Pollination
Initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in 2018, ‘Pollination’ provides emerging curators and artists in South East Asia the opportunity to co-produce and collaborate, to mutually benefit from this region’s private arts infrastructure – platforms recognizing the value of sharing (pollinating) their critical ideas and activities. Aiming to set up a regional community of producers linking talent to network, space and opportunity, ’Pollination’ seeks to nurture artistic practice via curatorial enquiry, with the view that deeper connections between artists and curators enable critical reflection, writing and dialog – a discourse greatly needed as an intra-regional comparable accessible resource. ‘Pollination’ is envisaged as a long-term collaborative exercise between different institutions/community groups across Southeast Asia, with the aim of offering emerging curatorial and artistic talent the chance to work with other like-minded entities in their region. As one of the first private/non-governmental initiatives of its kind, ‘Pollination’ aims to develop and nurture the skills and relationships between artists and curators interested in working (and questioning) institutional structures of display in Southeast Asia. This third edition of ‘Pollination’, whose research began pre-pandemic in 2020, is composed of an exhibition, symposia and dedicated website.
This third edition of ‘Pollination’ is organized by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre; co-sponsored by SAM Funds for Arts and Ecology, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum and the Gray Center for Arts and Enquiry, The University of Chicago; with the support of Selasar Sunaryo Art Centre.
The third edition of ‘Pollination’ curated by LIR and Kittima Chareeprasit, titled ‘Of Hunters and Gatherers’, is composed of an exhibition, symposia and dedicated website.
‘The Hunters’, is an exhibition featuring the work of artists Maryanto (Yogyakarta) and Ruangsak Anuwatwimon (Bangkok), which took place firstly at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum,Chiang Mai, (19 March to 30 June 2021), and then toured to MAIELIE Art Space (Khon Kaen, late 2021); resulting from extensive collaborative research undertaken from March, 2020 to May, 2021. Traveling beneath the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi, Yogyakarta and along the increasingly dammed river routes of the lower Mekong, on the border between Thailand and Laos.
As the curators walked with the artists, they found themselves recalling specific artists, artworks, performances and social research that are as equally concerned with their local environmental degradation, due to realities of government oversight, colonial extraction and corporate greed. Thus they explored relatable scientific findings and ideas of ‘local embodied knowledge’ (folktales, mythologies, bedtime stories and local methods of ecological survival), the curators realizing a need to listen from not only one side of a story, but a need to listen to more than ‘one site’ of a story. These different bodies of lore are presented as online symposia from 28-30 May 2021, titled ‘The Gatherers’, hosted by Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (Bandung).
The symposia marks the launch of this dedicated website ‘www.ofhuntersandgatherers.com’. Ranging from newly written contributions to republished existing texts; from exhibition documentation to video interview, this site aims to prompt alternate study of ‘local embodied knowledge’ and its relevance in re-thinking ecological sustainability. Featuring interdisciplinary contribution by LIR (Mira Asriningtyas & Dito Yuwono), Kittima Chareeprasit, Ruangsak Anuwatwimon, Maryanto, Prilla Tania, The Forest Curriculum, Elizabeth D.Inandiak, Wut Chalanant , JJ Rizal, Tita Salina, Napak Serirak, Sutthirat Supaparinya. Edited by Zoe Butt and Lee Weng Choy. Designed by Rukpong Raimaturapong and Yonaz Kristy Sanjaya.
A series of public programs were conceived to build bridges between ‘The Hunters’ and ‘The Gatherers’ programs in April 2021;including ‘The Plus Partnership Series’ hosted by Art Curator Grid titled “Curator Conversation: Of Hunters and Gatherers” on 1 April 2021; in addition to participating in the ‘FarBar’ series hosted by The Gray Centre for Arts and Inquiry (University of Chicago), titled “Land, River, and Sea: The Moving Landscape ‘Of Hunters and Gatherers’” consisting of a 3 week screening program, featuring the work of Maryanto, Nontawat Numbenchapol, Prilla Tania, Tita Salina, and Wut Chalanant (21 April – 12 May 2021), with online discussion on 28 April 2021. The recording of these conversations can be watched here.
‘Pollination’ was initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre (Ho Chi Minh City) in 2018. This third edition is made possible with the generous sponsorship of SAM Fund for Arts and Ecology (Jakarta) and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (Chiang Mai); with the support of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (Bandung) and the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry (University of Chicago, USA). Thanks also to the curatorial advisors of this edition – Agung Hujatnikajennong, Vipash Purichanont and Zoe Butt. Special thank you must also be extended to Natasha Sidharta and Eric Booth for their belief in our project!
More information on ‘Pollination’ can be found here: https://factoryartscentre.com/en/programs/pollination-eng/
Agung Hujatnika
Dr. Agung Hujatnika, aka Agung Hujatnikajennong, is a freelance curator and full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). Amongst other exhibitions he has curated are ‘Fluid Zones, Jakarta Biennale ARENA’ (2009); ‘Exquisite Corpse’, Bandung Pavilion for the Shanghai Biennale (2012); ‘Not a Dead End’, Jogja Biennale – Equator #2 (2013); ‘Passion/ Possession’ (2014), and; Tintin Wulia’s solo project, ‘1001 Martian Homes’, for Indonesian Pavilion at Venice Biennale (2017). He was the initiator and artistic director for ‘Instrumenta’, an international media arts festival in Jakarta (2018-2019). Agung has been involved in several research projects on Indonesian and Southeast Asian art, including ‘Ambitious Alignments’ (2013- 2015), and ‘Shaping Indonesian Contemporary Arts – Role of the Institutions’ (2014-2017). His book, ‘Kurasi dan Kuasa’, on curatorial practice and power relations in the Indonesian art world, was published by Jakarta Arts Council (2015).
