2019.04.02 Tue, by
HUGO BOSS ASIA ART 2019—Four Finalist Artists to be Announced

The Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai (RAM) and HUGO BOSS are honored to launch the 2019 edition of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists. Continuing from the successful collaboration in previous editions, the Award will maintain its focus on emerging artists from Greater China and Southeast Asia, exploring in depth innovative breakthroughs in artistic language, practice, and experience. As one of the most recognized contemporary art awards in Asia, the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists champions the diversity of emerging art in Asia on an aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural level, and moreover supports and promotes innovative artistic practices and thoughts, thereby offering artists further visibility.

This edition of the Award adheres to the nominating process set out in the last edition, with leading figures in the field of contemporary art in Asia invited to form diverse and inter-Asian committees of nominators and jurors; these include independent curators, internationally renowned artists, independent scholars, writers, as well as managers of cultural institutions. Following from the deliberations of the nominating committee, the finalist artists of the fourth edition of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award are: Hao Jingban (China), Hsu Che-Yu (Taiwan), Eisa Jocson (Philippines) and Phan Thảo Nguyên (Vietnam).

Situated in their own historic and cultural contexts, the four artists have individually developed their own distinctive artistic practices and pioneering artistic languages. Larys Frogier, the Director of the Rockbund Art Museum and the Chair of the Jury for the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART says: “Thanks to the great expertise and open-mindedness of our jury members, the finalist artists brilliantly contribute to the qualitative diversity of contemporary art practices in Asia, revisiting the formats of performance and choreography to question social codes and gender identities, embracing video, painting and installation to remake historical and current narratives. While they engage local contexts in their artworks, it is to remake histories, to dig out philosophical, social, cultural and universal perspectives that are at the opposite of any form of regionalism and conservatism. With its fourth edition, HUGO BOSS ASIA ART has also built a solid network in South East Asia and Greater China in order to enrich mutual knowledge in favor of artistic and curatorial development.”

“The HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award is a wonderful element in our Arts Sponsorship program. We are very happy to offer this platform to young talents for the fourth time, especially in such an important cultural context as Asia,” says Dr. Hjördis Kettenbach, Head of Cultural Affairs, HUGO BOSS AG.

The exhibition of the finalist artists for the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART 2019 will take place from October 18 to December 15,
2019 at Rockbund Art Museum, showing selected representative works as well as new commissioning artworks. The final winner of the Award will be announced in November 2019, who will receive the sum of 300 000 RMB, which will support the artist’s practice and development.

Since its foundation in 2013, the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists has brought together a network of collaborators throughout Asia that transcends regions and borders. This edition of the Award will invite past and current participants to take part in a series of discussions and events, allowing learning from each other, to spark exchanges and to seek out breakthroughs and collaborative possibilities. At the same time, a series of educational events in the form of lectures, workshops, among others, will also be open to the public. The aim is to connect the artists with the general public and to stimulate its desire to take part in art. The HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists is not only an important platform where emerging artists can gain recognition but also serves as an excellent occasion for the public to experience contemporary art in Asia.