Out of Asia... and Into the DUMA

When you think of globalization, do you picture an ant farm? Japanese artist Yukinori Yanagi does. Curated by Trinity seniors Philip Tinari and Randi Reiner, the Duke University Museum of Art's latest exhibit, Made in Asia, explores the intricacies of Asian art. The exhibit features artists from China, Jagan and South Korea among other countries. Oddly, as the exhibit's artists have become more and more worldly by training in America or Europe since the Cold War, they have ironically become more known for their "Asian-ness."

Yanagi's two pieces turn national flags into actual ant farms. One, "America," connects the 36 national flags of North and South America together into ant pathways, and the other is a play on Jasper John's "Three Flags," with frames filled with colored sand and plastic tubes for ants to crawl through. A Korean artist, Do-ho Suh, created a welcome mat with rubber spikes made of mini-human shapes.

Yagani's and Suh's work, along with satirical anime statues, seemingly gray wallpaper that actually consists of millions of tiny faces, and actual phone book pages with calligraphy written on them serve to both question and enlighten the viewer. The gallery juxtaposes real Asian tradition with plays on Asian stereotypes to create both an intellectually and visually stimulating show.