In Douglas Adams' future dystopia novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a giant computer finally determines the answer to the meaning of life: 42. The joke was that nobody knew the question.
In April 2000, Yasuko Furuichi, exhibition coordinator at the Japan Foundation Asia Center, had her own big question: What is Asia? She posed it not to a computer but to a group of curators. Their answer: 43.
The 43 artists in "Under Construction: New Dimensions in Asian Art," showing in Tokyo until March 2, were chosen by eight curators from seven Asian countries, were shown in seven group exhibitions throughout Asia, and are compiled here in Tokyo in one show at two venues: at the Japan Foundation Forum in Akasaka and at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in Hatsudai. The exhibition is a lot like your first day in Bangkok, sans guidebook -- exciting, cramped, chaotic, confusing and tough to get around.