Selection Results
ASEF through its arts website culture360.ASEF.org in partnership with the Japan Foundation, Bangkok (JFBKK) is delighted to annouce the selection of 8 emerging curators from Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore to participate in Virtual Workings e-residency.
The selected participants will work in pairs/groups online over a period of 6 weeks on a specific theme with the guidance of a dedicated mentor. This virtual exchange aims to maintain cultural connections and enable creative collaboration in a world of restricted mobility and physical distancing. A thematic digital diary presenting the participants’ experience and collaborative process will be posted on ASEF culture360’s Instagram account on a weekly basis.
Meet The Curators:
Note: For the theme ‘Interweave Asian textile(s) with contemporary urgencies’, 4 curators have been selected. As the textile sector has been one of the most adversely impacted as a result of the pandemic, the jury members called for special attention to this theme. The Japan Foundation, Bangkok extended additional support in order to include 2 more participants.
Overview
The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) through its arts website culture360.ASEF.org is pleased to announce a new virtual residency developed in partnership with the Japan Foundation, Bangkok (JFBKK). Virtual Workings, an e-residency for arts curators from the ASEAN region and Japan, will be held online for a period of 6 weeks offering 6 selected curators to collaborate in pairs with the support of a dedicated mentor.
About the Residency
Format:
? Selected curators will work in pairs. Each pair will be assigned a mentor and will collaborate online over a period of 6 weeks (16 November – 22 December 2020).
? Applicants are encouraged to apply in pairs. For individual applicants, the pairing will be done by the organisers.
? Each applicant/pair of applicants is/are required to indicate their order of preference in the application form for the below-mentioned themes. This will be taken into consideration during the selection and “pairing” process. Within the chosen theme, each pair will further define and propose the specific topic of their project with the support of the assigned mentor.
? Each pair will work on a final output that could take the form of an online presentation, photo documentary, podcast, video documentary, mock project presentation online, amongst others. The final output of the residency will be published on culture360.ASEF.org and partners’ social media channels.
? At the end of residency, each pair will take part in a podcast or video interview about the collaborative process as part of a wider sharing of their residency experience
Mentors
Ms Luckana KUNAVICHAYANONT (Thailand)
Luckana is an art consultant and independent curator based in Thailand. She was former director of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) from 2011 to 2017. In 2018, she co-curated the 1st Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, involving over 70 Thai and international artists with works spanning across 20 locations in Bangkok. From early 2019, Luckana has served as advisor to several newly-initiated art and cultural projects that include; ‘Jaras Light’, a BACC’s art and sustainable energy programme as well as MACo; a private contemporary art museum to be launched in Chiangmai, Thailand in 2023.
Ms TAKAHASHI Mizuki (Japan/Hong Kong SAR)
Mizuki is the current Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile in Hong Kong. After serving as a founding curatorial member at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo from 1999-2003, Takahashi worked as senior curator at Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito and realised numerous transdisciplinary exhibitions addressing various artistic forms including manga, film, fashion, architecture, performance and contemporary art.
Prof Amareswar GALLA (Australia, India)
An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Australian National University, Canberra and the Salzburg Global Fellowship, is currently Professor of Inclusive Cultural Leadership & Director, International Centre for Inclusive Cultural Leadership (ICICL), and Dean of Faculty Development and Leadership, Anant National University, Ahmedabad, India; Heads the ICICL Membership of the UNESCO UNITWIN Network for Culture, Tourism and Development Chaired by Sorbonne 1 Parthenon; Founding Executive Director of the International Institute for the Inclusive Museum, Australia/India/USA) (a.galla@yahoo.com.au) (inclusivemuseums.org) Formerly Full Professor of Museum Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane and prior to that Full Professor and Director of Sustainable Heritage Development, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra; until recently Chief Curator, Amaravathi Heritage Town (birthplace of Mahayana Buddhism) India; former Vice President, International Executive Council of ICOM, Paris (2004-2007); former President of ICOM Asia Pacific Executive Board (1998-2004); and Co-founder of Asia Europe Museums Network (2001).
Themes
Resilience:
Resilience is the ability to adapt and thrive when encountering sudden changes, long-term urgent issues as well as new challenges. Never before in the 21st century has mankind witnessed more frequent and severe climate change, environmental decline and other related events, migration influx or even the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which leave us vulnerable to an uncertain future. The age of resilience is truly presented upon us. Resilience could be considered one of the fundamental survival skills of the modern world. This theme aims to engage in a discussion and exploration on resilience and its benefits to the improvement of life in the new challenging era during this residency. It delves into how artists and the art world would reflect upon and adapt to this changing world at an unprecedented speed with less stress, self-awareness and positive relationships and purposes.
