A selection of outstanding digital art creations from the inaugural "Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize" are displayed in a virtual exhibition open for public viewing until June 30.
Launched late last year to promote the burgeoning art scene in Southeast Asia, the art contest received a total of 204 entries from emerging artists in the region aged 18 to 40 who reflected the Swiss bank's next-generation investment themes -- Arising Asia, Digital Disruption, Energy Transition, Feeding The World, Future Cities, Shifting Lifestyles And Inequality, and Sustainability -- through digital art. However, only 20 finalists -- 10 from each category including still images and moving images -- were picked for a curated virtual display. Featuring a diverse range of narratives, moods and interests, the works range from cerebral engagements with big ideas; intimate, revealing portraits of individual lives; and humorous, whimsical images of everyday existence.
Highlights include I Do Miss Hospital Visit by Shwe Wutt Hmon from Myanmar, the first prize winner in the still images category who compares her suffering of chronic health issues to withered plants; and The Cup, a black and white video with sound that reflects on the lockdown in Singapore by two local filmmakers Mark Chua & Lam Li-Shuen, who won the first prize in the moving images category.
Also witness Clouds Obscure Then Blow Away, a colour video with sound by Pam Virada from Thailand, which was chosen as a finalist in the movie images category. Inspired by stories of the supernatural told by her Chinese grandmother, the work explores representations of the Chinese diaspora through narratives of animism, spirits and the inexplicable beyond everyday realities.
