Let's Get Into Digital (Feb-Mar)

MCAD Manila, Mori Art Museum, Asian Civilisations Museum, MoMA
By Alana Malika

Haegue Yang,‘The Randing Intermediates–Inception Quartet’, 2020, installation view. Photograph by At Maculangan/Pioneer Studios, image courtesy of MCAD Manila.

Weaving Vitality: A Workshop On Basic Handloom Weaving With The Philippine Textile Research Institute
In an online workshop with Philippine Textile Research Institute titled ‘Weaving Vitality: A Workshop On Basic Handloom Weaving ’ Korean artist Haegue Yang will share her research about binakol, an indigenous Ilocos and Abra textile. The demonstration of basic hand looming will also explore Philippine thinking on the magical as binakol is believed to offer protection from malevolent spirits. The event is in conjunction with Yang’s first solo exhibition in the Philippines titled ‘Haegue Yang: The Cone of Concern’ at MCAD Manila. Her multimedia exhibition incorporates multiple weaving elements such as the anthropomorphic rattan totems on wheels and the binakol textiles on wooden panels.  Each piece is a physical manifestation of our collective fears and solidarity towards natural disasters.

Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Manila, 27 February 2021, 2PM (GMT +8).

Queer Art Chat on Life and Death
This February, MoMA will continue their webinar series ‘Queer Art Chats’. MoMA C-MAP Asia fellow Wong Binghao will be hosting this online lecture and panel with the theme ‘Life and Death’. The discussion will highlight the works of queer Southeast Asian artists Thai film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Vietnamese artist Danh Võ. This hour-long session will contemplate the intersections of art history and the LGBTQ+ community that are rarely shown in mainstream events in Southeast Asia.

Museum of Metropolitan Art, 16, 19 and 20 February 2021 at 8:30PM (EST).

Museums in 2021 – Charting the Path Forward
The Asian Civilisation Museum in Singapore is collaborating with the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum Abu Dhabi to present the online webinar ‘Museums in 2021 – Charting the Path Forward’. ACM curator Conan Cheong will moderate a talk between the museum directors  Kennie Ting, Manuel Rabaté and Peter Magee as well as Shaikh Saleh Saif Al Sharqi, Chargé d’Affaires, Embassy of United Arab Emirates, Singapore. The discussion aims to be a productive dialogue about the resilience of museums amid times of limited mobility for both art practitioners and enthusiasts. As governments continue to grapple with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the speakers will share their plans to keep their institutions accessible from afar.

Asian Civilisations Museum, 23 February 2021. Register for the online webinar here.

Navin Rawanchaikul, 'Tales from the Land of Six Trees', 2017, film still. Image courtesy of Mori Art Museum.

Online Screening of Navin Rawanchaikul's 'Tales from the Land of Six Trees'
As part of Mori Art Museum’s MAM Digital programme, the museum will hold an online screening of ‘Tales from the Land of Six Trees’ by Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul. The short film offers a compassionate view of Roppongi, Japan through a recited letter for future residents and tourists. Rawanchaikul captures the mundane stories of the city that are often omitted from the documentation of momentous occasions of history. These interviews illustrate how national problems in Japan like immigration and their aging population affect people on a personal scale.

 Mori Art Museum, 4 January to 31 March 2021.

The Decolonisation of Museology: Museums, Mixing and Myths of Origin
The 44th International Committee for Museology symposium aims to confront the fundamental social functions of museums and their existence as a dual paradox. The theme ‘The Decolonisation of Museology: Museums, Mixing and Myths of Origin’ acknowledges how museums perpetuate colonial dynamics by showcasing looted indigenous relics while also serving an important role in identity construction by disproving historical myths. In light of this, the symposium attempts to reconcile the past and the future of museology through discursive practices of decolonisation.

International Committee for Museology, 15 to 18 March 2021.

Image courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.

M+ International × National Gallery Singapore: How Can Museums Matter Today?
Leading up to M+ International’s inaugural launch, the museum will collaborate with National Gallery Singapore (NGS) to hold two webinars, ‘Collections and Their Relevance: Why Do Collections Matter?’ and ‘Audiences and Engagement: What Can a Museum Be?’. Curators Pauline J. Yao, Stella Fong and Keri Ryan from M+ joins Horikawa Lisa, Russel Storer, and Suenne Megan Tan from NGS to explore how COVID-19 has transformed museology. As these institutions redefine their collection building and audience engagement, speakers will review and discuss how they will capture their audience’s attention and endorse inclusivity amid growing demands to digitalise.

M+ International and National Gallery, February 23 and 24 2021. Register for the first talk here and the second talk here.