Jun Yang’s work reflects his background as an immigrant, an experience shared in various ways by millions of people in the age of globalization. His work thus addresses specific issues of otherness, but usually from a much wider angle that bears on everyone’s life. Born in Zhejiang, China, but migrating to Europe as a child, the artist went through various stages of ‘naturalizing’ himself, a process in which he discovered not simply what it is to be an immigrant (legal or illegal), but also how one is acculturated into a ‘European citizen’ and what it costs to be a European (born or naturalized), or in fact to be a social being in general. Jun Yang, studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Akademie in Amsterdam, then at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien (Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna). Yang won the Schindler Artist in Residence Award Los Angeles (1998-2000) at the MAK Center for Arts and Architecture LA, and the Msgr. Otto Mauer-Preis (Award, 2005). Jun Yang lives and works in Taipei and Yokohama.

CHARWEI TSAI

Charwei Tsai utilizes a variety of media in a socially engaged, performative practice. At once highly personal yet general in concern, Tsai grounds her practice in a sense of global identity and the consequent implications. Geographical, social and spiritual concerns inform a body of work directed towards activating participation outside the confines of complacent contemplation. She has had solo exhibitions in Beijing, Bogota, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo, and her projects have been included in various international exhibitions, including J’en Rêve at Fondation Cartier, Paris, France (2005), the inaugural Singapore Biennale (2006), Thermocline of Art: New AsianWaves at ZKM Center of Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2007), Traces du Sacré at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2008), the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial (2009), Taiwan Calling at Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2010), Yokohama Triennale and Ruhrtriennale (both in 2011). In addition to her art practice, Tsai is the publisher of the biannual journal, Lovely Daze. Charwei Tsai currently lives and works in Taipei and Paris.

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