Art as Voice: political art in Southeast Asia at the turn of the twenty-first century

Category - essays and articles
by Iola Lenzi - In Southeast Asia, art has traditionally been connected intimately with life. Wayang kulit, wood-block prints, sacred murals and architecture, and more recently twentieth century social realism, have directly and indirectly described society and its ills. In the late twentieth century however, visual art in the region moves beyond commentary to adopt a more activist stance. Read more....

The Primacy of Exhibitionary Discourses: Contemporaneity in Southeast Asian Art, 1992 – 2002

Category - essays and articles
by Seng Yu Jin - Attempts to locate contemporary art within historical frames have gained urgency in the past decade. This is especially so as we behold contemporary art making its way into institutions such as museums and their collections, auction houses, and the academia as a subject of study. Yet our understanding of what contemporary art is, when aligned along historical perspectives propelled Read more....

The Legacy of the Indonesian Avant-Garde in the Global

Category - essays and articles
by Paul Khoo - I begin my essay with this rather extended quote from one of Indonesia’s most thoughtful curators, Enin Supriyanto. 2011 has been a great year for Indonesian art, especially on the global front. Not since the AWAS! (BEWARE!) show traveled the world in the late nineties has Indonesian art found such a large audience abroad outsides the niches of the Asian biennale circuit. But celebrity Read more....

A Study visit to Jogjakarta

Category - overseas study trips
by Rohaya Binte Mustapha - From 8th to 12th December 2011, eight students from the Master of Art in in Asian Art Histories Programme and programme leader Jeffrey Say embarked on a study trip to Jogjakarta, Indonesia. The aim of such trips which form an integral part of the programme is to expose students to specific social and cultural contexts, to open up learning outside of the academic environment Read more....

An Interview with John Clang

Category - Uncategorized
by Sally Clarke - John Clang, born Ang Choon Leng, has from a young age carried an immense passion for photography. So much so that he enrolled in LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore at age 17; but after six months he decided to drop out as the curriculum was moving too slow for him and he opted to work for acclaimed artist Chua Soo Bin instead. Following Soo Bin for free, he learnt a great deal Read more....