s 2018 contribution to the Austrian Sculpture Park in Graz… continue reading
