In a fine example of (non-destructive) comment on public matters through the medium of public art, Copenhagen's Little Mermaid was dressed in a burka... See this article from Turkish Press.com, citing the AFP story.

Chinese artist Cai Zhisong, 29, has attracted a good deal of attention internationally for his sculptures. A new series called "Ode to Homeland", displayed in public outside the Chinese Art Gallery, Beijing, is attracting a fair amount of controversy, the subject of this story from the Xinhua News Agency.

From the story:

While many insiders cited Cai's fabulous technical skills and inventiveness as the reason for international recognition, many in the Chinese audience found it difficult to accept the works as masterpieces, thinking that the sculptures show ugly poses of humiliation, which carry a tremendous burden.

photo courtesy of China Daily/ynet

Singapore is now in the middle of its second major public art intervention of the year. I am sorry I haven't been covering this in more depth. The first was a series of works by Taiwanese artist Ju Ming; the second is a number of sculptures (and a related exhibition of paintings and drawings) by Botero.

At the point of transition we had a public forum in Suntec City. The report from tabloid Streats is linked-to. Six hundred people attended, an excellent turnout, and the dialogue sounds like it was lively.

The Sun Yat Sen House in Singapore seems to have a special place in their hearts for realistic sculpture. (Soon I will post some of their works on the website...). The linked-to article details a gift they have made to the Malay Heritage Centre "at the newly-restored Istana Kampung Glam"... How interesting that sculpture is (once again) a token of inter-ethnic relations. The fact that Islam discourages sculpture of the human figure seems not to have occured to the gift-givers.

Attended the Taipei Biennale on Friday the 10th December. A fascinating show that just doesn't quite come off, perhaps defeated by the difficulties of its venue. The show had a political edge, its tagline "Do you believe in reality?" intended not one might have supposed a chance to speculate on spectacle, but rather a consideration of "political and social realities", with a heavy emphasis on art as documentation of said realities.

One of the artist groups displayed was Apotik Komik, a Yogyakarta-based collective that has been making waves for some time. The exhibition documented their mural/graffiti projects, and murals and graffiti in Yogya more generally.

I also spent some time in the Eslite bookshop cruising Street Logos, launched earlier in the year by Thames & Hudson, documenting new trends in street art around the world.