The Asia Society Hong Kong Center presents No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia, the inaugural touring exhibition of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative. Featuring recent work by 13 artists from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, No Country presents some of the most compelling and innovative voices in South and Southeast Asia today. The exhibition was first seen in New York at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (February 22–May 22, 2013) as part of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, a multi-year collaboration charting contemporary art practice in three geographic regions—South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa—and encompassing curatorial residencies, international touring exhibitions, audience-driven educational programming, and acquisitions for the Guggenheim’s permanent collection. All works have been newly acquired for the Guggenheim’s collection under the auspices of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund. Following its presentation in Hong Kong, the exhibition will travel to Singapore.

No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia is curated by June Yap, Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, South and Southeast Asia, in collaboration with Asia Society Hong Kong Center. The exhibition includes 18 paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and mixed-media works by 13 artists. According to Ms. Yap, “There is a tremendous diversity of artistic practice in South and Southeast Asia, and certainly more artists and artworks than any single project can accommodate. In this exhibition, the intention is to present the range of aesthetic developments and subjects of interest to contemporary artists, and to challenge the privileging of nation and national narrative as a basis for understanding them. Accompanied by programs for engagement with different local audiences, No Country is more than an exhibition; it is a platform for discussion and exchange.”

The artists in the Hong Kong presentation are:

- Aung Myint (b. 1946, Yangon, Myanmar)
- Bani Abidi (b. 1971, Karachi, Pakistan)
- Reza Afisina (b. 1977, Bandung, Indonesia)
- Khadim Ali (b. 1978, Quetta, Pakistan)
- Shilpa Gupta (b. 1976, Mumbai, India)
- Vincent Leong (b. 1979, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
- Tayeba Begum Lipi (b. 1969, Gaibandha, Bangladesh)
- Tuan Andrew Nguyen (b. 1976, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
- Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook (b. 1957, Trad, Thailand)
- Vandy Rattana (b. 1980, Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
- Norberto Roldan (b. 1953, Roxas City, Philippines)
- Tang Da Wu (b. 1943, Singapore)
- Truong Tan (b. 1963, Hanoi, Vietnam)

Exhibition admission:

Adults (non-members): HK$30
Seniors (aged 60 or above) and individuals with disabilities: HK$15
Asia Society members, full-time students, aged 18 or below, and last Thursday of the month: FREE

Opening Hours:

Tues–Sun, 11 am-5 pm;
last Thursday of the month: 11 am –8 pm.
Closed on Mondays and public holidays (Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and the first two days of Chinese New Year)

-Asia Society Hong Kong

Image: Our Children, 2012. Galvanized steel, glass, and milk, three parts: 62 x 89 1/2 x 23 1/2, 26 1/4 x 44 1/2 x 12, and 8 1/2 x 3 1/8 inches (157.5 x 227.3 x 59.7 cm, 66.7 x 113 x 30.5 cm, and 21.6 x 7.9 x 7.9 cm), overall dimensions vary with installation
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Guggenheim UBS MAP Purchase Fund 2012.147 © Tang Da Wu

Installation view: No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, February 22–May 22, 2013.
Photo: Kristopher McKay © Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.