Here Is No 'Telling Like It Is': Charting the Writing, Led by Eileen Ramirez and Michelle Wong [Seminar Rooms 3, 4]

AMBITIOUS ALIGNMENTS NEW HISTORIES OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN ART

National Gallery Singapore 19 – 23 January 2016 Program

Following the Bandung Workshop, held at the Bandung Institute of Technology, in August 2015, the participants and leaders of the Ambitious Alignments research project will re-convene for the final time in Singapore, at the National Gallery Singapore, host of the five-day event. The Sydney Committee would like to thank National Gallery Singapore for their generous support, and Asia Art Archive, the University of Sydney Southeast Asia Centre and the Australian Research Council for their kind support.

Ambitious Alignments is generously supported by the Getty Foundation as part of its Connecting Art Histories initiative.

Participants

. Aminudin Tua Hamonangan Siregar Lecturer, Visual Study Program, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) . Brigitta Isabella Lecturer, Philosophy Department, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta Member, Kunci Cultural Studies Center, Yogyakarta . Bùi Thị Thanh Mai Lecturer, Art History, Theory and Criticism, Vietnam University of Fine Arts . Chomchon Fusinpaiboon Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University . Clare Veal PhD Candidate, University of Sydney . Eileen Ramirez Assistant Professor, Department of Art Studies, University of the Philippines . Kelvin Chuah SLAI Fellow, Cultural Centre, University Malaya . Melissa Carlson Independent researcher and curator based in Hong Kong . Michelle Wun Ting Wong Researcher, Asia Art Archive . Roger Nelson PhD candidate, the University of Melbourne Independent curator based in Phnom Penh . Simon Soon PhD Candidate, University of Sydney . Thanavi Chotpradit PhD Candidate, Art History, Birkbeck College, University of London Part Time Lecturer in Art History, Silpakorn University . Vera Mey Curator, Residencies, Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA) . Wulan Dirgantoro Lecturer, Art Theory and History, LaSalle College of the Arts . Nathalie Johnston Co-Director, Myanmar Art Resource Center and Archive (MARCA)

Guest Speaker

. Professor Ashley Thompson Hiram W. Woodward Chair in Southeast Asian Art Academic Lead, Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme Chair, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies Department of History of Art and Archaeology SOAS, University of London

Field Leaders and Experts

. Professor T. K. Sabapathy Adjunct Associate Professor National University of Singapore, Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University . Professor Patrick Flores Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism University of the Philippines . Dr. Sarena Abdullah Art Historian and Senior Lecturer, School of the Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia . Dr. Eugene Tan Director National Gallery Singapore . Low Sze Wee Director (Curatorial & Collections) National Gallery Singapore . Dr. Agung Hujatnika Lecturer, Bandung Institute of Technology, Independent Curator

University of Sydney, Committee

. Professor Mark Ledbury, Chief Investigator . Professor Adrian Vickers, Chief Investigator . Dr. Stephen Whiteman, Chief Investigator . Emeritus Professor John Clark, Consultant

Support . Dr. Yvonne Low, Project coordinator and administrator

National Gallery Singapore (Support) . Michelle Goh, Assistant Director (International Programmes) . Lucas Huang, Manager (International Programmes) . Lee Weng Choy, Consultant

Ambitious Alignments: New histories of Southeast Asian Art 18 – 24 January 2016: Singapore Workshop Please note that the schedule and itinerary as listed are subject to changes.

18 January 2016 (Monday) Arrival in Singapore

19 January 2016 (Tuesday) Workshop Day 1 National Gallery Singapore [Seminar Rooms 3 and 4, City Hall wing B1]

09.00-09.30 Participants and Leaders arrive

09.30-09.45 Opening remarks: Introductions and Agenda setting Professor Mark Ledbury

09.45-10.00 Welcome briefing: Meals, Getting around, House Rules Michelle Goh, National Gallery Singapore

10.00-10.30 Morning Tea @ Seminar Suite (outside Seminar Rooms 3 and 4)

10.30-12.00 Session 1 – Cohort-led Discussions: Locating the interdisciplinary in art histories in Southeast Asia, led by Roger Nelson and Clare Veal [Seminar rooms 3 and 4]

12.00-13.00 Lunch @ Auditorium Foyer Following lunch, please make your way by foot to SAM (see Maps & Directions)

13.30-15.30 Viewing of Southeast Asian Art: Singapore Art Museum and 8Q Curator’s tour of 5 Stars, Time of Others and President’s Young Talents exhibitions

15.30-16.30 Afternoon tea and Sharing session with SAM curators

18.00-20.00 *Opening dinner hosted by the Gallery

* Opening Dinner details (location/time) will be provided on Day 1 of the Workshop by National Gallery Singapore during the morning briefing.