First Voice – Curating Inclusion and Diversity:
The critical museological discourse of curating as a process with end products that define contemporary cultural experiences evidence that curators are powerful facilitators, who could be enablers, mediators or even manipulators. They have an important ethical responsibility in framing representations through the portal of curating and its contextual lens. In co-curating as a pair between two deep cultural regions of Asia – Japan and Southeast Asia, how does curatorship address the negotiation and crossing of a range cultural borders such as race, ethnicity, colour gender, sexuality, age, ability of all forms, economic status, faith and so on. What about intersectionality of the borders? In doing so, how do they centralise and valorise the First Voice of the primary stakeholders as rights holders. How do they overcome the agency of authorising and become listeners/enablers/facilitators?
Interweave Asian textile(s) with contemporary urgencies
Textile is one of the oldest artforms in human history as well as the most familiar material in our everyday lives. Asian countries have rich tradition and histories of textiles and they narrate the distinctive culture and the aesthetic of each region; thus, they are strongly connected with the local identities. On the other hand, textiles have been global products even before globalisation. Textile patterns and techniques have been transmitted from region to region and vernacularised through trading and exchanges. In modern textile production, we can see severe problems such as slavery in cotton farming and exploitation of technique by colonialism.
Today’s textile industry often threatens traditional textiles production in local communities and mass production causes textile waste. In competitive textile industry, many female workers serve this business with low wage. Textile serves not as beautiful material for products but provides food for thought of multiple contemporary urgencies we face.
For further reading on this theme, follow the link: www.mill6chat.org/event/unfolding-fabric-of-our-life/
Eligibility criteria
– National of an ASEAN Member State or of Japan
– Emerging curators with 2-5 years of work experience in a museum, cultural institution, exhibition space or as an independent practitioner
– Excellent written and fluent spoken English (all communication and writing will be in English)
– We invite applications submitted as a pair or as an individual. In the case of applications as a Pair, each member must be of different nationality within ASEAN and Japan. For individual applications, the organisers will pair the applicants based on the preferred theme and the interests expressed through the application.
– Applicants who have never participated in/worked on international projects are encouraged to apply (see related question in the application form)
– Applicants who have missed out on training opportunities as a result of the pandemic are encouraged to apply (see related question in the application form)
Requirements
– Take part in the residency and work with a peer curator and assigned mentor for 6 weeks. Please note that for individual applicants, the pairing will be done by the organisers based on their preferred theme and interests expressed in the application form.
– Submit weekly updates about the progress of the project through video clips and/or social media posts via culture360 Instagram page.
– Prepare a final output that could take the form of an online presentation, photo documentary, podcast, video documentary, mock project presentation online, amongst others, which will be published on culture360.ASEF.org and it’s social media channels
– Take part in a podcast or video interview to share the learnings outcomes of the residency with a wider section of the arts community
Selection Panel
A panel comprising one representative from JFBKK, one representative from ASEF and the 3 mentors will evaluate and select the participants. Please note that only successful candidates will be notified latest by 9 November 2020.
Call for applications
We invite you to submit your application via the below link and attach the required documents by 30 October 2020.
Project timeline
|
Open call for applications |
1 to 30 October 2020 |
|
Selection |
1-6 November 2020 |
|
Announcement of selected participants |
9 November 2020 |
|
Online residency |
16 November to 22 December 2020 |
|
Presentation of outcomes and online activities |
January and February 2021 |
About the Residency
Format:
? Selected curators will work in pairs. Each pair will be assigned a mentor and will collaborate online over a period of 6 weeks (16 November – 22 December 2020).
? Applicants are encouraged to apply in pairs. For individual applicants, the pairing will be done by the organisers.
? Each applicant/pair of applicants is/are required to indicate their order of preference in the application form for the below-mentioned themes. This will be taken into consideration during the selection and “pairing” process. Within the chosen theme, each pair will further define and propose the specific topic of their project with the support of the assigned mentor.
? Each pair will work on a final output that could take the form of an online presentation, photo documentary, podcast, video documentary, mock project presentation online, amongst others. The final output of the residency will be published on culture360.ASEF.org and partners’ social media channels.
? At the end of residency, each pair will take part in a podcast or video interview about the collaborative process as part of a wider sharing of their residency experience
