For the cover feature of Issue 129, Yuki Kihara spoke to assistant editor Nicole M. Nepomuceno about “Paradise Camp,” the New Zealand Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. Kihara shared her art-historical research leading up to the project, her collaboration with the Fa’afafine community in Samoa, and her approaches to subverting heteronormative conceptions of paradise. The six-decade-plus practice of Ha Chong-Hyun, whose experimental work is also being celebrated in a solo exhibition in Venice this year, is the focus of our second feature, written by Seoul desk-editor Andy St. Louis. For our third feature, contributor Portia Placino takes readers to Sagay City, on the Philippine island of Negros, where Nunelucio Alvarado is based. Since the 1970s, Alvarado has been invested in the communities of Negros, particularly its migrant workers, or sacadas. In Up Close, the editors examine new works by Chu Chun-Teng, Tap Chan, and Jennifer Tee. Inside Burger Collection features an interview with the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset. Profiles spotlight Hong Kong’s representative artist at the 59th Venice Biennale, Angela Su, and the Mumbai-born Amol K. Patil, who is participating in documenta fifteen. Deputy editor and deputy publisher HG Masters’ essay reflects on the discussions held at Sharjah Art Foundation’s March Meeting 2022, titled “The Afterlives of the Postcolonial.” Desk editor Hutch Wilco files a dispatch from Shanghai, where a zero-Covid policy has severely damaged the city’s art scene. In The Point, artist Ahmet Ogut shares lessons and values from artists he considers his mentors. Rushdi Anwar reflects on the influence of 17th-century Persian-Iranian philosopher Mulla Sadra Shirazi on his own multimedia works, in One on One. Lastly, for Where I Work, Los Angeles desk editor Jennifer S. Li visited the studio of painter and sculptor Hanna Hur, whose relationship with the recurring motifs and inspirations behind her practice is continually deepening.
