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Shi: The Essence of Contemporary Art 

Written by Than Htut Kyaw (Than San)

PSYCHE, Installation by Sai Moon, at SHI Exhibition, Doh Eain Space, Yangon, 2023.

Touring through the streets of downtown Yangon by bus, I gazed out the window. The brick walls of the colonial buildings seemed to be wrapped in the colors of time. It was Saturday, December 3, 2022, and I was participating in the “Bus Art Tour”, a collaborative event by the Goethe Institut-Myanmar and the "Shi" exhibition. As people on the bus sought out art, I felt as though the city of Yangon itself, with its uncertain future, was actively showing us the true meaning of art.

The "Shi" exhibition ran for 44 days, from November 12, 2022, to January 12, 2023, making it one of the longest-running contemporary art exhibitions in modern Myanmar history. Over 40 contemporary artworks were displayed in six different heritage buildings of downtown Yangon. The most important aspect of the exhibition was that it wasn’t confined to a single day or location but instead offered an immersive experience that moved through time and space. I felt that the purpose of the bus tour was not just to transport us to the art but to help us personally understand the nature of contemporary art. Sitting on the moving bus, we were carried along with the movement of time, place, events, and emotions. This experience seemed to reveal that the meaning of "being" (Shi) doesn't reside in a single physical object but is deeply intertwined with the motion and existence of an entire event.

Expanding on W. Somerset Maugham's idea from The Gentleman in the Parlour that travel is not about arriving but about leaving things behind, I believe that a journey allows us to temporarily abandon our prior knowledge, feelings, and judgments so we can learn new things as if we were a new person. The same principle applies to contemporary art. We need to set aside our preconceived notions and rules about art and open our minds to completely new experiences. This open-mindedness can ignite the same passion in us as it does in travelers.

The exhibition's title, “Shi” which means “to be” in Burmese, is fascinating because it creates different meanings when combined with other words:

• Tae-Shi (တည်ရှိ): To exist


• Yauk-Shi (ရောက်ရှိ): To arrive


• Htwat-Shi (ထွက်ရှိ): To produce


• Tway-Shi (တွေ့ရှိ): To find


• Ya-Shi (ရရှိ): To get


• Lat-Shi (လက်ရှိ): Current or present


These combinations reflected the nature of the exhibition itself. The artworks existed in the old buildings. We arrived at them by bus. The artists' creativity produced new art. We found unexpected artistic experiences and got the essence of art. All of this happened in the present moment. The ability to express the art of "being" in so many ways under the movement of time and space is a unique power of contemporary art.

The exhibition's curation was truly special. It allowed me to simultaneously experience contemporary art in multiple venues, including Doh Eain, Ayasarkhan, Lokanat Gallery, Kala Sa, and Myanm/art. These old buildings became the new homes of contemporary art, suggesting that heritage structures can be reborn as part of the contemporary art landscape. Even lunch was arranged at the Old Secretariat Office, making it feel like we were tasting contemporary art amidst the scent of history. We experienced firsthand how art is not just about the new but can create new meaning by merging with ancient heritage.

The exhibition was designed to offer a broad spectrum of contemporary art experiences. As I recall, there were at least 13 types of events, from performance art to artist talks, video screenings, music, and art paper presentations. This diverse range of events under the banner of "Shi" deeply involved participants in the opening, talks, bus tours, and screenings.

I found myself thinking that contemporary art experiences are akin to the “sensual feeling” concept of Korean author Han Kang. She describes how, when writing about a subject, she captures its many dimensions such as sight, sound, touch, and smell, to form a lasting memory. Similarly, writing about the sea involves looking at the surface, listening to the waves, breathing the salty air, and feeling the sand and rocks. This multi-sensory experience is one of the most important aspects of contemporary art today. The “Shi” exhibition seemed designed to emphasize this simultaneous sensory experience rather than just a simple viewing of art.

I was also amazed by the thoughtful selection of the venues and their historical connection to art. The Goethe-Institut, formerly an ice cream shop, has a history dating back to 1959, when it played a vital role in fostering art in the region. It was one of the first Goethe-Institut locations in Southeast Asia.


Doh Eain is a local business that renovates and improves public spaces, involving users in the design process. Its buildings on 41st and 47th streets carry the spirit of re-discovering historical heritage in the present day.


Lokanat Gallery, established in 1971, is one of Yangon’s oldest art galleries. The tour brought contemporary art back to Pansodan Street, a place infused with a historical and artistic spirit.


Kalasa is a testament to the coexistence of historical heritage and the present. Started as an art studio by artist Ko Htoo Aung Kyaw and his wife, it later became a gallery. It even houses a small library, a part of its "collection" of heritage.


Myanm/art, founded in 2016, represents the contemporary spirit, as it's a hub for new and experimental art movements and exhibitions. 

