P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center is the only American venue for Cities on the Move, an international project exploring the art, architecture, urban planning, and social climate of Asian cities. Traveling to ten sites worldwide, Cities on the Move is a gathering of artists and architects critically addressing questions arising from rapid modernization, globalization, the introduction of new technologies, explosive population growth, and the current financial crisis in Asian cities. An ongoing discussion, Cities on the Move realizes itself differently with each presentation. Cities on the Move 3 at P.S.1 features what curators Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Hou Hanru describe as “realized, unrealized, or only-partially realized city-related projects and concrete utopias.” Artists’ projects are embodied in projected media, installations, architectural drawings, and performances.
Cities on the Move 3 at P.S.1 is a concentration of thoughts and visions of cities. Suspended screens in P.S.1’s voluminous third-floor galleries catch the interwoven images of over thirty artists’ projected works reacting to themes of consolidation, complexity, reciprocity, acceleration, and traffic. The exhibition presents a range of contrasting perspectives, from Chinese artist Xu Tan’s immediate interventionism to Japanese architect Arata Isozaki’s euphoric optimism. With over eighty-six participants, Cities on the Move 3 presents a multitude of perspectives, challenging notions of a “typical” Asian city or a collective Asian identity. The exhibition offers Western audiences a glimpse of profound changes taking place in Asian art and architecture and provokes discussion of more universal issues in visual and architectural culture, as well as social changes that extend beyond the borders of continents.
Cities on the Move 3 at P.S.1 is the occasion of the New York debut of several prominent artists and architects. Among them, architect Aaron Tan, co-director of the OMA Asia; artist Aglaia Konrad, whose encyclopedic practice is well-known in Europe; David d’Heilly, a U.S.-born artist who has exhibited almost exclusively in Asia; artist Judy Freya Sibayan; designer and artist Liew Kung Yu; and artist Yukata Sone. Cities on the Move 3 also marks the return to P.S.1 of Cai Guo-Qiang and Soo-Ja Kim, both of whom participated in the Studio Program at the museum.
A comprehensive list of artists participating in Cities on the Move 3 follows:
Arahmaiani, Nobuyoshi Araki, Duangrit Bunnag, Cai Guo Qiang, Yung Ho Chang, Chen Shaoxiong, Chen Zhen, Chi Ti-Nan, Choi Jeong Hwa, Edge: Michael Chan & Gary Chang, Buero Friedrich, Geng Jianyi, Simryn Gill, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Hanayo, Itsuko Hasegawa, Harvard Project on the City: Shopping, 2dk: David d’Heilly & Kayoko Ota, Herzog & de Meuron, Tao Ho, Takashi Homma, Huang Chin-Ho, Huang Yong Ping, Huang Chin-Ho, Arata Isozaki, Sumet Jumsai, Chitti Kasemkitvatana, Kay Ngee Tan, Eric Khoo Kim Hai, Kiyonori Kikutake, Jinai Kim, Soo-Ja Kim, Kim Yun-Tae, Takeshi Kitano (a.k.a. Beat Takeshi), Karl-Heinz Klopf, Aglaia Konrad, Koo Jeong-A, Rem Koolhaas, Kisho Kurokawa, Surasi Kusolwong, Lee Bul, Liang Ju-Hui, Liew Kung Yu, William Lim Associates, Lin Yilin, Liu Thai Ker, Ken Lum, Greg Lynn, Maki and Associates, @rchi Media-Fiona Meadows/Frédéric Nantois, Sohn-Joo Minn, Rudi Molacek, Matthew Ngui, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Ellen Pau, Navin Rawanchaikul & Rirkrit Tiravanija, Jesse Reiser & Nanako Umemoto, Kazuyo Sejima & Jin Hosoya, Seung H-Sang, Shen Yuan, Shi Yong, Judy Freya Sibayan & Matt Gatton, Marintan Sirait & Andar Manik, Yutaka Sone, Margaritha Spiluttini, Sarah Sze, Aaron Tan & Louis Low, Fiona Tan, Tay Kheng Soon, Chandragupta Thenuwara, Wang Du, Wang Jianwei, Wang Jun-Jieh, Wong Hoy Cheong, Wong & Ouyang Associates, Xu Tan, Riken Yamamoto, Ken Yeang, Yin Xiuzhen, Yuan Shun, Zhan Wang, Zhang Peili, Zhen Guogu, Zhou Tiehai, Zhu Jia.
Initiated for the Secession in Vienna, Cities on the Move was previously on view at the capcMusée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux. Following its presentation at P.S.1, the exhibition will travel to the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, the Hayward Gallery in London, the Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki, to Bangkok as a city-intervention project, and to many other venues. Support for Cities on the Move 3 is provided in part by Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, and the Chinese Information and Culture Center, operated by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York. Additional support is provided in part by the Institut fuer Kulturfoerderung of the Country of Upper Austria and BKA-Department for Art. Special thanks go to the Secession, Vienna; the capcMusée, Bordeaux; the Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek; museum in progress, Vienna; and Buero Friedrich. The curators give their special thanks to Saskia Bos, de Appel.