The latest in our “Lists” series, we bring you Art Radar’s 6 best articles on street art and artists around Asia. Street art is engaging, evolving, ephemeral and ever-changing, and its practitioners use the medium for a variety of reasons.
Kookoo, ‘Untitled’, 2013, spray paint. Image courtesy the artist.
April 2014
A feature-length documentary and multimedia project bring Manila’s flourishing and evolving street art scene to a global audience. In the first instalment of a three-part series, Art Radar introduces the Filipino Street Art Project, a transmedia project that delves into the Filipino street art scene in and around Metro Manila. Talking to artists, documenting and archiving walls and artworks around the city, the Project explores the broader meanings of street art and its universality.
Read more about the project: Part I, Part II and Part III
A tribute to those who lost their eyes, Mohamed Mahmoud street. Image by Dina.
October 2013
Street art is proving an effective form of “offline social media” in post-revolution countries. In a July 2012 episode of “Listening Post”, Al Jazeera’s weekly global media review, show producer Meenakshi Ravi provides insights into the appeal of street art and its success in inciting social and political changes across the Arab world.
Click here to read more about the video and street art in the region.
Afghanistan’s first female street artist Shamsia Hassani spoke to Lisa about the challenges she faces in Kabul. Image courtesy of the artist.
July 2013
Afghan artist boldly takes to the streets with a spray can and hope for a peaceful future. Shamsia Hassani, Afghanistan’s first female street artist, emerges as a spokesperson for women’s rights in Kabul. Art Radar spoke with the artist to find out more about visual arts in the post-conflict capital and her drive to prove that art is stronger than war.
Click here to read our interview with Shamsia Hassani.
Cyrcle., ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG: THE DOMESTICATION OF ALL THINGS! (Part 1)’, exhibition view “Work in Progress”, 2013. Image courtesy HKYAF.
June 2013
Hong Kong welcomes its largest ever exhibition of international street art, tapping into a contemporary art trend that is gaining legitimacy almost as fast as it is gaining popularity across Asia. A Hong Kong office has been transformed from disused space to street art show, pairing seven crews from the city’s nascent graffiti scene with seven international counterparts. The city’s largest exhibition of street art so far, “Work in Progress” marks another step on Asian graffiti’s journey to acceptance as contemporary art.
Click here to read more about the exhibition.
The graffiti wall on a warehouse in Kaohsiung. This is a collective graffiti work made by Maya, Reach, Jonone, Ismaeil Bahrani, Nunca, Zonenkinder, Dzus, David, Alexone from Soul Skool. Image courtesy Soul Skool.
May 2013
Legalisation of street art in Taiwan may signal a growing public acceptance of graffiti, but will it compromise the renegade spirit of the art practice? The southern city of Kaohsiung is paving the way for one of the most progressive street art policies in Taiwan. As reported in an article published in the Taipei Times in October 2012, the Kaohsiung City Government has, in response to artists’ requests and positive public feedback, expanded the areas in the city where graffiti artists can paint legally.
Click here to read more about street art scene in Kaohsiung and Taiwan.
JJ Adibrata, “Berbeda dan Merdeka 100 Persen”, 2012, Jakarta. Image courtesy ISAD.
August 2012
Street artists take initiative archiving Indonesia’s street art to record country’s urban culture and history. The Indonesia Street Art Database (ISAD) is an online portal that is setting out to archive the often ephemeral urban art of Indonesia. Art Radar sits down with ISAD director, Andi Rharharha, to find out more about this pioneering project.
Click here to read our interview with Andi Rharharha.
Want to look through our archives yourself? Click here to take a look at what else we have written on street art.
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Related Topics: lists, Hong Kong artists, Indonesian artists, Taiwanese artists, Filipino artists, Afghan artists, street art, public art
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