Founder of in-tangible institute
By Ian Tee

Zoe Butt is a curator and writer whose curatorial practice centres on building and mentoring critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities. Zoe was Artistic Director of Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City (2017-2021), Executive Director and Curator, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009). She is currently Lead Advisor (South East Asia and Oceania), Kadist Art Foundation, Paris/San Francisco and Academic Advisor, TIMES Museum, Guangzhou. In 2022, Zoe founded in-tangible institute which is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I begin this interview by asking Zoe to describe the work done at in-tangible. Our conversation picks up on key themes in her curatorial practice, and how curators serve as the glue between artists and stakeholders. Zoe also speaks about urgent concerns in the Southeast Asian art ecosystem and how programmes initiated by in-tangible aim to confront these challenges. The underlying message is one of empowerment and mutual learning.

‘How to work with artists’, January 2023. Curatorial workshop led by Kate Fowle and Sharmini Pereira. Hosted by Jing Jai Gallery, Chiang Mai.

You founded in-tangible institute in 2022 after working in various contexts, in both public and private organisations. Briefly, how would you describe what you do?

Curatorial mentorship. Educational programming. Strategic advice and consultation. These three terms best describe the work of in-tangible institute. These are all services offered in the interest of cultivating curatorial knowledge and expertise with productive interdisciplinary networks that respond to the local cultural context of Southeast Asia. For, yes, in-tangible is dedicated to this region, seeking to nurture the growth of its arts ecology and its participation on an international platform. How do we do this? Through collaborative initiatives that target individuals, particular communities, institutions or potential investors in the arts. We help curators learn how to work with artists; build supportive know-how in the writing and management of artistic or curatorial careers; assist existing institutions to better ethically structure their operations and purpose; liaise and facilitate the birthing of new centres for art and culture.

At in-tangible, we believe curators are the necessary glue in forging the valency and visibility of innovative artistic works, reflective of our times, in collaboration with not only our artists, but also, with stakeholders who care about the context of artistic production and its display. In-tangible is thus funded by like-minded collectors, gallerists, academics, entrepreneurs, museums, foundations, universities–locally and abroad–who support programmes we initiate.

“At in-tangible, we believe curators are the necessary glue in forging the valency and visibility of innovative artistic works, reflective of our times, in collaboration with not only our artists, but also, with stakeholders who care about the context of artistic production and its display.”

Zoe Butt with Kamonpan Tivawong, in-tangible Curatorial Fellow, sponsored by MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, 2023-2025. Photo taken in June 2023.

‘LIVING ANOTHER FUTURE’ (2024) is a recent exhibition project curated by in-tangible institute at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Beyond the exhibition, how are aspects of in-tangible’s mission folded within the project’s scope/engagements/programming?

At in-tangible institute, we believe we learn by doing. So, our programmes are about learning skills as we deliver real-life projects. This is mentoring! ‘LIVING ANOTHER FUTURE’ is a collection-based exhibition, commissioned by MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum. MAIIAM is also the inaugural sponsor of our Curatorial Fellowship programme. Kamonpan Tivawong, our first fellow under this initiative, has been working alongside me in conceiving and delivering this exhibition and its public programme. Kamonpan is from Sukhothai and lives and works in Chiang Mai.

‘LIVING ANOTHER FUTURE’ engages tales of the hidden, oppressed and disenfranchised, offering unique perspective on the impact of human beliefs on our species and habitat, revealing particular context in Vietnam, The Congo, Cambodia, China, Morocco, Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand. At in-tangible, we challenge assumptions of what we cannot see, to reconsider the impact of being visible, for we know that the world is incredibly uneven in its access and opportunity. This exhibition and associated public programmes critically reflect such enquiry in subject and curatorial management.

CULTIVATE Module 1, full cohort of participants and Faculty visiting the Art Centre, Silpakorn University, Bangkok. 3 August 2024. — CULTIVATE Module 1, full cohort of participants and Faculty visiting the Art Centre, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, 3 August 2024.

Next, I hope we could discuss your motivations for initiating CULTIVATE. It is a professional development programme organised for curators and art managers in Southeast Asia. Why do you focus on this region? What needs do the programme address?

CULTIVATE focuses on Southeast Asia because it is a region rich in talent deserving of such professional development. Over the last two decades, I have met myriad curators from this region, trained and working abroad, who are reluctant to return “home”, due to its underserved arts ecology. I have also met collectors and investors seeking to build and support the arts in Southeast Asia, but they hesitate because they do not know who to employ to help make their dreams relevant and real. Most importantly, I have worked with too many artists who struggle to understand the role and labour of a curator.

Considering such context, CULTIVATE attempts to confront such realities, to collectively understand the impact of not addressing the need for equitable and diverse landscapes of employment in the arts, of the need to better equip our cultural facilitators with know-how in negotiating local and international concerns of showcasing art; and of the critical role of respect and understanding between artists and curators as a mutual relationship of need. As a programme, it thus canvases diverse topics from ‘Programming in the Arts’, to questioning what ‘Patronage’ entails, to exploring the need for Leadership in the Arts, to, finally thinking with heart and mind, of what it means to be simultaneously mentored, and be in the process of mentoring, in the ethical building of community sustainability.

What is the big picture impact you and your invited faculty hope CULTIVATE achieves, and why now?

