the end of Art

warm sand beneath naked sun-spoiled feet, with palm trees growing tall along the edges of an immaculately white beach. the endless sky pouring into an impeccable azure sea... you get the picture. everybody does. this image was invented centuries ago by early explorers of tropical regions like southeast asia. from there it was carried to the explorer's european home countries and their audiences amplified the tale of a paradise far away. agents of the following colonial administrations used photographic apparati to document 'otherness' and 'exotism' of indigenous cultures. the experience of said documents has since shaped western perceptions of asian cultures. the documents have been reproduced obsessively, countless times in countless forms. throughout time the old photographs have been replaced by ones shot with newer, better cameras. the majority of the images have never changed their context of documenting 'exotic otherness' though. the post card motif captured by the tourist/explorer as photographic evidence was copied on to the glossy catalogues of travel agencies, and finally today, the idea of a tropical paradise is pouring onto our various viewing screens in form of millions of moving pixels. the tropical paradise is a collective fantasy, a mantra that has been repeated for centuries.

"In the painting, Raden Saleh is said to show his views of the colonialist governments from deliberately making the Dutch look pompous and proud, but somehow imbalanced. The Javanese, on the other hand, were depicted as somehow more balanced in composition."

the end of Art wants to provide a platform for talented artists who may have not yet climbed the ivory tower of the international art market but have accomplished a genuine body of exceptional artworks. the aim is to bring quality art from southeast asia to the thriving art scene of berlin, and potential buyers in europe.
from the end of april i am planning an extended visit to southeast asia. most of the time i will be rummaging art spaces of bangkok and chiang mai looking to meet new artists and collect artworks to present on the site. drop me an e-mail if you know an artist or artspace i must not miss!

does art exist to be consumed by egocentric creatures at gallery openings, or to cater solely to the tastes of the out-of-proportion international art-market? no. art can do a lot more than that. in essence, it is culture's department for research and development. art has the ability to enhance the life of the individual as much as it can benefit, perhaps even transform(?), society as a whole. the work of art does not necessarily have to be observed as isolated fictional construct but has the power to provide new angles on any subjectmatter and thus is well explored as an ingredient to interdisciplinary ventures and in various social/developmental settings.
'theendofArt' was born from an idea g.w.f. hegel articulated in the 19th century and arthur danto rediscovered at the end of the 20th century.

"In our narrative, at first only mimesis [imitation] was art, then several things were art but each tried to extinguish its competitors, and then, finally, it became apparent that there were no stylistic or philosophical constraints. There is no special way works of art have to be. And that is the present and, I should say, the final moment in the master narrative. It is the end of the story"

Therefore, at "The End of Art" we are not at loss but at the beginning of the end of art restricted by institutions of the nation state. the consumer as well as the creator have gained a large chunk of freedom in the way they choose and interact with a work of art.
contemporary art of the southeast asian region emerged within the ferocious rule of the colonial powers of the time. western culture swept across the region leaving profound transformations and sometimes lasting trauma to indigenous cultures. when colonial powers finally left the young nation states, they left behind cultural and political tension soon to be explored by artists. analogous pressures are at work today, fueled by another world-wide imperialism, sometimes refered to as globalisation. artists of the pacific have faced and assimilated these pressures many times and from it created works of astonishing impact. 'theendofArt' wants to investigate these artworks emphasizing a view detached from common 'oriental' or 'tropical' stereotypes.

“Art is not a notion but a motion. It’s not important what art is but what it does.”

In agreement with g. deleuze we would like to spend less time thinking about what art is, and instead explore it as method to achieve new angles on any subject-matter. history has made manifold attempts at categorizing and politicising 'the arts'. at the end of this trend we realize that art does not need national borders. the opposite rather: art has the ability to challenge and overcome political and economic institutions, and perhaps even to render the concept of nation states as outdated all together. even if this is true, speaking adequately about art calls for focus on certain details amidst the blurr. the end of Art chooses to pinpoint its center of attention roughly in contemporary southeast asia. a region of overwhelming diversity. a region never quite tamed into the categories of the globalized world. a region which has yet had only its surface inspected by the international art-market machinery. the geographic and historical focus of the end of Art is not meant to suppress the opportunity to write about interesting related topics outside the box as well. the end of Art strives to nourish critical and conceptual thinking about the world of art. it seeks to explore new aspects and locations of contemporary art. this platform aims at creating a space for interdisciplinary exchange, and a vantage point overlooking the potentiality of southeast asian art.

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