Collectivism and New Forms of Curating in the Asia-Pacific

Description:

Collectivism and New Forms of Curating in the Asia-Pacific was a talk presented as part of the digital symposium The Region: Dialogues on the Power and Precarity of Artist Self-Organisation in the Asia-Pacific.

Chaired by Para Site curator Celia Ho, this roundtable explored how artist-run and self-organized initiatives across the Asia Pacific continue to strive to expand arts and cultural scenes outside of cities, despite the historic dominance of centralized curatorial approaches led by state and government-run institutions. The discussion also focused on how these ambitions increasingly depend on processes that include non-artists, and therefore expand the traditional artist-artist or artist-curator relationship to encompass the idea of community on a regional and global scale. The speakers—Zoe Butt, Gridthiya Gaweewong, and Grace Samboh—each elaborated on these ideas, while reflecting on the development of self-organized initiatives in their countries, and how emerging models for collectivity and hybrid operating open up opportunities beyond artistic exchange. 

The Region: Dialogues on the Power and Precarity of Artist Self-Organisation in the Asia-Pacific was a digital symposium, co-created by West Space, Naarm (Melbourne, Australia); Para Site, Hong Kong; Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington, New Zealand); and Western Front, Vancouver, and co-facilitated by CAST Contemporary Art and Social Transformation research group based in the School of Art at RMIT University, Naarm.

Presented with support from the City of Melbourne and RMIT University, Australia.