The panel discussion will be conducted in English.

Coinciding with the launch of the research project, RETHINK ASIA, Hong Kong Arts Centre is expanding the conversations of reimagining the development of Asian Contemporary Arts as well as the local art scene with guest curators and art historians across Asia to engage in a collective panel discussion. In response to the global pandemic and the current socioeconomic situation, the speakers will examine the challenges in research and exhibition planning, and explore the possibility of artistic practices and curatorial approaches.

The public are welcome to join the online panel discussion and Q&A roundtable by registration. 

Panel Discussion

Moderator

Aaron Seeto is the Director of Museum MACAN (The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara). He has a vast experience working to advance the goals of contemporary arts organisations and curating significant exhibitions of artists from the Asia and Pacific regions. Seeto was formerly Curatorial Manager of Asian and Pacific Art, at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia where he led the curatorial team at the eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT8) in 2015. For eight years prior, he was the Director of Sydney’s ground-breaking 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

Speaker

Diana Campbell Betancourt is the Artistic Director of Samdani Art Foundation. A Princeton educated American curator who has been working in South and Southeast Asia since 2010, primarily in India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. She is committed to fostering a transnational art world, and her plural and long-range vision addresses the concerns of underrepresented regions and artists alongside the more established in manifold forums.

Kurt Chan Yuk Keung is the Advisor of Hong Kong Art School. A graduate from the Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He then obtained his M.F.A. from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, U.S.A. Prior to joining Hong Kong Art School, Prof. Chan worked at The Chinese University of Hong Kong between 1989 and 2016; he was involved in teaching studio courses, coordinating M.A. program and supervising M.F.A. students. He is an artist as well as an educator, his research interests cover a wide range of topics such as Hong Kong Art, Art in public realm and mixed media, whereas the outputs mostly presented as exhibition, curatorship, and publication.

Gridthiya Gaweewong is the Artistic Director of Jim Thompson Art Center. She co-founded the Bangkok-based independent art organization Project 304 in 1996. Her curatorial projects have addressed issues of social transformation confronting artists from Thailand and beyond since the Cold War. Gridthiya has curated various regional and international exhibitions including Under Construction, Tokyo Opera City Gallery and Japan Foundation; Forum Japan (2003). She is currently preparing an exhibition entitled Errata, Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiangmai, initiated by the Goethe Asia Pacific regional office in partnership with Singapore Art Museum, National Gallery, Jakarta, and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2021-2022).

Fumio Nanjo is the Senior Advisor of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, since January 2020. Nanjo had formerly served as the Museum’s Director (2006-2019) and Deputy Director (2002-2006), after working for prominent cultural organizations such as the Japan Foundation (1978-1986). The notable positions he has assumed to date are: Commissioner of the Japan Pavilion, Venice Biennale (1997); Commissioner, Taipei Biennale (1998); Member of Jury Committee, Turner Prize (1998); Artistic Director, Yokohama Triennale 2001; Artistic Director, Singapore Biennale (both 2006 and 2008); General Director, KENPOKU ART 2016, Ibaraki, Japan; and Curatorial Director, Honolulu Biennial 2017 (inaugural) and Art for SDGs: Kitakshushu Art Festival (2021). His recent publications includes Asian Contemporary Art Report: China, India, Middle East and Japan (2010) and A Life with Art (2012).

Registration: https://bit.ly/3vqPBRj