Vipash Purichanont
Vipash Purichanont is a curator based in Bangkok. He is a lecturer at the department of Art History at the faculty of Archeology, Silpakorn University. His curatorial projects include ‘Kamin Lertchaiprasert: 31st Century Museum of Contemporary Spirit’ (Chicago, 2011), ‘Tawatchai Puntusawasdi: Superfold’ (Kuala Lumpur, 2019) and ‘Concept Context Contestation: Art and the Collective in Southeast Asia’ (Bangkok, Yogyakarta, Hanoi, Yangon, 2013-2019). He was an assistant curator for the first Thailand Biennale (Krabi, 2018), a curator of Singapore Biennale 2019 (Singapore, 2019), and a co-curator of the second Thailand Biennale (Korat, 2021). He is a co-founder of Waiting You Curator Lab, a curatorial collective based in Chiangmai.
Zoe Butt
Zoe Butt is a curator and writer who lives in Vietnam. Her curatorial practice centres on building critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, fostering dialogue among countries of the global south. Currently Artistic Director of the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s first purpose-built space for contemporary art, Zoe formerly served as Executive Director and Curator, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009); and Assistant Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2001–2007) – this latter post particularly focused on the development of its Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Her work has been published by Hatje Cantz; ArtReview; Independent Curators International; ArtAsiaPacific; Printed Project; Lalit Kala Akademi; JRP-Ringier; Routledge; and Sternberg Press, among others. Her curatorial projects include interdisciplinary dialogue platforms such as Conscious Realities (2013-2016); the online exhibition Embedded South(s) (2016); and group exhibitions of Vietnamese and international artists at various international venues. Recent exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber – Journey Beyond The Arrow, (2019); Empty Forest: Tuan Andrew Nguyen (2018); Spirit of Friendship and Poetic Amnesia: Phan Thao Nguyen (both 2017); Dislocate: Bui Cong Khanh (2016), Conjuring Capital (2015). Zoe is a 2021 MoMA International Curatorial Fellow; a member of the Asian Art Council for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and in 2015 was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Kittima Chareeprasit (THAI)
Kittima Chareeprasit received her MA in Curating and Collections from Chelsea College of Arts and is currently curator at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In 2016, she co-founded the Waiting You Curator Lab, focusing on curatorial approaches within contemporary art practices. Her interest lies mainly in contemporary art and culture that revolve around critical history, social and political issues. She has worked on numerous projects with both emerging and established artists within the realm of Southeast Asian Art and its cultural context. Her recent curatorial work includes ‘House Calls: Pinaree Sanpitak’, 100 Tonson Foundation (2020); ‘Breast Stupa Cookery: the world turns upside down’, Nova Contemporary (2020); ‘Temporal Topography: MAIIAM’s New Acquisitions; from 2010 to Present’, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (2019); ‘In search of other times: reminiscence of things collected’, JWD Art Space Bangkok (2019); ;Occasionally Utility’, Gallery VER, Bangkok (2017); ‘The Thing That Takes Us Apart’, Gallery Seescape, Chiang Mai (2017).
LIR (INDONESIA)
LIR (Yogyakarta) is an art institution cum curator collective consisting of Mira Asriningtyas (b. 1986. based in Yogyakarta) and Dito Yuwono (b. 1985. based in Yogyakarta). Since 2011, LIR’s program ranges from exhibition laboratories and research-based art projects to public programs, residencies, and alternative art education platforms. LIR’s projects are characterized by multidisciplinary collaboration and often performative exhibitions; fostering continuous transgenerational transmission of knowledge, memory, and history. LIR’s most recent projects including “Curated by LIR” exhibition series (KKF – Yogyakarta, 2018 – 2020); “Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversations” (ISCP – New York, 2020); and “900mdpl” (Kaliurang – 2017, 2019, & 2021), a long-term site-specific project in Kaliurang, Indonesia—an aging resort village under an active volcano—with the aim of preserving collective memory of the space.
Maryanto (ID)
Maryanto creates evocative, black and white paintings, drawings, and installations that undermine the romantic language of traditional landscape painting to examine socio-political structures in the physical sites that he situated his works. Through fable-like and theatrical settings, these landscapes are subjected to the whim of colonizers and capitalists through technological development, industrialization, pollution of the land and exploitation of its natural resources. Maryanto graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art, Indonesia Institute of the Art, Yogyakarta in 2005, and completed a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2013. Recent notable exhibitions include ‘Permanent Osmosis’, LIR Space, Yogyakarta (2019, solo); ‘A Journey of Forking Paths’, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (2019, solo); ‘On the Shoulders of Fallen Giants: 2nd Industrial Art Biennial’, Labin, Croatia (2018); ‘Behind the Terrain’, Koganei Art Spot Chateau, Tokyo (2018). Maryanto was born in Jakarta. He now lives and works in Yogyakarta.
Ruangsak Anuwatwimon (TH)
Ruangsak Anuwatwimon is a Bangkok native and resident, driven and inspired by political issues and social situations that he has experienced in his own life. His artistic practice investigates the protagonist’s relationship humans have with the natural world. Employing diverse media which challenge the parameters of what constitutes an ‘artwork’, Ruangsak’s conceptual projects explore the social, cultural, and moral grounds of human societies. Notable recent projects include ‘Monstrous Phenomenon’, 1Projects, Bangkok (2019, solo); ‘Temporal Topography: MAIIAM New Acquisitions from 2010 to Present’, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai (2019/2020); ‘Every Step in the Right Direction – Singapore Biennale’ 2019, Singapore (2019); ‘Post-Nature – A Museum as an Ecosystem: 11th Taipei Biennial’, Taipei (2018). In 2020, Ruangsak will participate in the Bangkok Art Biennale.
