Legacies: Acknowledging Histories, Imagining Futures

Description:

Legacies: Acknowledging Histories, Imagining Futures 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 Western Front executive director Susan Gibb, this roundtable brought together artists and curators involved in the creation of archives of artist-run initiatives. The speakers—Ringo Bunoan, Lyna Kourn, Dr. Lana Lopesi, and Anthony Yung—each gave ten minute presentations on their practices followed by a discussion guided by questions: why and how are artists leading archive initiatives?, what forms do these archives take?, how are they being made public?, and what role can archives play in supporting new and emerging artist-led activities? The panel critically engaged with how artist-run initiatives are historicized and narrated to consider the role that archives can play in shaping new futures. 

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.