Shanghai/Metzingen, June 25, 2015 – Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) and HUGO BOSS are delighted to announce the six shortlisted artists for the second edition of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists today. The six artists selected in recognition of their artistic practice are; Guan Xiao (China), Huang Po-Chih (Taiwan, China), Moe Satt (Myanmar), Maria Taniguchi (Philippines), Vandy Rattana (Cambodia), and Yang Xinguang (China). The second edition of the Award returns with a focus on Greater China but also encompassing exciting artists from Southeast Asia, highlighting the rich possibilities for cultural exchange and dialogue across the regions included.

As part of the HUGO BOSS arts programme, the biannual Award aims to honour emerging contemporary artists who are in the early stages of their artistic creation and exhibition practices. “The HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award is an important element in our Arts Sponsorship program. We are very happy to offer this platform to young talents for the second time, especially in such an important cultural context as Asia”, says Dr. Hjördis Kettenbach, Head of Cultural Affairs, HUGO BOSS AG. In the second edition of HUGO BOSS ASIA ART, more in-depth research was conducted on artists from over ten countries in Asia. The six shortlisted artists were selected to participate in the upcoming HUGO BOSS ASIA ART group exhibition, conceived and curated by RAM. The exhibition will be shown from 30 October 2015 to 3 January 2016, with newly commissioned artworks to be created and unveiled specifically for the Award. The winner of the Award will be announced in November, and be chosen based on the exhibition, receiving a stipend of ¥300,000 to further develop the artist’s practice.

Larys Frogier, RAM Director and Chair of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART jury, elaborates on the conception of the accolade, “HUGO BOSS ASIA ART aims to develop long term and on-going examinations, combinations, confrontations between challenging topics and contexts. Indeed we consider Asia as a construction and as a question to investigate rather than a monolithic area and fixed identities. Asia is made of multi-sites to activate and to analyze in relation to its present on-going mutations, to its future development, and of course in articulation to its historical constructions.”

As a defining component of each edition of HUGO BOSS ASIA ART, a jury is in charge of nominating and selecting the shortlisted artists and the final winner. In 2015, the jury comprises a strong mix of independent and institutional members who have a deep knowledge on artists or projects in Asia. Their insights into the development of the contemporary art scene in Asia today, and their clear visions of the challenges and opportunities of the future, will stimulate a strong contribution to the evolution of contemporary art in Asia, through the Award.

The 2015 HUGO BOSS ASIA ART jury is chaired by Larys Frogier, Director of Rockbund Art Museum, and consists of: Alexandra Munroe Ph.D., Samsung Senior Curator, Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hou Hanru, Curator and Critic, Artistic Director of MAXXI, Rome; Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Founder and President of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Singapore; Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), and Curator of 11th Sharjah Biennale; Arlette Quỳnh-Anh Trần, Curator and Writer based in Vietnam; Amy Cheng, Independent Curator based in Taipei; Doryun Chong, Chief Curator at M+ Hong Kong; Duan Jianyu, Artist based in Guangzhou; Heman Chong, Artist, Curator and Writer based in Singapore; Karen Smith, Executive Director of OCAT Xi’an, based in Shanghai; Li Qi, Senior Curator at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, and Robin Peckham, Curator and Editor based in Hong Kong and Beijing.

Envisioned as an integral part of the Award, this edition will also present rich education programmes for the local and international publics. Consisting of two parts, IN-BETWEEN BORDERS and WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT AISA, these programmes continue to look into the region from diverse approaches, disciplines and subjects through leading thinkers and practitioners, with a special focus on the challenges in and between Greater China and Southeast Asia in contemporary art. The programme activities will take place at RAM, as well as in the home cities of the shortlist artists in Southeast Asia, from August 2015 through June 2016. A publication will be produced in 2016 to document the full contents of the programmes.