Roger Nelson
Roger Nelson is Assistant Professor of Art History in the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He was previously Curator at National Gallery Singapore, and Adjunct Lecturer of Art History at the National University of Singapore. He works on modern and contemporary art in Southeast Asia, with a recurrent concern with questions of historiography and method, including as they relate to gender, trans-media intersections, and under-studied artists. Roger is a co-founding co-editor of the scholarly journal "SOUTHEAST OF NOW: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia," published in print and online by NUS Press, National University of Singapore. He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Nanyang Technological University, following a PhD at the University of Melbourne, researching modernity and contemporaneity in ‘Cambodian arts’ after independence.
Roger is winner of the 2022 A.L. Becker Prize for Southeast Asian Literature in Translation, awarded by the Association for Asian Studies, for his translation of Suon Sorin's 1961 Khmer novel, "A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land," published by NUS Press in 2019. He is also the author of "Modern Art of Southeast Asia: Introductions from A to Z," published by National Gallery Singapore in 2019.
Recent curatorial projects include "The Unfaithful Octopus," at NTU ADM Gallery in Singapore and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, 2023-24; “The Tailors and the Mannequins: Chen Cheng Mei and You Khin”, at National Gallery Singapore, 2021-22; "And in the Chapel and in the Temples: Research in Progress by Buddhist Archive of Photography and Amy Lien and Enzo Camacho", at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (Lab), 2018-19; "People, Money Ghosts (Movement as Metaphor)," at Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, 2017; "Day by Day" by Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, at SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh and Saola, Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, 2015, and "Rates of Exchange, Un-Compared," a nine-month series of exhibitions, symposia, residencies and gatherings at venues across Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, 2014–15.
Roger has spoken at universities and museums internationally, including at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (2013 and 2021) and Munich's Haus der Kunst (2019). In 2018-2022 he joins "Site & Space in Southeast Asia," and in 2015-16 joined “Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art,” both research initiatives funded by the Getty Foundation's "Connecting Art Histories" programme.
Roger is winner of the 2022 A.L. Becker Prize for Southeast Asian Literature in Translation, awarded by the Association for Asian Studies, for his translation of Suon Sorin's 1961 Khmer novel, "A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land," published by NUS Press in 2019. He is also the author of "Modern Art of Southeast Asia: Introductions from A to Z," published by National Gallery Singapore in 2019.
Recent curatorial projects include "The Unfaithful Octopus," at NTU ADM Gallery in Singapore and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, 2023-24; “The Tailors and the Mannequins: Chen Cheng Mei and You Khin”, at National Gallery Singapore, 2021-22; "And in the Chapel and in the Temples: Research in Progress by Buddhist Archive of Photography and Amy Lien and Enzo Camacho", at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (Lab), 2018-19; "People, Money Ghosts (Movement as Metaphor)," at Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, 2017; "Day by Day" by Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, at SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh and Saola, Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, 2015, and "Rates of Exchange, Un-Compared," a nine-month series of exhibitions, symposia, residencies and gatherings at venues across Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, 2014–15.
Roger has spoken at universities and museums internationally, including at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (2013 and 2021) and Munich's Haus der Kunst (2019). In 2018-2022 he joins "Site & Space in Southeast Asia," and in 2015-16 joined “Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art,” both research initiatives funded by the Getty Foundation's "Connecting Art Histories" programme.
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Books by Roger Nelson
Translated and with an introduction by Roger Nelson (NUS Press, 2019)
First published in Khmer in 1961
"A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land" traces the story of Sam, a young man who leaves the countryside for the capital after the death of his parents. In Phnom Penh, he suffers countless hardships and injustices as a cyclo driver. Sam’s humanity is denied him at every turn in the city’s capitalist society, leading to devastation for him and his wife, Soy.
As Cambodia develops and Sam’s fortunes change, he realises that while life as a farmer is far from easy, it has the potential to bring fulfilment and happiness.
First published in 1961, eight years after Cambodia gained independence from French colonial rule, Suon Sorin’s novel is an iconic work of modern Khmer literature. A singularly illuminating historical document of the new nation, the novel offers a fresh view into a period of profound transformation in Cambodia.
This is one of the first English translations of a modern Khmer novel, and is accompanied by an extended introduction which situates Suon Sorin’s work in its historical and artistic context.
"Many survivors of Norodom Sihanouk’s time in power in Cambodia (1955–1970) refer to the era as a golden age – as it certainly was when it’s compared with what came next. A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land has been deftly translated and introduced by Roger Nelson. Reading this passionate, absorbing novel, it’s poignant to re-enter a period that was filled for many Cambodians with optimism, autonomy and self-respect."
-- David Chandler, Emeritus Professor, Monash University
"Of value to researchers and diasporic Khmers alike, this is tragedy as Khmer tragedy comes, entangled in class violence, national pride, and hope."
-- Prumsodun Ok, author, dancer and choreographer
Suon Sorin was born in Battambang, Cambodia in 1930. "A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land" is his only known work of fiction, and was the best-selling novel of the 1960s. It remains widely read in Cambodia today.
