Traditional and contemporary in Asia 2019年2月28日

I think I start understanding an Asian issue about so-called “contemporary arts”: Why do we continue to call an art form “contemporary” when it’s related to the “Western” arts history? Why is it so difficult to get out of this system?
One of the reasons is probably that, in Asian contemporary arts industry, the most of people belong to the “progressive” part of the leading class, with a politically liberal mindset, and they don’t find themselves comfortable in “traditional” arts field.
So the problem is, in Asia, in so-called “traditional” arts fields, which means related to local history, it’s not easy to find a liberal or liberating feeling. But at the origin, most often, so-called traditional performing arts were born in a very politically liberating atmosphere. Just in the process of establishment and cultural westernization/colonization, they happened to become something conservative or even reactionary. If so, our (Asians’) urgent need is probably to rediscover this liberating feeling in our local history.

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