SAW Dialogues 2022 | Collegiality in the Global South

26 Jan

David Teh, Fang-Tze Hsu, Isa Lorenzo, Nadya Wang
By Bryson Ng

Screenshot of talk. From left to right: Isa Lorenzo, Co-director, Silverlens Galleries, Fang-Tze Hsu, Lecturer, National University of Singapore (NUS); Curator, NUS Museum, David Teh, Writer & Curator; Associate Professor, National University of Singapore, Nadya Wang, Editor, Art & Market.

Key points:

There are merits and challenges in using digital technologies to achieve social engagement in cross-boundary projects.
Conventional labels and frameworks used to present art need to be critiqued.
Alternatives to travel to collaborate across boundaries will remain relevant in a post-pandemic future.

‘Collegiality in the Global South’, which took place on 16 January 2022 from 4:30pm to 6pm as a part of SAW Dialogues 2022, presented the various trials and tribulations – as well as silver linings and lessons learnt – that can be gained from working on cross-boundary art projects in a pandemic era characterized by travel restrictions and physical distancing. The panel featured David Teh, Writer & Curator; Associate Professor, National University of Singapore, Fang-Tze Hsu, Lecturer, National University of Singapore; Curator, NUS Museum, and Isa Lorenzo, Co-director, Silverlens Galleries. The session was moderated by Nadya Wang, Editor, Art & Market.

Here are the takeaways:

There are merits and challenges in using digital technologies to achieve social engagement in cross-boundary projects. David shared that in the first six months of the preparation for the 17th Istanbul Biennial – which he is co-curating with Ute Meta Bauer and Amar Kanwar – online meetings were characterised by a suspension of expectations, due to the volatile pandemic circumstances. Yet, this translated to the artists and curators learning to work with flexibility and professional latitude. Likewise, Isa reflected on how the persistent restrictions have in fact enabled a deepening of accessibility and public outreach for Silverlens Galleries. For instance, they formed a new social media team to create more digital content that not only made the works of Silverlens Galleries available to audiences on a virtual scale, but also helped to nurture a sense of shared connection and familiarity with audiences both new and existing. Fang-Tze highlighted the need to recognise the importance of connectivity versus accessibility, because there are communities which continue to be excluded based on their access to the worldwide web.

Conventional labels and frameworks used to present art need to be critiqued. The panel discussion collectively agreed that, through such cross-border collaborative work, one can re-assess the troubling dimensions that lay behind problematic key terms often taken at face value, including the key words in the talk’s title: “collegiality” and “global south”. Fang-Tze favoured the words collaboration and friendship in place of collegiality. In addition, she expressed her hope that art practitioners will continue to examine the historical methodologies often used to interpret and understand the past, and to continually recognise the structural struggles faced by marginalised communities, which she explored in her exhibition, ‘Wishful Images: When Microhistories Take Form’. On a similar note, David said that the pandemic gave him a deeper recognition of the nuances of the ‘local’ and ‘global’ dimensions of art – which he had captured in his book ‘Thai Art: Currencies of the Contemporary’. Similarly, Isa spoke about the need for a reframing of what is commonly misbranded as contemporary art from the ‘Third World’, and emphasised the need to steer away from Eurocentric perspectives in favour of local viewpoints, which Silverlens champions, such as through ‘‘Yee I-Lann & Collaborators: Borneo Heart’.

The archives are continuously activated through knowledge production, programming and pedagogy. Chương-Đài cited AAA’s ‘Art Schools of Asia’ programme, an online seminar series that aims to develop a methodology and theory for thinking about the history of art schools in the region by exploring and utilising AAA’s materials, working with both emerging and established scholars. Similarly, the Lee Wen archive gets activated through various programmes, such as the exhibition ‘Form Colour Action’ (2019), which explored the drawings found in Lee Wen’s notebooks and sketchbooks and how they provide insight into the artist’s foundation and the relationship between mark-making and performance art. Tee Pao noted how AFA also documents the programmes, objects, writings and artworks spawned from a film, allowing for the archive to continuously expand instead of remaining static.

Alternatives to travel to collaborate across boundaries will remain relevant in a post-pandemic future. David observed that working with his co-curators and artists for the Istanbul Biennial has afforded him an appreciation of each person’s struggles and their contribution to a collective project. Similarly, Fang-Tze spoke about not being able to install the show ‘‘Art Histories of a Forever War: Modernism between Space and Home’ at the Taipei Fine Art Museum, but was able to lean on the people on the ground and what she knew of the museum’s collection to present her work. Isa likewise agreed that the lack of travel was the biggest obstacle that her team at Silverlens Galleries faced, but this obstacle has encouraged everyone to dig deeper into the friendships and professional relationships that were nurtured over the years. All the speakers spoke about the importance of constant communication, and then of “letting go”, or trusting their collaborators at a certain point, given that they cannot be onsite to execute or enjoy the fruits of a collaboration. This has in turn deepened working relationships and trust in the collaborative process.

In sum, the ‘Collegiality in the Global South’ panel discussion explored both the multifarious challenges faced by art practitioners who embark on cross-boundary art projects, as well as how they have adapted and learnt from such challenges. While prevailing circumstances may have brought about unforeseen obstacles to the artworld on a global scale, the panel discussion captured the shared hopes and potential of cross-boundary art projects to push critical dialogue forward.

Watch the full recording of ‘SAW Dialogues 2022 | Collegiality in the Global South’ here:

You can also listen to it as a podcast here:

About the writer:

Bryson Ng is a writer and researcher of the arts, media, and the moving image. Having recently graduated from Yale-NUS with a major in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Bryson currently works for the National Library Board of Singapore as a Research Fellow of the digital humanities. In his free time, Bryson is an avid enthusiast of genre films, punk rock, and interacting with cats and dogs.