Lee Weng Choy
Lee Weng Choy is an independent art critic and consultant. He has done project work with various arts organizations, including Ilham Gallery and A+ Works of Art, both in Kuala Lumpur, as well as the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and the National Gallery Singapore. He writes on contemporary art and culture in Southeast Asia, and his essays have appeared in journals such as Afterall and anthologies such as Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture and Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985. Lee is the president of the Singapore Section of the International Association of Art Critics. Previously, he was Artistic Co-Director of The Substation in Singapore. He has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Singapore.
Zoe Butt
Zoe Butt is a curator and writer who lives in Vietnam. Her curatorial practice centres on building critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, fostering dialogue among countries of the global south. Currently Artistic Director of the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s first purpose-built space for contemporary art, Zoe formerly served as Executive Director and Curator, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009); and Assistant Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2001–2007) – this latter post particularly focused on the development of its Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Her work has been published by Hatje Cantz; ArtReview; Independent Curators International; ArtAsiaPacific; Printed Project; Lalit Kala Akademi; JRP-Ringier; Routledge; and Sternberg Press, among others. Her curatorial projects include interdisciplinary dialogue platforms such as Conscious Realities (2013-2016); the online exhibition Embedded South(s) (2016); and group exhibitions of Vietnamese and international artists at various international venues. Recent exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber – Journey Beyond The Arrow, (2019); Empty Forest: Tuan Andrew Nguyen (2018); Spirit of Friendship and Poetic Amnesia: Phan Thao Nguyen (both 2017); Dislocate: Bui Cong Khanh (2016), Conjuring Capital (2015). Zoe is a 2021 MoMA International Curatorial Fellow; a member of the Asian Art Council for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and in 2015 was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Adam Bobbette
Adam Bobbette is a geographer and research fellow in the New Earth Histories research program, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Elizabeth D. Inandiak
Writer, translator and public servant; born in France. From the age of 19, she began traveling the world as a journalist, writing several literary books, including the life story of Marceline Loridan Ivens, a Jewish woman who had been exiled in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during the second world war, and various film scenarios, including “A Tale of the Wind”, with Dutch documentary director Joris Ivens (Indonesian Calling). In 1989 she settled in Yogyakarta. She recompiled Serat Centhini, a great Javanese literary work, into a 21st century version entitled “Kekasih yang Tersembunyi”. After the earthquake on 27 May 2006, she built the Giri Gino Guno studio in Bebekan, Bantul (DIY). During the eruption of Mount Merapi on October 26, 2010, she collaborated with the Al Qodir Islamic Boarding School to accompany the residents of Kinahrejo until they got back on their feet.
From the experiences of these two natural disasters, the story of “Babad Ngalor-Ngidul” was born with illustrations by artist Heri Dono— a continuation of the book Lahirnya Kembali Beringin Putih (1999). Her latest work titled “Mimpi-Mimpi dari Pulau Emas”, was produced together with the people of Muara Jambi Village, in Sumatra, who used local wisdom, fairy tales, and the third eye as a means of excavating this extraordinary Buddhist ancient site. There, with them, she built a house of wisdom and peace: Rumah Menapo.
JJ Rizal
JJ Rizal is an academic, historian, and founder of Penerbit Komunitas Bambu, a publishing house specializing in humaniora, history, and culture. His research is focusing on the history of Batavia-Betawi-Jakarta and his research has been published extensively in MOESSON Het Indisch Maandblad (2001-2006) magazine based in Netherlands. In 2009, he received the DKI Jakarta Governor Cultural Award. His writings about Junghuhn in National Geographic Indonesia were selected as “The Best International 2010” by National Geographic International Magazine, setting aside hundreds of articles from 36 National Geographic magazines outside of America. In 2011, he received the Jakarta Book Awards IKAPI (Indonesian Publisher Association) Jakarta for being considered to have “shared knowledge and change lives through books”. Some of his published books are “Politik Kota Kita” (2006); “Onze Ong: Onghokham dalam Kenangan” (2007); “Sejarah yang Memihak: Mengenang Sartono Kartodirdjo” (2008); and “Raden Saleh: Anak Belanda, Mooi Indie dan Nasionalisme”.
Kittima Chareeprasit (THAI)
Kittima Chareeprasit received her MA in Curating and Collections from Chelsea College of Arts and is currently curator at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In 2016, she co-founded the Waiting You Curator Lab, focusing on curatorial approaches within contemporary art practices. Her interest lies mainly in contemporary art and culture that revolve around critical history, social and political issues. She has worked on numerous projects with both emerging and established artists within the realm of Southeast Asian Art and its cultural context. Her recent curatorial work includes ‘House Calls: Pinaree Sanpitak’, 100 Tonson Foundation (2020); ‘Breast Stupa Cookery: the world turns upside down’, Nova Contemporary (2020); ‘Temporal Topography: MAIIAM’s New Acquisitions; from 2010 to Present’, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (2019); ‘In search of other times: reminiscence of things collected’, JWD Art Space Bangkok (2019); ;Occasionally Utility’, Gallery VER, Bangkok (2017); ‘The Thing That Takes Us Apart’, Gallery Seescape, Chiang Mai (2017).
