Manray HSU
Manray Hsu is an independent curator and art critic based in Taipei. He is co-founder and director (2010-2012) of Taipei Contemporary Art Center, editor-in-chief of ArtCo Magazine Mainland China edition (2013-2014), and teaches in art academies in Taiwan and abroad. Living and working in Berlin in early 2000s, Manray has worked with contemporary artists in Europe, including those from the former East.
Manray Hsu is an independent curator and art critic based in Taipei. He is co-founder and director (2010-2012) of Taipei Contemporary Art Center, editor-in-chief of ArtCo Magazine Mainland China edition (2013-2014), and teaches in art academies in Taiwan and abroad. Living and working in Berlin in early 2000s, Manray has worked with contemporary artists in Europe, including those from the former East.
Course Objectives:
As a driving force of modern and contemporary art, biennials have since the 1980s been a major trend on the global scale. The course looks back at the history of modern expos and biennials, the complex relationship between biennials and the development of modern art, analyses biennials in the context of cultural and political geography, of public culture, with a special focus on the biennials in Asia.
Course Outline:
- A brief history of international biennials: from Venice Biennale, to Sao Paul Biennial, Documenta, and to the emergence of new biennials since the late Cold War period.
- The global competition of new biennials, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region.
- The structure and organisation of biennials, their relationship to city marketing, cultural politics: A comparative study.
- The development of modern and contemporary art in its relationship to biennials.
Implementation method:
- Reading and discussing selected literature, including books and articles on biennials, catalogues of biennials.
- Visiting biennials: analysis and discussion of curatorial statements, display methodology, relationship between the exhibition and the works exhibited, the exhibition in the context of public culture, the reaction of the media and the audience.
Grading Policy:
Presentation 30%
Discussion and analysis 40%
Essay writing 30%