A conversation between Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Grace Samboh, Gridthiya Gaweewong, June Yap

Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories is a curatorial collaboration that began with looking at the collections of Galeri Nasional Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia), MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Nationalgalerie Berlin (Germany), and Singapore Art Museum (Singapore). It was initiated by the Goethe-Institut in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Its process of discussion and exchange culminates in four related exhibitions presenting works from these collections and others, curated respectively by Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Grace Samboh, Gridthiya Gaweewong, and June Yap, that will be presented in 2021 and 2022.
 
What is a collection-based exhibition, what does it do, and what can it reveal about the development of collections? What does it mean to look into collections in a contemporary setting? What tensions exist between private and public collections, given that the private collection may eventually be considered a national or public collection? How can you work with a collection and create multi-perspective, plural-voiced narratives? Can one really look into other collections, along with its political intricacies, from the standpoint of another collection? What does it mean to work together, think alongside each other, but present four different exhibitions?