Mira Asriningtyas
Mira Asriningtyas works as an independent curator and writer. She completed De Appel Curatorial Program in 2017 at De Appel Art Center ‐ Amsterdam and RAW Academie 6: CURA in 2019 at RAW Material Company ‐ Dakar. The idea of learning back from magic, ghosts, and polycentric knowledge rooted in local context as an attempt to decolonize the knowledge system, promote ecological sustainability, and further investigate the remaining trace of colonialism have been central to her current research practice. Her writings have been published in books, online publication, exhibition catalog, monograph, and magazine from Indonesia, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Australia.
In her curatorial practice, she is especially interested in working on site‐specific multidisciplinary projects within the practice of everyday life as a means to address socio‐political issues and history. Some of her projects are “Poetry of Space” (Jakarta & Yogyakarta, 2014); “Fine (Art) Dining” (Lir Space – Yogyakarta, 2016); “Goodluck, See You After The Revolution” (UVA – Amsterdam, 2017) ; “Why is Everybody Being So Nice?” (De Appel Art Center _ Amsterdam, 2017); “Why is Everybody Being So Nice: The Power Nap” (Stedelijk Museum – Amsterdam, 2017); “Coming Soon” (exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo ‐ Turin and publication by NERO ‐ Rome, 2018), “Curated by LIR” seven solo exhibition series spread out throughout the year of 2018 ‐ 2020 (KKF ‐ Yogyakarta); and The Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversation (ISCP – New York, 2020) among others. She is a co-founder of LIR Space, an art space in Yogyakarta that turned into a curator collective (LIR) in 2019. In 2017, they initiated a biennial site‐specific project titled “900mdpl” in Kaliurang, an aging resort village under an active volcano Mt.Merapi in order to preserve the collective memories of the people. The project brings together local and international artists for a research residency and create a socially‐engaged archive of the space and the 3rd edition (2021) is coming up.
Napak Serirak
Napak Serirak received his BA in Economics and MA in Anthropology from Thammasat University. Drawing from the history of sexuality, medical anthropology and linguistic anthropology, he wrote extensively on the cultural history of sexology in Thai society. In addition, his interests include colonial scientific expedition writing on Southeast Asia as well as environmental history and political ecology of nature conservation in/of the region, amongst others. He was a lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus from 2013 to 2017. Napak is currently an independent researcher.
Prilla Tania
Prilla Tania is a multi-disciplinary artist whose works include soft sculpture, installations, videos and photos. Prilla’s works are influenced by the idea of food sovereignty and the sustainable relationship between humans and nature. Recent notable exhibitions include ‘In To The Future’, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (2019); ‘Jogja Biennale XII: Not A Dead End’, Yogyakarta (2013); ‘E’, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung (2013, solo). Currently she is managing a garden called Leuwigoeng in Bandung focusing on organic farming and sustainable living.
Sutthirat Supaparinya
Working across media, Sutthirat Supaparinya (Som)’s artistic practice questions and interprets public information with a focus on the impact of human activities on other humans and the landscape. Through her works, she questions and interprets public information and reveals or questions what’s structure affects her/us as a national/ global citizen. Sutthirat seeks to cultivate freedom of expression through her art practice.
The Forest Curriculum
The Forest Curriculum (Bangkok/Yogyakarta/Manila/Seoul/Berlin/Santa Barbara) is an itinerant and nomadic platform for interdisciplinary research and mutual co-learning, based in Southeast Asia, and operating internationally. Founded and co-directed by curators Abhijan Toto and Pujita Guha, and with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, it works with artists, collectives, researchers, indigenous organizations and thinkers, musicians, and activists, to assemble a located critique of the Anthropocene via the naturecultures of Zomia, the forested belt that connects South and Southeast Asia. The Forest Curriculum organizes exhibitions, public programs, performances, video and multimedia projects, as well as an annual intensive in a different location around the region, which gathers practitioners from all over the world to engage in collective research and shared methodologies: The Forest And The School, Bangkok (2019); The Forest Is In The City Is In The Forest I, Manila (2020) and II, Online (2020-2021). The platform collaborates with institutions and organizations internationally, including Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; Ideas City, the New Museum, NTU CCA, Singapore, Nomina Nuda, Los Baños, and GAMeC, Bergamo among others.
Tita Salina
In Tita Salina’s practice, intervention, installation and moving image come together in response to site-specific issues that have global resonance. 1001st island – the most sustainable island in archipelago 2015 explores transnational issues of community disenfranchisement, environmental pollution and government corruption as they manifest within the Indonesian government’s grand plan for the restoration and redevelopment of Jakarta Bay. Recent notable exhibitions include ‘Bangkok Art Biennale’, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok (2020); The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art ,Moscow, Russia (2019); Irwan Ahmett and Tita Salina: The Ring of Fire (2014 – ongoing), NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore, Singapore (2019); From Bandung to Berlin: If all of the moons aligned, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany (2016), among others.
