Call for Papers:
Contemporary Art and Radical Democracy in Asia

Session at the College Art Association Conference, Chicago

Sohl Lee, University of Rochester, sohl.leegmail.com
Bo Zheng, China Academy of Art, mr.bo.zhenggmail.com

How has the idea of democracy motivated radical art in Asia? How have
Asian artists imagined radical forms of democracy? We invite papers to
reflect on how Asian artists have engaged with, reinvented, and
radicalized the notion of democracy since the 1960s. This panel will not
only cast a much-needed theoretical perspective to the study of
contemporary Asian art; it will also enrich global discussions on
critical art and the renewal of democratic ideals.

The question of political representation has always been one of the key
driving forces behind artistic productions in Asia. Whether in
authoritarian regimes or democratized states, art has provided a fertile
ground to imagine alternatives to existing political orders. The panel
will consider topics including but not limited to: How did Chinese
artists work with the idea of daminzhu (mass democracy) during and after
the Cultural Revolution? How have Indian artists conjured radical
enclaves in the world's largest democracy? How did artists in South
Korea contribute to minjung undong (People's Movement) in the 1980s, and
how have they continued to reinvigorate the notion of publics after the
country instituted a democratic system in 1987? What can we discern in
the recent surge of activist art in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, and
Japan? And how are new media artists in Asia using online technologies
to push the political and conceptual boundaries of democracy?

In recent years, the theory of radical democracy put forward by Chantal
Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau in the mid-1980s has inspired lively
discussions on "antagonistic art" (Bishop), "dialogical aesthetics"
(Kester), and "social practice" (Esche, Sholette, Jackson) in Europe and
North America. Building on these discussions, this panel also aims to
draw insights from the writings by Asian theorists such as Dipesh
Chakrabarty, Wang Hui, and Karatani Kojin.

We welcome proposals from artists, historians, and theorists. Papers can
(a) focus on a specific country/region, (b) adopt a comparative
approach, or (c) propose new theoretical frameworks.

Please send a preliminary abstract of 1-2 double-spaced pages and a CV
by May 6, 2013 to sohl.leegmail.com and mr.bo.zhenggmail.com.


CAA guidelines are available at:
http://www.collegeart.org/proposals/2014callforparticipation
http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/2014CallforParticipation.pdf