20 January 2016 (Wednesday) Workshop Day 2 National Gallery Singapore [Seminar Rooms 3 and 4, City Hall wing B1]

09.00-09.30 Participants and Leaders arrive 09.30-11.00 Session 2 – Cohort-led Discussions: There is no 'telling like it is': Charting the Writing, led by Eileen Ramirez and Michelle Wong [Seminar Rooms 3, 4]

11.00-11.30 Morning Tea @ Seminar Suite

11.30-13.00 Session 3 – Cohort-led Discussions: The Art Historian as Belligerent: Doing Art History in Southeast Asia, led by Simon Soon and Wulan Dirgantoro [Seminar Rooms 3, 4]

13.00-13.45 Lunch @ Auditorium Foyer

13.45-15.30 Viewing Southeast Asian Art: National Gallery Singapore Curators’ tour

15.30-16.00 Afternoon Tea @ Boardroom

16.00-17.00 Post-Tour Discussion with National Gallery Singapore curators [Theatrette] Moderated by Emeritus Professor John Clark and Dr. Phoebe Scott

18.00-21.00 **Art Stage Vernissage Opening [coach pickup at Excelsior]

** Transport is provided to Art Stage. Details (location/time) will be provided on Day 1 of the Workshop by the Gallery during the morning briefing. Dinner is not provided; there are some F&B options at Art Stage and at Marina Bay Sands, where the fair is held. Transport back to the hotel is not provided, but there will be plenty of taxis available should you require one to send you back to the hotel.

21 January 2016 (Thursday) Workshop Day 3 National Gallery Singapore [Seminar Rooms 3 and 4, City Hall wing B1]

09.00-09.30 Participants and Leaders arrive 09.30-11:30 Session 4 – Preparation for final public presentation (Peer-Review and Pair work) [Seminar Rooms 1, 2, 3, 4 and Resource Centre] * Slides to be submitted to Lucas Huang before lunch.

10.30-11.00 Morning Tea @ Seminar Suite (working tea: please continue to work on your presentations over tea)

11:30-12:30 Session 5 – Open discussion: Research projects, publication, and future steps, led by Professor Mark Ledbury and Dr. Stephen Whiteman [Seminar Rooms 3 and 4]

12.30-13.30 Lunch @ Auditorium Foyer Following the lunch, please make your way by foot to ACM (see Maps & Directions)

14.00-15.30 Viewing Southeast Asian Art: Asian Civilizations Museum Curator’s tour led by Dr Stephen Murphy (Curator for Southeast Asia): The new Asian Civilisations Museum galleries, and plans for the Southeast Asia galleries

15.30-16.00 Afternoon Tea

16.00-17.30 Conversations with ACM curators: From Traditional to Contemporary, Collecting and Exhibiting Southeast Asian Art With Dominic Low (Assistant curator), Naomi Wang (Assistant curator, Southeast Asia), and Stephen Murphy (Curator, Southeast Asia)

19.00-21.00 Exhibition Opening: “A Fact Has No Appearance” and “Earth Work 1979” , National Gallery Singapore “Art Supper” (exclusive reception) co-organised by National Gallery

Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board

22 January 2016 (Friday) Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM DAY 1 National Gallery Singapore, Auditorium, City Hall wing B1

09.00-09.30 Arrival

09.30-09.40 Welcoming remarks

09.40-10.00 Opening address Dr. Eugene Tan, Director, National Gallery Singapore

10.00-10.30 Introducing the Ambitious Alignments Research Programme Professor Mark Ledbury, Power Professor, University of Sydney

10.30-11.00 Morning Tea @ Auditorium foyer (open to public)

11.00-12.30 Panel 1 – Politics, Landscapes and the Making of National Narratives Moderator: Dr. Phoebe Scott, National Gallery Singapore

Thanavi Chotpradit, Birkbeck College, University of London and Silpakorn University Re-Establishing the “King”dom: The Anti-Communist Monuments in the Thai Highlands