Wut Chalanant
Wut Chalanant’s artistic approach involves research into the historic, political and economic based activities and a physical exploration of these spaces on the edge of the normal experience, and he is working around the theme on the relationship between humans and space in the modern age. He is also interested by the ideology of urban development and how it alters space. Transformation of the land, through the shifting demands of the global economy, creates a void of context and opens up room for new interpretations. In order to search for the statement of our trace, he captures elements of the realities, which are later reconstructed.
email: info@factoryartscentre.com
Pollination
Initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in 2018, ‘Pollination’ provides emerging curators and artists in South East Asia the opportunity to co-produce and collaborate, to mutually benefit from this region’s private arts infrastructure – platforms recognizing the value of sharing (pollinating) their critical ideas and activities. Aiming to set up a regional community of producers linking talent to network, space and opportunity, ’Pollination’ seeks to nurture artistic practice via curatorial enquiry, with the view that deeper connections between artists and curators enable critical reflection, writing and dialog – a discourse greatly needed as an intra-regional comparable accessible resource. ‘Pollination’ is envisaged as a long-term collaborative exercise between different institutions/community groups across Southeast Asia, with the aim of offering emerging curatorial and artistic talent the chance to work with other like-minded entities in their region. As one of the first private/non-governmental initiatives of its kind, ‘Pollination’ aims to develop and nurture the skills and relationships between artists and curators interested in working (and questioning) institutional structures of display in Southeast Asia. This third edition of ‘Pollination’, whose research began pre-pandemic in 2020, is composed of an exhibition, symposia and dedicated website.
This third edition of ‘Pollination’ is organized by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre; co-sponsored by SAM Funds for Arts and Ecology, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum and the Gray Center for Arts and Enquiry, The University of Chicago; with the support of Selasar Sunaryo Art Centre.
The third edition of ‘Pollination’ curated by LIR and Kittima Chareeprasit, titled ‘Of Hunters and Gatherers’, is composed of an exhibition, symposia and dedicated website.
‘The Hunters’, is an exhibition featuring the work of artists Maryanto (Yogyakarta) and Ruangsak Anuwatwimon (Bangkok), which took place firstly at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum,Chiang Mai, (19 March to 30 June 2021), and then toured to MAIELIE Art Space (Khon Kaen, late 2021); resulting from extensive collaborative research undertaken from March, 2020 to May, 2021. Traveling beneath the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi, Yogyakarta and along the increasingly dammed river routes of the lower Mekong, on the border between Thailand and Laos.
As the curators walked with the artists, they found themselves recalling specific artists, artworks, performances and social research that are as equally concerned with their local environmental degradation, due to realities of government oversight, colonial extraction and corporate greed. Thus they explored relatable scientific findings and ideas of ‘local embodied knowledge’ (folktales, mythologies, bedtime stories and local methods of ecological survival), the curators realizing a need to listen from not only one side of a story, but a need to listen to more than ‘one site’ of a story. These different bodies of lore are presented as online symposia from 28-30 May 2021, titled ‘The Gatherers’, hosted by Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (Bandung).
The symposia marks the launch of this dedicated website ‘www.ofhuntersandgatherers.com’. Ranging from newly written contributions to republished existing texts; from exhibition documentation to video interview, this site aims to prompt alternate study of ‘local embodied knowledge’ and its relevance in re-thinking ecological sustainability. Featuring interdisciplinary contribution by LIR (Mira Asriningtyas & Dito Yuwono), Kittima Chareeprasit, Ruangsak Anuwatwimon, Maryanto, Prilla Tania, The Forest Curriculum, Elizabeth D.Inandiak, Wut Chalanant , JJ Rizal, Tita Salina, Napak Serirak, Sutthirat Supaparinya. Edited by Zoe Butt and Lee Weng Choy. Designed by Rukpong Raimaturapong and Yonaz Kristy Sanjaya.
A series of public programs were conceived to build bridges between ‘The Hunters’ and ‘The Gatherers’ programs in April 2021;including ‘The Plus Partnership Series’ hosted by Art Curator Grid titled “Curator Conversation: Of Hunters and Gatherers” on 1 April 2021; in addition to participating in the ‘FarBar’ series hosted by The Gray Centre for Arts and Inquiry (University of Chicago), titled “Land, River, and Sea: The Moving Landscape ‘Of Hunters and Gatherers’” consisting of a 3 week screening program, featuring the work of Maryanto, Nontawat Numbenchapol, Prilla Tania, Tita Salina, and Wut Chalanant (21 April – 12 May 2021), with online discussion on 28 April 2021. The recording of these conversations can be watched here.
‘Pollination’ was initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre (Ho Chi Minh City) in 2018. This third edition is made possible with the generous sponsorship of SAM Fund for Arts and Ecology (Jakarta) and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (Chiang Mai); with the support of Selasar Sunaryo Art Space (Bandung) and the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry (University of Chicago, USA). Thanks also to the curatorial advisors of this edition – Agung Hujatnikajennong, Vipash Purichanont and Zoe Butt. Special thank you must also be extended to Natasha Sidharta and Eric Booth for their belief in our project!
More information on ‘Pollination’ can be found here: https://factoryartscentre.com/en/programs/pollination-eng/
Agung Hujatnika
Dr. Agung Hujatnika, aka Agung Hujatnikajennong, is a freelance curator and full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). Amongst other exhibitions he has curated are ‘Fluid Zones, Jakarta Biennale ARENA’ (2009); ‘Exquisite Corpse’, Bandung Pavilion for the Shanghai Biennale (2012); ‘Not a Dead End’, Jogja Biennale – Equator #2 (2013); ‘Passion/ Possession’ (2014), and; Tintin Wulia’s solo project, ‘1001 Martian Homes’, for Indonesian Pavilion at Venice Biennale (2017). He was the initiator and artistic director for ‘Instrumenta’, an international media arts festival in Jakarta (2018-2019). Agung has been involved in several research projects on Indonesian and Southeast Asian art, including ‘Ambitious Alignments’ (2013- 2015), and ‘Shaping Indonesian Contemporary Arts – Role of the Institutions’ (2014-2017). His book, ‘Kurasi dan Kuasa’, on curatorial practice and power relations in the Indonesian art world, was published by Jakarta Arts Council (2015).
