Call for Participation

CAA College Art Association 102nd Annual Conference

DEADLINE EXTENDED: May 13, 2013

Contemporary Art and Radical Democracy in Asia

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 13, 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