24 April
StreetPower: On Contemporary Art and Independent Spaces in Southeast Asia

When did contemporary art in Southeast Asia first emerge, in what conditions, and what forms did it take, distinguishing it from prevailing modern paintings idioms? How did siting and circulation specific to regional conditions influence the development of new, local languages of art? In this three-part programme, art historian and curator Iola Lenzi first examines these relationships historically; then, in collaboration with artists and independent art-space founders Jeremy Hiah (Your Mother Gallery, Singapore); Josephine Turalba (Philippines); Justin Loke (Singapore), Mella Jaarsma (Cemeti Art House, Jogjakarta), and Natalia Kraevskaia (Salon Natasha, Hanoi), the panel examines and debates the role of non-conventional venues for art in Southeast Asia past, present, and future.

The programme is structured in three parts:

Introductory remarks by Goethe Director Dr. Asma Diakité 

Part 1: Book Talk, scholarship on regional contemporary art history

Iola Lenzi will introduce her recent history of Southeast Asian contemporary art:
Power, Politics and the Street: contemporary art in Southeast Asia after 1970 (London: Lund Humphries, 2024)

In this slide presentation Lenzi unpacks the central ideas of her recent book, uncovering why and when Southeast Asian contemporary art originated, its characteristics, and how it developed, arguing for its distinctive voice within global contemporary art. Her talk will emphasise the historic role of independent art spaces around Southeast Asia, and their contribution to the evolution of regional contemporary art historiography outside standard institutional frameworks.

Presentation approx. 50 minutes, followed by Q & A.

Part 2: Panel, Independent Spaces Past, Present, Future

Structured panel discussion spotlighting independent art spaces in Southeast Asia—Singapore,  Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and beyond. Building on the historical account of Part 1, through a conversational format (predetermined talking points will loosely structure the exchange, moderated by one of the panel members who will also contribute), participants will consider the symbiotic relationship between independent spaces, and novel artistic practices emerging in late-20th century Southeast Asia and today. The conversation will focus on connections between non-official sites (cafés; foreign language schools; art galleries; the street…), and innovating modes of art engaging audiences in critical and discursive ways on shared societal and cultural issues. Panellists may provide concrete examples of art and exhibition strategies using slides (format TBD).

Conversation approx. 50-60 minutes, integrating audience remarks and questions.

Part 3: Performances Mella Jaarsma; Jeremy Hiah; Josephine Turalba
           
Approx 45 minutes, each 10-15 mins long.

Participant biographies: 

iola Lenzi (b. 1962) is a Singapore historian, curator, and educator of Southeast Asian contemporary art. Holding a law degree (LLB) and a PhD in Modern Asian art history, Lenzi brings interdisciplinary modes to Southeast Asian art historiography, which she approaches as a site of intersecting visual culture, historical experience, social power, local tradition, and regional interconnection. She teaches Southeast Asian Contemporary Art History and curatorial methods at NTU, Singapore; and in the MA Asian Art Histories Programme, UAS, and has solo or lead-curated some 40 exhibitions in Asia and Europe. Publishing prolifically, she has additionally edited and contributed to five multilingual anthological research publications on Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art. She is the author of Museums of Southeast Asia (2004), and her most recent book is Power, Politics and the Street: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia after 1970 (Lund Humphries, 2024).

Natalia Kraevskaia (b. 1952) is an independent curator and art writer focusing on Vietnamese contemporary art. In 1990, with her artist husband Vu Dan Tan, she established the first private art space in Hanoi, Salon Natasha (1990-2005), and has since organised and curated numerous exhibitions of Vietnamese art in Vietnam and abroad. She holds a PhD in Philology, is the author of Nostalgia Towards Exploration: Essays on Contemporary Art in Vietnam (2005), and is a regular contributor to exhibition publications and international art journals and magazines. In 2025 she opened the Vu Dan Tan Museum in Hanoi, a private, non-profit museum for the display, research, and conservation of the creative legacy of Vu Dan Tan. Kraevskaia is an Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the
National University “Higher School of Economics” (HSE), Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Moscow. 

Justin Loke (b. 1979) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator, and director of the Singapore collective Vertical Submarine, known for its interdisciplinary projects. Loke received the JCCI Japan Foundation Arts Award, 2009, and was featured in ROUNDTABLE: The 9th Gwangju Biennale, 2012. He was creative director and writer for the Singapore Night Festival 2022 Cathay Hotel: The Curse of The Missing Red Shoe. In 2023, he curated Benchmarks, a placemaking initiative commissioned by the Civic District Alliance. His accolades include The President’s Young Talent Award (2009), The Celeste Prize (2011), and finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2015).

Josephine Turalba (b. 1965) is a Manila-based transdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator whose practice explores issues of divide and convergence within a volatile geopolitical world order. Her nomadic relation to various media, including performance, installation, experimental video, tapestry, photography, and painting, allows her to delve into sociopolitical narratives, myths, and personal histories all in one. Turalba’s work has been showcased in the London Biennale, the Cairo Biennale,  the Venice Biennale collaterals, among others. She has served in various leadership roles, including as Director of Arts-Based Research at the Philippine Women's University; and as a Research Fellow at the MIT Future Heritage Lab and Program for Arts, Culture, and Technology. Turalba holds a Masters in Research from Sint-Lucas Antwerpen, KdG Belgium, and an MFA in New Media from the Transart Institute, validated by Donau Universität Krems, Austria.

Mella Jaarsma (b. 1960) is multidisciplinary artist, curator, and the 1988 co-founder with artist Nindityo Adipurnomo of Cemeti Art Gallery, Yogyakarta, an independent space for experimental contemporary practices. This institution then evolved into Cemeti Art House, and most recently Cemeti  Institute for Art and Society, a hub for exhibitions, projects, and residencies with international artists. Since 1995 Jaarsma has also been active as a board member of the Cemeti Art Foundation that subsequently became the Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA), and, since 2009, she has been a board member of the Yogyakarta Biennale Foundation. Jaarsma’s art and performance works have been shown globally in the 3rd Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA; the Singapore Art Museum; the Gwangju Biennale; the Yokohama Triennale; the National Gallery of Indonesia, and The Royal Academy of Arts, London, among others, and are collected by various international public institutions.  

Jeremy Hiah (b. 1972) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator who as part of Singapore’s The Artists Village has served in various roles as an art community and performance festival organiser, as well as curating exhibitions in Southeast and North Asia. Hiah works across painting, sculpture, installation, and performance art to explore social and cultural themes. In 2004 he founded Your Mother Gallery, considered a rare ‘underground’ space for experimental art in Singapore, which he ran for two decades, until 2025. In 2018, Hiah co-founded the Wuwei Performance Series. Hiah has exhibited internationally and was awarded the 2023 UOB Painting of the Year (Singapore) for his pen-and-ink drawing 'Gulliver’s Travels'.