Vipash Purichanont
Vipash Purichanont is a curator based in Bangkok. He is a lecturer at the department of Art History at the faculty of Archeology, Silpakorn University. His curatorial projects include ‘Kamin Lertchaiprasert: 31st Century Museum of Contemporary Spirit’ (Chicago, 2011), ‘Tawatchai Puntusawasdi: Superfold’ (Kuala Lumpur, 2019) and ‘Concept Context Contestation: Art and the Collective in Southeast Asia’ (Bangkok, Yogyakarta, Hanoi, Yangon, 2013-2019). He was an assistant curator for the first Thailand Biennale (Krabi, 2018), a curator of Singapore Biennale 2019 (Singapore, 2019), and a co-curator of the second Thailand Biennale (Korat, 2021). He is a co-founder of Waiting You Curator Lab, a curatorial collective based in Chiangmai.
Zoe Butt
Zoe Butt is a curator and writer who lives in Vietnam. Her curatorial practice centres on building critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, fostering dialogue among countries of the global south. Currently Artistic Director of the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s first purpose-built space for contemporary art, Zoe formerly served as Executive Director and Curator, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009); and Assistant Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2001–2007) – this latter post particularly focused on the development of its Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Her work has been published by Hatje Cantz; ArtReview; Independent Curators International; ArtAsiaPacific; Printed Project; Lalit Kala Akademi; JRP-Ringier; Routledge; and Sternberg Press, among others. Her curatorial projects include interdisciplinary dialogue platforms such as Conscious Realities (2013-2016); the online exhibition Embedded South(s) (2016); and group exhibitions of Vietnamese and international artists at various international venues. Recent exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber – Journey Beyond The Arrow, (2019); Empty Forest: Tuan Andrew Nguyen (2018); Spirit of Friendship and Poetic Amnesia: Phan Thao Nguyen (both 2017); Dislocate: Bui Cong Khanh (2016), Conjuring Capital (2015). Zoe is a 2021 MoMA International Curatorial Fellow; a member of the Asian Art Council for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and in 2015 was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Kittima Chareeprasit (THAI)
Kittima Chareeprasit received her MA in Curating and Collections from Chelsea College of Arts and is currently curator at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In 2016, she co-founded the Waiting You Curator Lab, focusing on curatorial approaches within contemporary art practices. Her interest lies mainly in contemporary art and culture that revolve around critical history, social and political issues. She has worked on numerous projects with both emerging and established artists within the realm of Southeast Asian Art and its cultural context. Her recent curatorial work includes ‘House Calls: Pinaree Sanpitak’, 100 Tonson Foundation (2020); ‘Breast Stupa Cookery: the world turns upside down’, Nova Contemporary (2020); ‘Temporal Topography: MAIIAM’s New Acquisitions; from 2010 to Present’, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (2019); ‘In search of other times: reminiscence of things collected’, JWD Art Space Bangkok (2019); ;Occasionally Utility’, Gallery VER, Bangkok (2017); ‘The Thing That Takes Us Apart’, Gallery Seescape, Chiang Mai (2017).
LIR (INDONESIA)
LIR (Yogyakarta) is an art institution cum curator collective consisting of Mira Asriningtyas (b. 1986. based in Yogyakarta) and Dito Yuwono (b. 1985. based in Yogyakarta). Since 2011, LIR’s program ranges from exhibition laboratories and research-based art projects to public programs, residencies, and alternative art education platforms. LIR’s projects are characterized by multidisciplinary collaboration and often performative exhibitions; fostering continuous transgenerational transmission of knowledge, memory, and history. LIR’s most recent projects including “Curated by LIR” exhibition series (KKF – Yogyakarta, 2018 – 2020); “Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversations” (ISCP – New York, 2020); and “900mdpl” (Kaliurang – 2017, 2019, & 2021), a long-term site-specific project in Kaliurang, Indonesia—an aging resort village under an active volcano—with the aim of preserving collective memory of the space.
Maryanto (ID)
Maryanto creates evocative, black and white paintings, drawings, and installations that undermine the romantic language of traditional landscape painting to examine socio-political structures in the physical sites that he situated his works. Through fable-like and theatrical settings, these landscapes are subjected to the whim of colonizers and capitalists through technological development, industrialization, pollution of the land and exploitation of its natural resources. Maryanto graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art, Indonesia Institute of the Art, Yogyakarta in 2005, and completed a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2013. Recent notable exhibitions include ‘Permanent Osmosis’, LIR Space, Yogyakarta (2019, solo); ‘A Journey of Forking Paths’, Yeo Workshop, Singapore (2019, solo); ‘On the Shoulders of Fallen Giants: 2nd Industrial Art Biennial’, Labin, Croatia (2018); ‘Behind the Terrain’, Koganei Art Spot Chateau, Tokyo (2018). Maryanto was born in Jakarta. He now lives and works in Yogyakarta.
Ruangsak Anuwatwimon (TH)
Ruangsak Anuwatwimon is a Bangkok native and resident, driven and inspired by political issues and social situations that he has experienced in his own life. His artistic practice investigates the protagonist’s relationship humans have with the natural world. Employing diverse media which challenge the parameters of what constitutes an ‘artwork’, Ruangsak’s conceptual projects explore the social, cultural, and moral grounds of human societies. Notable recent projects include ‘Monstrous Phenomenon’, 1Projects, Bangkok (2019, solo); ‘Temporal Topography: MAIIAM New Acquisitions from 2010 to Present’, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai (2019/2020); ‘Every Step in the Right Direction – Singapore Biennale’ 2019, Singapore (2019); ‘Post-Nature – A Museum as an Ecosystem: 11th Taipei Biennial’, Taipei (2018). In 2020, Ruangsak will participate in the Bangkok Art Biennale.
