Apr 21–Jul 3, 2017
“Misfits”: Pages from a loose-leaf modernity
Tang Chang, Rox Lee and Bagyi Aung Soe
Exhibition, public program
Apr 21–Jul 3, 2017
The exhibition “Misfits” is devoted to three individuals of late modernism or proto-contemporary art from Southeast Asia: Tang Chang, Rox Lee and Bagyi Aung Soe. The oeuvres of these three artists are currently at the threshold of art historical canonization.
Pages from a loose-leaf modernity: How can outsider figures in modern art question the framing narratives of art history—the bounds of national narratives as much as those that organize global contemporary art? How is visibility generated and art validated? The three artists Tang Chang, Rox Lee, and Bagyi Aung Soe defy clear classification, developing their work outside of art’s institutions. Their consciously marginal positions suggest alternative criteria for canonization: refusing patterns of identification, developing a critical transnational consciousness, and understanding modernity and the present as a precarious, contested state. With concrete poetry and abstract expressionism, experiments in performance, comics, animated film, and above all, drawing, “Misfits” showcases work from personal archives that haven’t previously been accessible to a wider public.
Curated by David Teh in collaboration with Yin Ker, Merv Espina and Mary Pansanga
Kanon-Fragen under the artistic direction of Anselm Franke
Part of Kanon-Fragen
