The Scene: Future Friendships, Possibilities, and Partnerships

Description:

The Scene: Future Friendships, Possibilities, and Partnerships 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 Marnie Badham and Tammy Hulbert of CAST (Contemporary Art and Social Transformation) research group based in the School of Art at RMIT University, this roundtable discussion concluded The Region with reflections from representatives of four of the longest-standing artist-run arts organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Speakers Vanessa Mei Crofskey, director of Enjoy Art Space; Sebastian Henry-Jones (for Andy Butler), curator of West Space; Celia Ho, curator of Para Site; and Susan Gibb, executive director of Western Front, discussed how the independent art scene has changed over the last two decades—both aesthetically and politically—in relation to artmaking, cultural labour, and relationships with community. The conversation also reflected on next steps for participants of The Region to sustain and grow their alliances for the urgent agendas of artist-led culture through new forms of cultural exchange, institution making and resistance, curating, and cultural production directed towards a shared future. 

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.