Lee Weng Choy
Lee Weng Choy is an independent art critic and consultant. He has done project work with various arts organizations, including Ilham Gallery and A+ Works of Art, both in Kuala Lumpur, as well as the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and the National Gallery Singapore. He writes on contemporary art and culture in Southeast Asia, and his essays have appeared in journals such as Afterall and anthologies such as Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture and Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985. Lee is the president of the Singapore Section of the International Association of Art Critics. Previously, he was Artistic Co-Director of The Substation in Singapore. He has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Singapore.
Zoe Butt
Zoe Butt is a curator and writer who lives in Vietnam. Her curatorial practice centres on building critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, fostering dialogue among countries of the global south. Currently Artistic Director of the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s first purpose-built space for contemporary art, Zoe formerly served as Executive Director and Curator, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009); and Assistant Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2001–2007) – this latter post particularly focused on the development of its Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. Her work has been published by Hatje Cantz; ArtReview; Independent Curators International; ArtAsiaPacific; Printed Project; Lalit Kala Akademi; JRP-Ringier; Routledge; and Sternberg Press, among others. Her curatorial projects include interdisciplinary dialogue platforms such as Conscious Realities (2013-2016); the online exhibition Embedded South(s) (2016); and group exhibitions of Vietnamese and international artists at various international venues. Recent exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber – Journey Beyond The Arrow, (2019); Empty Forest: Tuan Andrew Nguyen (2018); Spirit of Friendship and Poetic Amnesia: Phan Thao Nguyen (both 2017); Dislocate: Bui Cong Khanh (2016), Conjuring Capital (2015). Zoe is a 2021 MoMA International Curatorial Fellow; a member of the Asian Art Council for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and in 2015 was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Adam Bobbette
Adam Bobbette is a geographer and research fellow in the New Earth Histories research program, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Elizabeth D. Inandiak
Writer, translator and public servant; born in France. From the age of 19, she began traveling the world as a journalist, writing several literary books, including the life story of Marceline Loridan Ivens, a Jewish woman who had been exiled in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during the second world war, and various film scenarios, including “A Tale of the Wind”, with Dutch documentary director Joris Ivens (Indonesian Calling). In 1989 she settled in Yogyakarta. She recompiled Serat Centhini, a great Javanese literary work, into a 21st century version entitled “Kekasih yang Tersembunyi”. After the earthquake on 27 May 2006, she built the Giri Gino Guno studio in Bebekan, Bantul (DIY). During the eruption of Mount Merapi on October 26, 2010, she collaborated with the Al Qodir Islamic Boarding School to accompany the residents of Kinahrejo until they got back on their feet.
From the experiences of these two natural disasters, the story of “Babad Ngalor-Ngidul” was born with illustrations by artist Heri Dono— a continuation of the book Lahirnya Kembali Beringin Putih (1999). Her latest work titled “Mimpi-Mimpi dari Pulau Emas”, was produced together with the people of Muara Jambi Village, in Sumatra, who used local wisdom, fairy tales, and the third eye as a means of excavating this extraordinary Buddhist ancient site. There, with them, she built a house of wisdom and peace: Rumah Menapo.
JJ Rizal
JJ Rizal is an academic, historian, and founder of Penerbit Komunitas Bambu, a publishing house specializing in humaniora, history, and culture. His research is focusing on the history of Batavia-Betawi-Jakarta and his research has been published extensively in MOESSON Het Indisch Maandblad (2001-2006) magazine based in Netherlands. In 2009, he received the DKI Jakarta Governor Cultural Award. His writings about Junghuhn in National Geographic Indonesia were selected as “The Best International 2010” by National Geographic International Magazine, setting aside hundreds of articles from 36 National Geographic magazines outside of America. In 2011, he received the Jakarta Book Awards IKAPI (Indonesian Publisher Association) Jakarta for being considered to have “shared knowledge and change lives through books”. Some of his published books are “Politik Kota Kita” (2006); “Onze Ong: Onghokham dalam Kenangan” (2007); “Sejarah yang Memihak: Mengenang Sartono Kartodirdjo” (2008); and “Raden Saleh: Anak Belanda, Mooi Indie dan Nasionalisme”.
Kittima Chareeprasit (THAI)
Kittima Chareeprasit received her MA in Curating and Collections from Chelsea College of Arts and is currently curator at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In 2016, she co-founded the Waiting You Curator Lab, focusing on curatorial approaches within contemporary art practices. Her interest lies mainly in contemporary art and culture that revolve around critical history, social and political issues. She has worked on numerous projects with both emerging and established artists within the realm of Southeast Asian Art and its cultural context. Her recent curatorial work includes ‘House Calls: Pinaree Sanpitak’, 100 Tonson Foundation (2020); ‘Breast Stupa Cookery: the world turns upside down’, Nova Contemporary (2020); ‘Temporal Topography: MAIIAM’s New Acquisitions; from 2010 to Present’, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (2019); ‘In search of other times: reminiscence of things collected’, JWD Art Space Bangkok (2019); ;Occasionally Utility’, Gallery VER, Bangkok (2017); ‘The Thing That Takes Us Apart’, Gallery Seescape, Chiang Mai (2017).
