No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia is the first touring exhibition of the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, a multi-year collaboration that charts contemporary art practices in three major geographic regions: South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. Presenting recent works by artists from the region, No Country introduces audiences to some of the most challenging and inventive voices in South and Southeast Asia today.

The exhibition premiered in New York at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (22 February–22 May 2013) and was on view at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center (October 30–February 16, 2014). It will be presented in Singapore at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), a national research centre of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), at Gillman Barracks, from May 10, 2014, to July 20, 2014.

This exhibition, curated by June Yap, invites audiences to engage with some of the region’s most inventive artists. No Country calls for a closer examination of the ways in which South and Southeast Asia’s cultures and the relationships between them are represented, proposing a renewed understanding that transcends physical and political boundaries. Grouped according to four themes—reflection and encounter, intersections and dualities, diversities and divisions, and the desire for unity and community—the works in No Country explore the region’s complex aesthetic, economic, historical, and political territories. 

Participating Artists include:
Amar Kanwar (New Delhi, India)
Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo (Bandung, Indonesia)
Bani Abidi (Karachi, Pakistan)
Navin Rawanchaikul (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
Norberto Roldan (Roxas City, Philippines)
Poklong Anading (Manila, Philippines)
Reza Afisina (Bandung, Indonesia)
Sheela Gowda (Bhadravati, Karnataka, India)
Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai, India)
Sopheap Pich (Battambang, Cambodia)
Tang Da Wu (Singapore)
Tayeba Begum Lipi (Gaibandha, Bangladesh)
The Otolith Group (London, United Kingdom)
Tran Luong (Hanoi, Vietnam)
Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam)
Vincent Leong (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

A Message from the Curator: 
No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia is the first exhibition of a multi-year initiative, conceived by the Guggenheim in collaboration with UBS, which charts contemporary art and creative activity across three geographic regions. Featuring recent acquisitions in painting, sculpture, video, film, work on paper, and installation, it attempts to engage critically with the region on its own terms. No Country proposes a reevaluation of the region and its countries based on its cultural relationships, influences, affinities and negotiations. It offers a glimpse into the region’s diverse contemporary art practices and presents the possibility of understanding its countries as greater than the contents of their political and geographical boundaries.

Challenging romanticised perceptions of the region, the artworks in No Country lay bare a complex set of conditions that resulted from the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires, and which bear the historical traces of colonization and the often-traumatic birth of nations. These works explore universal themes of national identity and community, cultural knowledge, power and faith. The exhibition’s title–drawn from the opening line of the W. B. Yeats powm “Sailing to Byzantium” (1928) that is references in the title of Cormac McaCarthy’s 2005 novel No Country for Old Men–alludes to this transformative journey, one which eludes simple delineation.

 –June Yap, Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, South and Southeast Asia

In conjunction with the exhibition, the CCA offers a range of free Public Programmes and Guided Tours, including school and group tours. 

Discover the inspiration behind No Country and find out how the exhibition explores ideas of nation and community through June Yap’s essay. Download ebook | Interactive PDF

Learn more about the artists through images of their works, resources and more. 

Find out more about the exhibition and its themes by watching Guggenheim UBS MAP videos or listening to our audio playlists.