Articles

Kalisolaite ‘Uhila is a Tongan performance artist based in New Zealand. In his 2011 work "Pigs in the Yard", 'Uhila challenged western notions and treatment of the pig. In traditional Tongan culture, the pig is sacred. 'Uhila's performance afforded pigs this reverence while challenging audiences to reappraise their relationship to these sentient creatures.

Fast-advancing AI technologies are throwing our notions of authorship and creativity again into flux. In creating their seventh album, Blossoms, the electronic music duo Emptyset created a machine-learning system to interpret their back catalog and recordings of improvisations. The musicians sought to identify results beyond mimicry and which constituted unique sonic expressions in and of themselves. What emerged was a bizarre, alien logic. Tobias Fischer interviewed the duo about the process.

Noise music in Taiwan emerged in the 1990s, a tumultuous period of social upheaval following the lifting of 38 years of martial law. In the frenzied atmosphere of street clashes and political demonstrations, artists explored previously taboo subjects and experimented with radical forms. It was in this context that Taiwan's noise movement was born. Jeph Lo witnessed the evolution and reflects on that messy but protean time. His article is accompanied by photographs of political demonstrations of the period by Leon Tsai and Tsai Ming-Te.

Sumitomo Fumihiko writes about the video works of Okinawan artist Chikako Yamashiro. Sumitomo writes that the artist deals with local political issues and a history of sexual violence by enveloping them into poetic meditations on nature and the instability of human desire.

Paul Celan is often called the greatest of postwar European poets. Barry Schwabsky looks back on Celan's life and work following the 100th anniversary of the poet's birth, and the 50th of his death.

The Brazil-based artist duo Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca produce films blurring the lines between fiction and documentary. Collaborating with their performers—often figures on the margins—the duo creates works that raise notions of visibility, self-representation, and the subversion of dominant cultural forms. Marcella Faustini spoke to the artists and wrote about their work.