Mira Asriningtyas
Mira Asriningtyas works as an independent curator and writer. She completed De Appel Curatorial Program in 2017 at De Appel Art Center ‐ Amsterdam and RAW Academie 6: CURA in 2019 at RAW Material Company ‐ Dakar. The idea of learning back from magic, ghosts, and polycentric knowledge rooted in local context as an attempt to decolonize the knowledge system, promote ecological sustainability, and further investigate the remaining trace of colonialism have been central to her current research practice. Her writings have been published in books, online publication, exhibition catalog, monograph, and magazine from Indonesia, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Australia.
In her curatorial practice, she is especially interested in working on site‐specific multidisciplinary projects within the practice of everyday life as a means to address socio‐political issues and history. Some of her projects are “Poetry of Space” (Jakarta & Yogyakarta, 2014); “Fine (Art) Dining” (Lir Space – Yogyakarta, 2016); “Goodluck, See You After The Revolution” (UVA – Amsterdam, 2017) ; “Why is Everybody Being So Nice?” (De Appel Art Center _ Amsterdam, 2017); “Why is Everybody Being So Nice: The Power Nap” (Stedelijk Museum – Amsterdam, 2017); “Coming Soon” (exhibition at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo ‐ Turin and publication by NERO ‐ Rome, 2018), “Curated by LIR” seven solo exhibition series spread out throughout the year of 2018 ‐ 2020 (KKF ‐ Yogyakarta); and The Transient Museum of a Thousand Conversation (ISCP – New York, 2020) among others. She is a co-founder of LIR Space, an art space in Yogyakarta that turned into a curator collective (LIR) in 2019. In 2017, they initiated a biennial site‐specific project titled “900mdpl” in Kaliurang, an aging resort village under an active volcano Mt.Merapi in order to preserve the collective memories of the people. The project brings together local and international artists for a research residency and create a socially‐engaged archive of the space and the 3rd edition (2021) is coming up.
Napak Serirak
Napak Serirak received his BA in Economics and MA in Anthropology from Thammasat University. Drawing from the history of sexuality, medical anthropology and linguistic anthropology, he wrote extensively on the cultural history of sexology in Thai society. In addition, his interests include colonial scientific expedition writing on Southeast Asia as well as environmental history and political ecology of nature conservation in/of the region, amongst others. He was a lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus from 2013 to 2017. Napak is currently an independent researcher.
Prilla Tania
Prilla Tania is a multi-disciplinary artist whose works include soft sculpture, installations, videos and photos. Prilla’s works are influenced by the idea of food sovereignty and the sustainable relationship between humans and nature. Recent notable exhibitions include ‘In To The Future’, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta (2019); ‘Jogja Biennale XII: Not A Dead End’, Yogyakarta (2013); ‘E’, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung (2013, solo). Currently she is managing a garden called Leuwigoeng in Bandung focusing on organic farming and sustainable living.
Sutthirat Supaparinya
Working across media, Sutthirat Supaparinya (Som)’s artistic practice questions and interprets public information with a focus on the impact of human activities on other humans and the landscape. Through her works, she questions and interprets public information and reveals or questions what’s structure affects her/us as a national/ global citizen. Sutthirat seeks to cultivate freedom of expression through her art practice.
The Forest Curriculum
The Forest Curriculum (Bangkok/Yogyakarta/Manila/Seoul/Berlin/Santa Barbara) is an itinerant and nomadic platform for interdisciplinary research and mutual co-learning, based in Southeast Asia, and operating internationally. Founded and co-directed by curators Abhijan Toto and Pujita Guha, and with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, it works with artists, collectives, researchers, indigenous organizations and thinkers, musicians, and activists, to assemble a located critique of the Anthropocene via the naturecultures of Zomia, the forested belt that connects South and Southeast Asia. The Forest Curriculum organizes exhibitions, public programs, performances, video and multimedia projects, as well as an annual intensive in a different location around the region, which gathers practitioners from all over the world to engage in collective research and shared methodologies: The Forest And The School, Bangkok (2019); The Forest Is In The City Is In The Forest I, Manila (2020) and II, Online (2020-2021). The platform collaborates with institutions and organizations internationally, including Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; Ideas City, the New Museum, NTU CCA, Singapore, Nomina Nuda, Los Baños, and GAMeC, Bergamo among others.
Tita Salina
In Tita Salina’s practice, intervention, installation and moving image come together in response to site-specific issues that have global resonance. 1001st island – the most sustainable island in archipelago 2015 explores transnational issues of community disenfranchisement, environmental pollution and government corruption as they manifest within the Indonesian government’s grand plan for the restoration and redevelopment of Jakarta Bay. Recent notable exhibitions include ‘Bangkok Art Biennale’, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok (2020); The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art ,Moscow, Russia (2019); Irwan Ahmett and Tita Salina: The Ring of Fire (2014 – ongoing), NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore, Singapore (2019); From Bandung to Berlin: If all of the moons aligned, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany (2016), among others.
Wut Chalanant
Wut Chalanant’s artistic approach involves research into the historic, political and economic based activities and a physical exploration of these spaces on the edge of the normal experience, and he is working around the theme on the relationship between humans and space in the modern age. He is also interested by the ideology of urban development and how it alters space. Transformation of the land, through the shifting demands of the global economy, creates a void of context and opens up room for new interpretations. In order to search for the statement of our trace, he captures elements of the realities, which are later reconstructed.
email: info@factoryartscentre.com