In cartographies of contemporary art, the Asiatic region still figures as a barely explored territory. Despite some isolated attempts in the past few years - whether in solo exhibitions or in the form of nationally representative presentations -, the varied productions coming from the Far East are still strangely underrepresented in the Western culture industry. In addition to this, any mediatory endeavours tend as often as not to be coloured by »exoticisation« and »orientalisation« as soon as the gaze wanders from West to East.
In order to call into question the inevitability of such »orientalisms« regarding the Asiatic region, the December issue of springerin engages with the »Far East« on a dialogic basis. Authors from Taiwan (Kuan-Hsing Chen), India (Nancy Adajania) or Kazakhstan (Julia Sorokina) have been invited to reflect on specific problems in local cultural scenes. The fact that the imperialistic culture of the - US-dominated - West is so often mentioned is just as significant as the attempt to formulate purposeful counter-programmes opposing neo-imperial »annexations« (see the article by the Chinese-American author Rey Chow). Apart from the specific inner-Asiatic problems arising from a sustained process of »de-colonisation« (Chen), however, a number of self-confident and critical artistic approaches have also developed over the past few years. This is demonstrated by the feature articles in this issue about the scenes in Burma (Keiko Sei) or South Korea (Gregor Jansen), which are at present gaining momentum.
In view of the breadth and complexity of Asiatic territories, it goes almost without saying that any first engagement of any real scope with the »Far East« must of necessity remain incomplete and fragmentary. »Far East« nonetheless endeavours, as many past issues of springerin have also done, to place newly involving »artscapes« between diaspora and local fields of power. This is intended not only to put a spotlight on the West-East intellectual projections that still dominate, but also to support »orientalism-critical« counter-projects.