Ways of Marking Time

A homecoming event in Sydney to celebrate ArtAsiaPacific’s 25th anniversary and the opening of the 21st Biennale of Sydney—graciously hosted by art patrons Gene Sherman and Andrew Cameron—brought together many editors and contributors from the magazine’s early years in Australia, as well as young artists, students and writers. The gathering encapsulated our focus this year of looking forward and backward, while still savoring the effervescence of the present moment.

This juxtaposition is reflected in the main Features of our May/June issue. From the present we introduce Istanbul-based artist Cevdet Erek, whose conceptual, architectural installations are editor-at-large HG Masters attended one of Erek’s trance-like, solo drum performances at a bar in Istanbul, which initiated discussion of the artist’s multi-disciplinary practice. Masters recalls experiencing Erek’s earlier work from the 2015 Istanbul Biennial, : “The effect was of walking through a visually sparse space that nevertheless changed sonically with every step as different rhythms meshed together—in a reversal of the hierarchy between sight and sound.”