16albermarle Project Space and Sa Sa Art Projects
By Lauren Elise Barlow

Introducing our ‘Excerpts’ series! Over the years, we have republished parts of long-form writing, from catalogue essays to book chapters. This practice will now be formalised in a monthly column. We will continue to be on the lookout for content to share. If you may like to send us texts to consider, please email info@artandmarket.net.

‘All That Surrounds Us’, 2023, exhibition view. Image courtesy of 16albermarle Project Space.

Beyond the beauty and history of Angkor, the events of modern Cambodia and their impact on the physical surroundings have also influenced Cambodian contemporary art. With a recent history of political-architectural trends, military conflicts, land ownership disruption and population growth, Cambodia has seen extensive changes to its physical urban environment. Artists explore the subject matter and materiality of physical structures as a symbol to discuss a deeper, more crucial discussion on social and cultural experience.

Modern Cambodia can be considered as beginning with the occupation of Cambodia as a French Protectorate in 1863. The long period of French colonisation, followed by Independence in 1953 and then the global rivalry of the Cold War, created substantial social, economic and political disruption. Its geographical position then made it vulnerable to the conflicts of the later 20th Century. That aside, the French colonisation is ever present in Cambodia, both physically and culturally. The most powerful presence is the architecture, which has become a tourist attraction to the West. However, these buildings are facing extinction for two reasons. Firstly, like many colonised countries, awareness of the architectural and cultural importance of preserving these buildings is lacking. Secondly, the government continues to prioritise high-rise buildings, as they are a sign of modernity and ostensibly bring in more economic benefit.

Roeun Sokhom presents a series of watercolours that pay homage to the French colonial occupancy. The ‘Old Building’ series documents the modernisation of the architectural French heritage in his hometown of Battambang, Northern Cambodia. The series celebrates the distinctive qualities of the buildings and their ghostly presence against a contemporary bustling Khmer street. Roeun captures the impact a 150-year history has had on the buildings, resulting in mould, rubble, and disorder. While damaged, the still standing structures convey the idea of the strength and resilience of cultural heritage. The artist also highlights the ways in which the local community is reimagining their use to meet contemporary needs. Roeun speaks to the future of Cambodia, offering a compassionate suggestion that the country can form a strong social and national identity by embracing its history and thinking innovatively and industriously about its past and present.

The narrative of modern Cambodia is a patchwork of political shifts that has left a physical and emotional shadow over its present. After the country’s Independence in 1953, a new wave of creative pursuits evolved through a surge of nationalism and reclaiming of identity. Vann Molyvann, Cambodia’s most revered architect, greatly contributed to the country’s national architectural movement and established significant urban developments, such as the sea-to-port city of Sihanoukville and the expansion of Phnom Penh city. The story of Vann Molyvann demonstrates the remarkable relationship between Cambodia’s physical development and its contemporary art scene as it explains how young contemporary architects are being exposed through their studies to the reality of a strong nationalistic past, but one which is being neglected by a government pushing for more immediate, financially beneficial skyscrapers.

Pen Sereypagna, ‘White building’s Schizoanalysis’, 2023, digital sticker on plexiglass, 42.5 x 66 x 28cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

The White Building on the banks of the Bassac River in the centre of Phnom Penh was one of Van Molyvann and architect Lu Ban Hap’s famous buildings. Designed and constructed in 1963, it was an early form of social housing, responding to the country’s urgent need for affordable dense-living housing solutions to support the growing lower and middle class. It comprised 468 apartments, which could house 2500 residents, and was located on what was then and now prime river-front real estate.

Following the end of the Khmer Rouge Regime, after international intervention in 1975, the Cambodian people returned from rural areas to the cities. The White Building was re-occupied, and became a vibrant community and refuge for artists, classical dancers, musicians, craftspeople, cultural workers, civil servants and street vendors. For many Cambodian artists and people, the White Building was the heart of contemporary art and culture. The apartment became its own mini-ecosystem within a wider municipal life of Phnom Penh city.

Pen Sereypagna’s ‘White Building Schizoanalysis’ (2023) presents an architectural study of the social importance of the White Building during Cambodia’s post-war to 2017 period. Pen ambitiously documents its genealogy by capturing the lived experiences through photography, documentary video and a sculpture. The genealogy of the building, under Pen’s research, has become a symbol of the Cambodian people’s resilience to an ever-changing social and physical environment. To contemporary art in Cambodia, the White Building is iconic as it birthed a space for artists to seek support, learn, meet and converse on contemporary topics and concerns. Prior to the community being evicted and the White Building being demolished in 2017, Sa Sa Art Projects operated its flourishing artistic community and business within the building, working closely to the community and people. The building has since been replaced with a commercial space, private apartments and parking lots funded by international investments.

“To contemporary art in Cambodia, the White Building is iconic as it birthed a space for artists to seek support, learn, meet and converse on contemporary topics and concerns.”

Eng Ritchandaneth, ‘101’, 2023, fired clay, raw cotton and bamboo, variable dimensions. Image courtesy of the artist and 16albermarle Project Space.

Eng Ritchandaneth’s sculpture ‘101’ was originally produced in 2015 and remade for her 2023 participation in All That Surrounds Us. 101 discusses the injustice of the current government’s involvement in urban development under international financing. During the forced evacuation of the White Building, the community was given no compensation nor rehousing, ultimately being left homeless. The sculpture depicts hand gestures by members of the White Building community. One hundred hand gestures convey universal language and include poses from traditional Khmer dance. But one hand stands out from the rest, pointing forcefully to the audience in an authoritarian manner.

Thang Sothea, ‘Disruption’, 2020, natural hemp, iron, copper, wooden resin, 150 x 150cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Sa Sa Art Projects.

The Khmer Empire period also evidences Cambodia’s pluralistic spiritual footprint of the dynamic Khmer religion drawing its beliefs from Hinduism, Buddhism and indigenous customs. Evidence of the interwoven religious culture is marked across Angkor through the traditional practice of Bas-relief sandstone carvings and free standing religious sculptural figures. While many of these historical artefacts have been destroyed or looted, what remains has formed the long-standing art practices of sculpture and narrative painting.

Thang Sothea’s ‘Disruption’ (2020) presents the contemporary discussion of conservation of cultural artefacts and heritage. The sculpture, made from organic hemp and steel, binds together a narrative of the old existing in the new, commenting on the history of disturbance to spirituality by humans. Depicting an Apsara; a Khmer spiritual figure, separated into 6 different pieces of head, body, shoulders, hands and feet, the work references the long history of religious sculptures being looted by archaeologists, dealers and collectors. Disruption is a stunning example of artists contributing to contemporary repatriation discourse, with the presence of the work in ‘All That Surrounds Us’ taking place only a month after the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts recovered and returned three stolen statues to Cambodia from Australian collections.

This is an excerpt from Lauren Elise Barlow’s curatorial essay, published on the occasion of ‘All That Surrounds Us’. Curated by Lauren Elise Barlow, Vuth Lyno, Chum Chanveasna and Moeng Meta, the exhibition is on view at 16albermarle Project Space, New South Wales, Australia, from 7 October to 11 November 2023.

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