Roger Nelson, University of Melbourne “The Work the Nation Depends On”: Nhek Dim, “Cambodian Modern Artist”

Bùi Thị Thanh Mai, Vietnam University of Fine Arts Research on Optimistic Characterization: Paintings by Tran Van Can, Mai Van Hien, and Nguyen Thu

12.30-13.30 Lunch @ Auditorium foyer (not open to public)

13.30-15.00 Panel 2 – Writing new Histories of Art: Re-examining the Archive, the Text and the Image Moderator: Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, National Gallery Singapore

Aminudin Tua Hamonangan Siregar, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Errata and Addenda: Claire Holt and Indonesian Art Historiography

Eileen Ramirez, University of the Philippines Embodied Subjectivities: Counting on the Unreliable to Write Affect into Histories of the Site Specific

Kelvin Chuah, University Malaya The Loke Wan Tho Collection: Collector & Supporter of Cheong Soo Pieng

15.00-15.30 Afternoon Tea @ Auditorium foyer (open to public)

15.30-17.00 Panel 3 – Recovering Networks and Alliances: Regional aesthetics, Art and the Politics of exhibiting Moderator: Seng Yu Jin, National Gallery Singapore

Brigitta Isabella, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta Politics of Friendship: Internationalism in Indonesian art scene during the 1950s-1960s

Michelle Wun Ting Wong, Asia Art Archive On Becoming Modern: Exhibiting Hong Kong in Manila, 1960s and 1982

Vera Mey, Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore Curating a region: Charisma and Leadership in Sihanouk's performances and Shui Tit Sing's art

17.00-17.15 Brief closing remarks Low Sze Wee, Director (Curatorial & Collections), National Gallery Singapore

23 January 2016 (Saturday) Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM DAY 2 National Gallery Singapore, Auditorium, City Hall wing B1

09.00-09.30 Arrival

09.30-11.00 Panel 4 – Problematizing Identities: Nations in Transition and the Political in Art and Architecture Moderator: Dr. Stephen Whiteman, University of Sydney

Simon Soon, University of Sydney Place of Learning: Landscape and Cultural Topographies of Nanyang University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Chomchon Fusinpaiboon, Chulalongkorn University Modern Thai in Transition: Prince Vodhyakara Varavarn and Architecture in Thailand during the 1950s and 1960s

Nathalie Johnston, Myanmar Art Resource Centre and Archive Image as Nation: Seeking Identities of a Post-Colonial Burma

11.00-11.30 Morning Tea @ Auditorium foyer (open to the public)

11.30-13.00 Panel 5 – New meanings in Painting and Photography: Re- examining art historical narratives and approaches Moderator: Dr. Sarena Abdullah, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Melissa Carlson, Independent Curator, Hong Kong Painting Through the Cheroot Haze: Censorship and Female Artists in Socialist Burma (1962-1988)

Wulan Dirgantoro, LaSalle College of the Arts Aesthetics of Silence: Trauma and Indonesian Modern Paintings

Clare Veal, University of Sydney Beyond Reality: Locating the Sur-Real in Thai Photography

13.00-14.00 Lunch @ Auditorium foyer (not open to the public)

14.00-15.00 Response to the Ambitious Alignments conference papers Professor Ashley Thompson, SOAS, University of London

15.00-15.30 Thoughts on the Ambitious Alignments Workshops and Conference Professor Adrian Vickers, University of Sydney

15.30-16.00 Afternoon Tea @ Auditorium foyer (open to the public)

16.00-16.40 Writing New Histories of Art in Southeast Asia: Some Thoughts Professor T.K. Sabapathy, National University of Singapore

16.40-17.00 Closing Address Professor Mark Ledbury, University of Sydney

18.00-20.00 Closing Dinner hosted by the Gallery

MAPS AND DIRECTIONS

Peninsula Excelsior Hotel 5 Coleman Street, Singapore 179805 Tel: (65) 6337 2200

Getting to National Gallery Singapore from Peninsular Excelsior* *Approximately 8-10 minutes

Getting to Singapore Art Museum from National Gallery Singapore* *Approximately 20-25 minutes

Getting to Asian Civilisations Museum from National Gallery Singapore* *Approximately 10-15 minutes

Map of the vicinity, including location of Art Stage at Marina Bay Sands