EURASIA - An Atlas
2023
Book, 17 x 24 cm, 400 pages.
Materials:
Collection: Collection M HKA / library.
Eurasia – An Atlas
In looking at Eurasia, this book is intended to focus our attention on an emerging reality of the 21st century, its relationship to visual art and culture and how this can help shape a new progressive internationalism. It is clear that a new geopolitical landscape is taking shape, yet it is not totally clear, for now at least, what exactly it may look and feel like.
The need for such a book as this lies in its reflections on the fact that the emerging Eurasia is creating the conditions of practice for artists. Eurasia – An Atlas offers various reflections on the flux of cultural practices, communication and exchanges. Seeking to map innovative practices and exchanges that reflect the plurality of cultures, collaborations and conceptions of Eurasia, with all its innovations and frictions, Eurasia – An Atlas is intended to explore the transformations and growing multipolarity of the supercontinent from the context of the artistic sphere. It takes the form of an atlas, mapping twenty-two keywords – references and concepts – which we connect to the notion of Eurasia. Each keyword then offers a variety of reflections on Eurasia from many different thinkers, artists and other cultural practitioners. Historical texts are included alongside new contributions offering pertinent insights of contemporary thinkers, looking at the situation today, as well as more speculative thoughts on the future. Key artworks and artistic positions additionally punctuate each key word. Furthermore, each contribution is accompanied by further terminology as part of a broader glossary, forming webs of meaning, and different opportunities for navigating the atlas. Inspired by the artistic imagination of artists, it will consider Eurasia as a landscape of mutability.
M HKA has a natural consciousness that is of multipolarity, with Eurasia as its cultural and conceptual space. In fact, Eurasia has been a key part of M HKA’s artistic trajectory and self-image for approximately twenty years. M HKA has, for example, engaged with artists from the former Soviet states, much of Asia and the Middle East, just as naturally as within its immediate locality in Antwerp, and our tip of Western Europe, sometimes referred to as the ‘Eurocore’ region. Also including a selection of works from the museum’s collection, this publication looks to consolidate M HKA’s long-term engagement with the plurality of culture to be found in Eurasia.
This publication follows the exhibition EURASIA – A Landscape of Mutability (M HKA, 8 October 2021–23 January 2022), as part of ‘Our Many Europes’, a project of the confederation L’Internationale.
Editors: Nav Haq and Joanna Zielińska
Assisted by: Nastya Stefanyuk
Design: Tariq Heijboer
Copy-editing and proofreading: Aaron Bogart, Eleonoor Jap Sam
Contributors: Alevtina Kakhidze, Aminudin TH Siregar, Anders Kreuger, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Bart De Baere, Bruno Maçães, Daniel Muzyczuk, Ekaterina Vorontsova, Erden Kosova, Diana Kudaibergenova, Grant Watson, Haegue Yang, Joanna Zielińska, Lin May Saeed, Naoki Sakai, Nav Haq, Nikolay Smirnov, Oleksiy Radynski, Pejvak, Quddus Mirza, Rana Dasgupta, Rana Hamadeh, You Mi, Yuk Hui, Zheng Mahler
Printing and binding: Graphius, Ghent, Belgium
Publishers:
M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp
Leuvenstraat 32
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
www.muhka.be
On sale (€34) at M HKA-shop for €34
