Medi(t)ation - 2011 Asian Art Biennial: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

'The 2011 Asian Art Biennial proposes the theme Medi(t)ation, a concept that reflects the trend across Asia towards an M-shaped societal structure and the related threats it poses, while presenting a strongly communicative Asian cultural stance and stressing methods for mediating conflicts and tensions.

'This biennial features 40 artists and collaboration groups from 21 Asian regions, including Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Vienna, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Australia, New Zealand, and artists from Central and West Asia as Iran, USA/Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Israel, and Pakistan. Presenting works in form of installation, painting, video, sculpture, onsite projects, performance, and interactive workshop to enrich the perspectives of Asian Art.

'Medi(t)ation is a neologism coined especially for this exhibition. This new term combines the two core concepts of mediation and meditation, stressing mediation of conflict while also standing for the longing for reconciliation inherent in the human spirit. By coining the term "M-shaped society," renowned Japanese economist and trends expert Kenichi Ohmae placed his finger on the changes to the social and economic structure we are currently undergoing. Medi(t)ation refers to exploring changing Asian culture, and how artists search for a middle ground between traditional values and modern cultural development amidst widely varying extreme influences; and how they look for the room for "cultural mediation" over the course of reflection and shifting power structures, to establish their position in the anxious area of global cultural competition.