Art collectives and independent spaces offer a different approach to curation
Published: 15 Feb 2022
In recent years, art collectives and independent art spaces have increasingly engaged with exhibition-making, giving rise to different approaches of curating that have catalysed cultural and artistic activity in their localities. The programming of Esplanade’s Visual Arts in 2022 highlighted this, with a focus on featuring collaborative forms of exhibition-making alongside collectives and artist-run spaces.
This conversation outlines the various activities and visions of entities that were involved, namely Sa Sa Art Projects based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Moving Picture Experiment Group and Supernormal.space from Singapore. It reflects on how collaborative models of production have impacted artistic and curatorial practice, especially in the context of Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Moderator: Lu Xiaohui, Programmer (Visual Arts), Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
Speakers:
This panel is co-presented by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.
Alfonse Chiu is a writer, artist, curator, and researcher working at the intersection of text, space, and the moving image. They currently head SINdie, an editorial platform exploring Southeast Asian film culture, and are a co-founder of the Moving Picture Experiment Group, a curatorial and research collective exploring the polyvalency of the moving image medium in contemporary practices. They are an Associate Curator with DECK, and the recipient of the 2021 e-flux journal fellowship.
Chum Chanveasna (b. 1982) has been working in the arts since 2006, starting as a Company Manager for Cambodia’s leading independent dance company, Khmer Arts Ensemble. From 2013-2016, she was with Cambodia’s leading contemporary art gallery and reading room, SA SA BASSAC as Gallery Manager and Curatorial Assistant. She became a freelance Exhibition Maker and Cultural Manager in 2017-2018. From 2017-2024, she was the Manager of a non-profit artist-run space dedicated to experimental art practices called Sa Sa Art Projects. She has been a Project Manager for artist Khvay Samnang, one of Cambodia’s leading visual artists, since 2016.
Kourn Lyna (b. 1989) has worked as a Public Program Coordinator at Sa Sa Art Projects, a not-for-profit artist-run space dedicated to experimental art practices. Lyna previously worked as a Social Worker for Empowering Youth in Cambodia, which runs community education and social support programmes at the White Building. She is a co-founding member of White Building Collective, a group of young artists who has been producing video and photographic works from the White Building neighborhood.
Ong Kian Peng is a media artist based in Singapore. Working at the intersection of art, technology and the environment, Ong creates immersive and reflective environments that offer alternate visions and imaginations of our relationship with nature. His works have been exhibited locally and internationally. Ong graduated from UCLA with an MFA in Design Media Art. Currently, he runs Supernormal.space, an independent art space focusing on emerging and experimental art practice.
