Saht 1001 Essay Plan

Since its conception Modernism has primarily been a Eurocentric colonial narrative characterised by the influence of the Industrial Revolution. Central to this narrative was the notion of progress, symptomatic of the era’s ushering of socioeconomic change through technological advancement and the rise of empirical thought. Subsequently, the interplay between the idea of progress and gross techno-scientific growth was argued to facilitate the actualisation of a utopia. However, through the works of Asia Pacific artists an alternative canon is presented, one that critiques and scrutinises the utopia progression and technological growth supposedly creates. By presenting a dystopian surveillance state, the decay and deconstruction of identity as a result of the creation of a dystopia, and both the literal and metaphorical destruction of modernist values, Asia Pacific artists offer a narrative in which this utopia is a fallacy. Ai Wei Wei’s examination of the implications of a dystopian society of control and the atmosphere of paranoia such a society fosters critiques the liberty and democracy progression theoretically cultivates. Le Bul’s materialisation of the repercussions of a cybernated culture and the subsequent perpetuation of a sense of isolation from one’s identity challenges the Modernist valorisation of homogeneity. Japanese Noise band, Hijokaidan’s, resistance to technological advancement through the physical destruction of their sets challenge the consumer technology’s intended use, thereby undermining its significance in the representation of Japanese innovation. The works of Ai Wei Wei, Le Bul and Hijokaidan are indicative Asia Pacific artists’ subversion of the Modernist idea of progress and utopia.

1. The critique of a dystopian surveillance state

• Ai Wei Wei’s critique of the dystopian surveillance state accentuates and evokes a sense paranoia.

o Surveillance Camera (2010) scrutinises