Q&A: Josef Ng
Q&A: Josef Ng
December 19th, 2007
Josef is a familiar face in the Thai contemporary art scene. Apart from being an art critic, he’s also curated great shows at the seven-year-old gallery Tang Contemporary Art.
What appeals to you most about contemporary art?
Its chameleon-like role in addressing specifics in form and value, and its immense possibilities/impossibilities.
What’s the reason for Tang to highlight mostly artists from China?
Simply because we saw the potential in the works of Chinese contemporary artists a few years ago when the gallery decided to focus on contemporary art. At this moment, we still highlight mainly Chinese artists but this momentum will slowly be altered, as the gallery will be working with artists across the Asian region.
What’s next year’s plan for the gallery?
To start off 2008, we will have Thai conceptual artist Sakarin Krue-on for his first solo exhibition since his massive contribution in the Documenta 12 exposition this last summer. Then comes by a site-specific collaboration with Bed Supperclub for a Chinese artist. In the pipeline, there will be more Thai artists’ shows, a group exhibition of Indonesian contemporary art, another outdoor curatorial project with a German photographer, and I’m crossing my fingers for this, a multi-disciplinary project involving art, fashion, music, design and good electro-art!
What exactly does a curator do?
All I can say is being a curator is a 24/7 reality. Sleep deprivation is a regularity. Meeting up with artists, discussing exhibitions and artworks make up just a fragment of the daily chores. Especially for a contemporary art curator, you also need to be out there to imbibe all sense of today’s realities. In a nutshell, a curator needs to be informed and, at the same time, perform critically.
Are you always at an opening to talk to visitors?
I always appear in every show I curate, to talk succinctly about art to viewers not only as a selector of the artworks but also to translate the materials and spatial expressions those artworks represent. To relay the concepts that we actually bring into being through the act of exhibition. I am shy in nature so I do speak, but not too much during the exhibition openings. Better to find me during the normal gallery hours.
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