Cultural events are always resemblances of how different communities work together and strengthen their collective identity through local art forms and knowledge. How does curatorial practice could go further to create “social spaces” for artists and communities with different backgrounds? In the age of digital media where connection is easily mediated through technological devices, to connect and to imagine a way of being together and sharing become a significant political constellation, in the midst of various power contests.
In the last few years, I worked often with artists and communities from the Global South context, not only to emphasize geopolitical standpoint, but also to reconstruct new narratives from our own point of view, based on a participatory process. In the context of decolonization, this awareness of “gaze” becomes a fundamental notion, where curators need to push the boundaries to seek a new methodology of sharing with artists and communities. In this speech, I would like to share various experiences from research processes and exhibitions where we learnt different possibilities of connecting and repositioning our embodied knowledges as contemporary and critical art practices.
Director, Biennale Jogja Foundation
Alia Swastika is a curator, researcher, and writer whose practice over the last ten years has expanded on issues and perspectives of decoloniality and feminism. Her different projects involve decentralising art, rewriting art history, and encouraging local activism. She works as the Director of the Biennale Jogja Foundation, Yogyakarta, and continues her research on Indonesian female artists during Indonesia’s New Order.
She established and was Program Director for Ark Galerie, Yogyakarta (2007–2017). She was the roundtable curator for contemporary art exhibitions for the Europalia Arts Festival (2017), including presentations at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam; M HKA, Antwerp; and SMAK Ghent, Belgium; co-artistic director of the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012) and co-curator for the Biennale Jogja XI Equator #1 (2011). Her research on Indonesian women artists during the New Order was published in 2019. She is part of the curatorial team of Sharjah Biennale 16 in 2025.
Independent Curator
Shih-Yu Hsu is an independent researcher and writer. She has been a member of the study group lám-nuā since 2021. She graduated from Communication Engineering and Visual Art Administration at the National Central University in Taiwan and New York University. Her research field includes image, media, and new material feminism. She co-founded the bilingual online media art platform called SCREEN in 2015 and was the executive assistant of Taiwan Pavilion in Venice Biennale 2017. She was the curator at Taipei Contemporary Art Center in 2018-2021. Her writing on art has been published in several publications including Artforum.cn, Artist Magazine, Art Investment, Leap, No Man’s Land, and Yishu. She is also the co-curator of the 8th Taiwan International Video Art exhibition－ Living Togetherness (2024).
Director, MA in Critical and Curatorial Studies of Contemporary Art, National Taipei University of Education
Pei-Yi Lu is the Director and Associate Professor of MA in Critical and Curatorial Studies of Contemporary Art at National Taipei University of Education. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Humanities and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck (London Consortium), University of London. Her research interests mainly revolve around two areas. One relates to the studies of contemporary art curating. A research-based book organized by her Contemporary Art Curating in Taiwan (1992-2012) was nominated for the 10th Annual Award of Art China for Publication of the Year. She organized the talk series including Curating History / Histories of Curating in Asia I & II (MoCA Taipei, 2017-2018) and Conversations. Biennial (Taipei Fine Art Museum, 2016), and the research for Twenty Years of Taishin Art Award (2021-2022). Another research area is off-site art, focusing on artistic practices outside museums, including art and city, community art, participatory art, socially-engaged art, and activist art. Her book Art / Movement as a Public Platform- Studies on Contemporary Art and Social Movement was published in 2024. She has served as a board member of the Taipei Contemporary Art Center (TCAC), Academic Advisor of TheCube Project Space, and the jury of Taishin Art Award, Austronesian International Arts Award, and Taoyuan International Art Award.