(Mar 27, Hong Kong) 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, Hsu Che-Yu, Eisa Jocson and Thảo-Nguyên Phan.

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 January 5, 2020 at Rockbund Art Museum, curated by Billy Tang, Senior Curator of 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.

About the Finalist Artists

Hao Jingban

Born in 1985,Hao Jingban currently lives and works in Beijing. Through a wide range of found footage, recordings, archival material, interviews and voiceovers, Hao engages with complex historical narratives and social movements by exploring the structures of experimental, documentary and essay film. Her solo exhibitions include New Directions: Hao Jingban (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2016) and Over-Romanticism (Taikang Space, Beijing, 2016). Group exhibitions and screenings include Hao Jingban: Beijing Ballroom (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA, 2018); Special Economic Zone (Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China, 2018); FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art (Cleveland, USA, 2018); Prospectif Cinéma: Performing Dramas I (Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2017); 11th Shanghai Biennale: Why Not Ask Again? (The Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2016).

Hsu Che-Yu

Born in 1985, Hsu Che-Yu currently lives and works in Taipei. He primarily creates animations, videos and installations that explore the relationship between media and memories. The artist is concerned with issues that go beyond not only with how historical events can be traced through media, but also the construction and visualization of memories, be they private or collective. His recent exhibitions include: Shanghai Biennale: Proregress (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2018); London Design Biennale: Emotional States (Somerset House, London, 2018); Rencontres Internationales (Forum des Images/Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Paris/Berlin, 2018); International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, 2018); BANGKOK BIENNIAL: Cinema Taipei (Cho Why, Bangkok, 2018) ; EXiS, Experimental Film And Video Festiva, Digital Break (Sonje Art Center, Seoul, 2017); Time Test: International Video Art Research Exhibition (CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, 2016).

Eisa Jocson

Born in 1986, Eisa Jocson currently lives and works in Manila. She is a contemporary choreographer and dancer from the Philippines, originally trained as a visual artist with a background in ballet. From pole to macho dancing to hostess work, Eisa investigates the labour and representations of the dancing body in the service industry. She is also concerned with identity and gender formation, as well as Filipino social mobility. Her work has toured extensively in major performing arts festivals and biennials worldwide, including Tanz im August, Berlin (2013 & 2015), Zurich Theater Spektakel (2012, 2013, 2015, 2017), Theatre der Welt, Germany (2014), Asia Triennial of Performing Arts, Melbourne (2017), and Sharjah Biennial (2019).

Thảo-Nguyên Phan

Born in 1987,Thảo-Nguyên Phan currently lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. Phan is a multimedia artist whose practice encompasses painting and installation. Through literature, philosophy and daily life, Phan observes the ambiguities of social convention, history, and tradition. She has exhibited widely in Vietnam and abroad, with solo and group exhibitions at Sharjah Biennale (2019), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (2018); Dhaka Art Summit (2018); Para Site, Hong Kong (2018); Factory Contemporary Art Centre, Ho Chi Minh City (2017); Nha San Collective, Hanoi (2017); Bétonsalon, Paris (2016); Goethe-Institut, Hanoi (2015); Institute for Contemporary Arts Singapore (2014); Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (2013). In addition to her work as a multimedia artist, she is a co-founder of the collective Art Labor.

Jury and experts involved

Members of the 2019 HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Jury:

Larys Frogier, Director, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai and Chair of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Jury

Cao Fei, Artist, Beijing

Patrick D. Flores, Art Historian, Curator and Artistic Director, Singapore Biennale, Manila

Gridthiya Gaweewong, Artistic Director, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok

Sunjung Kim, President, Gwangju Bienniale Foundation, Seoul

Carol Yinghua Lu, Director, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing

Nominators of 2019 HUGO BOSS ASIA ART:

Nikita Choi, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Times Museum, Guangzhou

Ade Darmawan, Artist and Curator, Jakarta

Inti Guerrero, Director, Belles Artes Project, Manila and Hong Kong

Hsu Fang-Tze, Independent Researcher and Curator, Taipei and Singapore

Hsieh Feng-Rong, Senior Curator, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai

Dinh Q. Lê, Artist, Ho Chi Minh City

Alvin Li, Contributing Editor, frieze, Shanghai

Seng Yujin, Senior Curator, The National Gallery Singapore, Singapore

Judha Su, Writer and Curator, Bangkok

Chantal Wong, Independent Curator, Hong Kong

About Rockbund Art Museum

For over nine years Rockbund Art Museum has been at the forefront of the growing contemporary art scene in China, presenting world-class programs in a unique museum setting. A boutique Museum of the utmost quality, RAM holds a unique position within Shanghai’s continually expanding cultural scene. The Museum is located within the Bund district and housed in an exquisite heritage Art Deco building, which was renovated by architect David Chipperfield before opening in 2010.

The museum’s exemplary curatorial, education and research programs showcase acclaimed and emerging Chinese and international artists. RAM presents a bold and pioneering program of three exhibitions and a special project “RAM HIGHLIGHT” per year, exploring and realizing artists’ most ambitious projects and working with them to tailor exhibitions to the Museum and to the Shanghai context, often with a large proportion of works being new commissions. RAM devises, produces and curates its program in-house, in conjunction with carefully selected international collaborations of the highest quality. For more information, please visit: www.rockbundartmuseum.org

About the HUGO BOSS Global Arts Program

Contemporary art is an integral part of the HUGO BOSS corporate culture. In conjunction with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum the Group established the HUGO BOSS PRIZE in 1996 which has evolved into an internationally renowned art award. The prize was complemented by the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award in 2013. HUGO BOSS has also supported numerous international exhibitions. To date, these have presented works by Ross Bleckner (1995), Georg Baselitz (1995 and 1996), Dennis Hopper (2001), James Rosenquist (2003), Olafur Eliasson (2005) and Josephine Meckseper (2007). In 2012, HUGO BOSS sponsored the solo exhibition of Jeff Koons at the Fondation Beyeler in Switzlerland. Since 2014, the Group has started a special partnership with the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, supporting exhibitions like “Konstantin Grcic Panorama” (2014), “The Bauhaus #itsalldesign” (2015/2016) and “An Eames Celebration” (2017).

About HUGO BOSS

The HUGO BOSS Group is one of the leading companies in the upper premium segment of the apparel market that focuses on the development and marketing of premium fashion and accessories for men and women. The product portfolio offers menswear, womenswear, as well as licensed fragrances, eyewear, watches, children‘s fashion, home textiles and writing instruments.

Further information on the company can be found at group.hugoboss.com.