Finally, Ayasarkhan is a tea shop, a key part of Yangon’s urban culture, and a small community where artists meet.


The artworks I remember from the tour created distinct impressions in my mind. The first stop was Myanm/art at Maw-Tin. I saw surrealist paintings where other pieces were cut and pasted. Though they seemed unrelated, their connections created fragmented images that reflected the fragmented nature of modern life. Works that cut and pasted old and new photographs created a seamless link between the past and present.

Then we went to Kalasa on Seikkantha Street, where I discovered an artistic installation that resonated with my feelings about contemporary art: Ma May Phoo Thet’s “Pavilion for Connection.” The artist's statement described how, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she encouraged people to donate fabrics online to create a collective artwork that symbolized reconnecting with others.

History repeat itself, installation art by Kaung Su, Photo by Than San

After lunch at the Old Secretariat, we proceeded to Doh Eain on 41st and 47th streets. There, I was captivated by artist Sai Mon's painting Psyche and his installation of a Shan traditional kuk-kar (a type of kite). The artist's description of "psyche" as both soul and butterfly in Egyptian culture, combined with the Shan kuk-kar and its beliefs, reflected how historical beliefs are carried into the present.

I reflected on the Psyche painting. It had a single butterfly between two heads. I felt this symbolized that even though our brains and intellects might be different and opposing, our hearts and souls remain the same. The butterfly of the soul helps harmonize human differences. Our diversity is what makes us free and beautiful.

Psyche (Series) by Sai Moon, Acrylic on Canvas at Exhibition – Shi, Doh Eain, Yangon. Photo by Than San 

As evening approached, we continued our journey on the bus to Ayasarkhan in Kyauk Myaung. An artist talk was held there, but due to time constraints, I couldn't attend. Many of the paintings on display felt eerie and frightening. Images of blood and ghosts reminded me that contemporary art isn’t just about beauty but can also expose difficult truths we might prefer to ignore.

On the way home, my mind replayed the works I had seen. The installation of needles and surgical masks brought back shared feelings from our recent past. The scattered sunflower seeds on a bed simultaneously showed beauty and decay. The small plants and insects preserved in liquid seemed to stop time and make me reflect on the natural processes of living things.

I felt that each gallery silently stood with its own life and story. Myanm/art was like a whisper, connecting the past and present through lifeless fragments of history. In it, we faced the shadows of the past that murmured how the present came to be. Lokanat Gallery went beyond those boundaries and connected those voices to the global paths of history. It led our senses to a broader, collective experience that belongs to all humanity. Kala Sa was like an echo of human resilience, a sound of healing through art in the face of the bitterness of life and plagues. It brought us face-to-face with the power of collaboration in bravely confronting the wounds of a pandemic.

Passing through the Doh Eain gallery, our collective souls, the urban images, and the collective mind of different ethnic groups seemed to emerge from myths. These stories were still alive and open to new interpretations. Ayasarkhan forced us to confront death, ugliness, blood, and ghosts—a side of reality that is always present but often ignored. In my view, each of these galleries, while standing alone, was a mirror connecting us to our inner selves and the world. Each one, through a different path, invited us to re-examine ourselves and our surroundings.

Today, contemporary art is no longer easy to categorize. Fields like painting, sculpture, literature, film, and installations are mixed and hybridized. So how do we judge the quality of these works? How do we determine if something is truly art? This has become a very difficult question. Here, I'd like to reflect on a quote from an interview with Latin American writer Jorge Luis Borges in Latin America Writer at Work.

Borges said that contemporary art doesn't need to convey grand, profound ideas, as doing so is difficult amidst the friction of multiple truths. Therefore, he argued that the "joy" and "emotional sense" of a work are the most important things for our time. Here, "joy" doesn't mean simple happiness, but a sense of pleasure and satisfaction left in your heart after experiencing an artwork. In a society where people are numbed by the sheer volume of information, can artificial joy and emotions truly reach people's hearts? I believe that art can only be accepted by society if it is an authentic experience that blossoms from within this artificiality.

The essence of art isn't just superficial beauty; it can only create emotional meaning from the authentic experience of "being there." The "Shi" exhibition, with its bus tour and its fusion of old and new, movement and stillness, sight and feeling, simply expressed the core of contemporary art. The exhibition wasn't just a collection of artworks; I believe it represented the entire artistic experience of "being there."

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References:

1.  Shi Exhibition Guide Book 

2.  Han Kang Nobel prize lecture on 7 December 2024

3.  Latin American Writers at work by Paris Review and edit by George Plimpton 

4. The Gentleman in the Parlour: A record of a journey from Rangoon to Haiphong by W. Somerset Maugham

Note: This essay is supported by the Initial Museum of Contemporary Art Myanmar and the Aura Asia Art Foundation, 2025.