Big-picture dreams imagine more critical care towards the facilitation of art and its historical consciousness as a dialogue with audiences near and far, where the context of artistic production is better understood, supported, translated and conveyed in our exhibitions, art institutions and commercial projects. We dream of the alumni of CULTIVATE becoming future mentors of their own emerging artistic communities, whilst remaining an active and engaged cohort of ongoing networked support in the region. Hopefully other future gatherings are created to continue the essential nurturing that we all need to survive this regions’ vastly different approach to the definition of the “contemporary” in the arts. It feels crucial to realise CULTIVATE now as there are private organisations soon to open up across this region that are in urgent need of such criticality, expertise and experience!

“We dream of the alumni of CULTIVATE becoming future mentors of their own emerging artistic communities, whilst remaining an active and engaged cohort of ongoing networked support in the region.”

The first module of CULTIVATE is still in progress, and in-tangible has released an Open Call for applicants for the second module with the theme ‘Patronage’. As a participant from the first cohort of CULTIVATE, I was pleasantly surprised with the diversity of participants.

Who is the second module for? What should a potential applicant ask themselves if they are interested in applying for the programme?

The second module is for the same diverse set of participants we secured for Module 1, such as individuals working in museums, commercial galleries, private art foundations, writers and artists. I personally hope to find interest in Module 2 from not only this already identified set of interested categories, but also, collectors and philanthropists. They are also arts managers of a kind, with art to acquire, care for, and lend; with organisations or programmes they support or lead.

Module 2 focuses on a broad array of perspectives within the purview of ‘Patronage’, asking such questions as: how do our exhibitions, sales practices, institutional programmes and educational curricula activate differing conversations about what deserves patronage, and how do we find it? How do we, as curators and arts managers, trigger the desire to be a patron?

To elaborate, how do we bring a better understanding of the context of artistic production, and its entangled community, materials and practices, that perhaps we cannot see and hold and thus currently lack public awareness of? There is also a growing global ethical shift away from status-powered patronage, towards cause-driven support. Module 2 seeks to study all of this, so that we can be better prepared for how to best serve such interests, in order to support the needs of our regional art ecology.

CULTIVATE Module 1, final group dinner at Na At Bangkok 1899, a social impact platform that uses food and beverage to help vulnerable communities. 6 August 2024. — CULTIVATE Module 1, final group dinner at Na At Bangkok 1899, a social impact platform that uses food and beverage to help vulnerable communities, 6 August 2024.

Each module consists of an in-person week long programme, with follow-up mentoring sessions conducted online over the following three months. In addition to the module fees, participants will also need to consider the travel and accommodation expenses to attend the in-person workshop in Bangkok. Taken together, the costs can be prohibitive for some. Could you explain the rationale for this structure?

The rationale for this structure is urgency. I battled with differing funding strategies to make CULTIVATE, a not-for-profit initiative, free for participants. But then I struggled to find any local sponsor willing to cover the overall programme costs. These include faculty fees, necessary travel expenses, in-person seminar logistics and documentation, catering, transport and so much more. I asked myself: why is it so hard to find regional support for such crucial skills to develop our own arts ecology? Why must I always apply for Western funds? Module 1 is generously supported by the Asia Cultural Council, New York. I realised that there is little regional support for the curatorial professionalisation of this region because it lacks a productive network. Thus the programme asks for in-person and online presence in efforts to better connect and understand each other's contexts.

In an attempt to ignite interest and commitment from the wealth of this region, CULTIVATE encourages its museums, arts organisations, collectors and philanthropists to sponsor a member of their team/community to participate. This programme asks that each participant applies with a case study that is already in motion. such as an exhibition, a public programme, a publication, a new organisation. It is argued that by participating, you are better enabling your existing work, which in many cases is of advantage to the sponsor too!

For Module 2 we are excited to be able to offer two scholarships, tuition only, for Thai participants. Access is important to us, and the majority of the programming we run as an institute is free or low-cost. For a programme like CULTIVATE, these fees are necessary to ensure that we retain our ability to deliver quality with expertise. We hope that by providing scholarships for some Thai participants, we strike a fair balance that accounts for both the needs of our community, and our own needs as an institution supporting the business of learning. Education is a life-long investment!

‘Writing with Friends’ inaugural workshop at in-tangible institute, March 2024.

‘Talking and Listening’ inaugural gathering in the studio of artist Pare Patcharapa Inchang, Chiang Mai, September 2023.

What does mentorship mean to you?

Mentorship, for me, is the daily friendship, support and guidance that steers my commitment to art and culture in ways, and with means, that are ethically informed, locally situated and, above all, laced with innumerable encounters of wonder in learning. My own career continues to be in a constant process of being mentored and mentoring. And these mutual relations are intergenerational and interdisciplinary. I believe we need more of this kind of community in the arts.

What would you say to individuals/organisations who wish to invest in the arts?

By investing, you inevitably spend time (we hope). By spending time, you inevitably learn something new (we hope). By learning something new, you inevitably find something new about yourself (we hope). The arts can be a crucial space of such hope, where we are allowed to explore who we are, in ways and means that are experimental, towards understanding that the only constant in our world is change and to do that healthily, we must know better who we are! To invest in the arts - and that “investment” does not necessarily entail the need of financial wealth, it might be knowledge, networks, community access -is to understand the arts is where change can be collectively and positively embraced.

The Open Call for applications for CULTIVATE Module 2 ‘Patronage’ runs from 9 September to 9 November 2024. Click here for more information about the programme and in-tangible institute.