JAN/FEB 2009

VOLUME 40 - NUMBER 1

This issue, our 435th, marks our 40th anniversary. Founded in January 1970 as a journal on Asian culture, art and travel, Orientations began to focus solely on Asian art in 1981. Since then, we have successfully responded to the interests of collectors, while providing a platform for new research and information from museums and the academic world. Our coverage and analysis of the art market continues to provide insights into the latest prices and collecting trends.

Like our first contemporary Chinese art issue in July 1992 and our more recent June 2007 issue on modern and contemporary Asian art, our January/February issue is an example of our continued quest to break new ground. The authors take a critical look at Asian contemporary art. Sook-Kyung Lee discusses a selection of Korean artworks that reflect the view of reality as something fabricated. Hammad Nasar looks at innovating through tradition and the art of the everyday in Pakistan. Mathew Larking reveals that Japanese contemporary art bracketed as nihonga does not in fact deviate from 'traditions'. Alonzo Emery explores Western criticism of Chinese contemporary art in two very different recent treatments, while Wu Hung examines four artists' responses to the Three Gorges Project.

We also interview Judith Neilson, who recently opened a museum of contemporary Chinese art in Sydney, and Anurag Khanna, who collects Indian and Pakistan art.

We thank the specialists who have contributed to the success of Orientations, and our readers and advertisers for their support.

FEATURES
Iside Carbone. 'The Celestial Empire: From the Terracotta Army to the Silk Road'
Sanjyot Mehendale. Framing Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage
Wu Hung. The Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art
Alonzo Emery. 'Nine Lives' and Cat Fights in Contemporary Chinese Art Criticism
Matthew Larking. The Present Representing the Past: Nihonga in the Expanded Field
Hammad Nasar. Pakistan: An Art of Extremes
Sook-Kyung Lee. Between the Real and the Fabricated: A View on Contemporary Korean Art
PREVIEWS & REVIEWS
Fair Review: Hong Kong International Asian Art Fair 2008
Katherine R. Tsiang. Book Review: Anthony J. Barbieri-Low: Artisans in Early Imperial China, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2007
Katherine R. Tsiang. Book Review: Robert E. Harrist Jr: The Landscape of Words: Stone Inscriptions from Early and Medieval China, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 2008
INTERVIEWS
Interview with Anurag Khanna
Interview with Judith Neilson
COMMENTARY
Jeremy Eckstein. Commentary: The Art Market Today: Navigating a New Economic Environment
Adalbert J. Gail. Letter: A Note on John Huntington's The Record of a 'Broken Date' in Paris: A Review of the Catalogue 'Art of the Ganges Delta'