168pp / 229 x 152mm, 2 images
Paperback
ISBN: 978-981-3250-77-2
https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/a-new-sun-rises-over-the-old-land-a-novel-of-sihanouk-s-cambodia
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=6T7zDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=modern+art+of+southeast+asia&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: National Gallery Singapore; 1 edition (September 15, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9811147256
ISBN-13: 978-9811147258
Peer-Reviewed Journal articles by Roger Nelson
Published in a special issue of World Art journal titled "Contemporary Art Worlds and Art Publics in Southeast Asia", guest edited by Michelle Antoinette and Francis Maravillas. Link to full issue: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rwor20/10/2-3
by Thanavi Chotpradit, J Pilapil Jacobo, Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez,
Roger Nelson, Nguyen Nhu Huy, Chairat Polmuk, San Lin Tun, Phoebe Scott,
Simon Soon and Jim Supangkat
This essay concerns the construction and interpretation of post-independence architecture in Cambodia, taking as an exemplary case study the National Stadium in Phnom Penh, completed in 1964 and designed by Vann Molyvann. To date, most accounts of the Stadium—and of Molyvann’s work and modern Cambodian architecture more generally—have emphasized Angkorian stylistic references. Considered historiographically, this focus on the temples of Angkor constructs a narrative which is teleological, and nationally bound. My counter-reading centres instead on the trope of the domestic, which enables greater attention to coeval architectural forms and broader regional intersections. The essay is based in three related approaches to the Stadium, which correspond to three interlinked understandings of the domestic. The first considers the politico-historical context of the building’s construction, proposing the Stadium as emblematic of Cambodia’s policy of Cold War non-alignment, under Prince Sihanouk’s rule. This draws on archival work in Cambodia and the United States. The second is iconographic: it considers references to stilted wooden housing in the Stadium, as well as the repetition of architectural features from large-scale public buildings in smaller, anonymously-designed private houses. The third is a spatial and experiential reflection on the internal division of spaces within the Stadium, into smaller-scaled zones.
http://www.stedelijkstudies.com/issue-3-place-performance/
This essay considers three distinct forms of performance in Southeast Asia, each in relation to their engagement with pathways of various kinds. The essay begins by discussing a 1959 dance performed to celebrate the opening of a highway, which adapted classical Cambodian choreographic forms in distinctly modern ways. Then, a number of performances made by visual artists in Southeast Asia in the last half-decade are introduced. The essay concludes by looking to political demonstrations in Cambodia during the historically significant 2013 national elections; the actions of opposition demonstrators are considered in light of performative intersections with pathways of various kinds.
The essay does not attempt a comprehensive survey, and its intention is not to sketch a linear history. Rather, the focus is on repeated gestures and actions within these various performances. This attentiveness to recurring embodied forms aims to facilitate a comparison that spans generations and encompasses disparate modes of performance.
documentation renders performance legible as visual art in the contemporary Cambodian context; thirdly, that photo- and video-documenting is an automatic and everyday activity in urban Cambodia for those with access to the technology; and finally, that the format of some performances is actually shaped by the apparatuses used to record their documentation. I conclude by proposing that any meaningful understanding of contemporaneity in the Cambodian context must encompass performance in all its forms.
RÉSUMÉ
“La performance est contemporaine:” la performance et sa documentation chez les plasticiens cambodgiens
Roger Nelson
Il s’agit d’une étude de la performance et de la performativité chez les plasticiens du Cambodge. Si les arts de la scène au Cambodge de nos jours puisent ses ressources dans les traditions théâtrales khmères, il n’en est pas de même de la pratique de la performance chez les plasticiens, lesquels font
peu de cas des dites traditions, se référant plutôt aux codes des arts visuels, surtout à ceux de la photographie. L’analyse des oeuvres de Khvay Samnang, Lim Sokchanlina, Amy Lee Sanford et Anida Yoeu Ali, démontre que la documentation se trouve au coeur de l’art tel qu’il est pratiqué au Cambodge, où les formats en direct et médiatisés sont interactifs et interdépendants. J’identifie quatre raisons sous-jacentes au rôle central que joue la documentation dans ces pratiques. Tout d’abord il faut dire que la première rencontre que peut avoir les artistes cambodgiens avec la performance sur la scène internationale se fait le plus souvent à travers des enregistrements et non en direct ; ensuite, la documentation rend la performance lisible en tant qu’oeuvre plastique pour
un public cambodgien ; troisièmement l’enregistrement photographique et vidéo rentre dans les moeurs quotidiens des citadins ayant accès aux technologies; enfin, la forme même d’une performance peut se définir en fonction du travail d’enregistrement. L’article conclut que toute caractérisation de
la contemporanéité au Cambodge doit prendre en considération l’éventail des arts du spectacle au Cambodge, des arts de la scène proprement dits à la performance chez les plasticiens.
សង្ខេប
“Performance គឺបច្ចុប្បន្ន” ៖ ការសម្តែងនិងការរៀបចំឯកសារទស្សន៍សិល្បៈ
នៅកម្ពុជា
Roger Nelson
សំណេរនេះជាការសិក្សាទៅលើការសមែង្ត និងលទ្ធភាពសម្តែងកុ្នងទស្សន៍សិល្បៈនៅកមុ្ពជា។ ខុំ្ញហ៊ាននិយាយថា ការសមែ្តងលើឆាកច្រើនតែផ្អែកទៅលើប្រពៃណីសម្តែងដែលធ្លាប់មានមក ហើយមិនយូរមិនឆាប់តងែ តបែ ងតើ្ក ជាទមប្លា ម់ យួ ដលែ អណំ ើះតទៅគនេ ងឹ ធតាើ្វ មគ ្នារឯី ការសមងែ្ត (Performance) នៅកងុ្ន ទសស្ ន៍ សិល្បៈវិញ មិនសូវយកចិត្តទុកដាក់ទៅប្រពៃណី ឬទម្លាប់នៃការសម្តែងឡើយ គឺតែងតែផ្អែកទៅលើក្បួនច្បាប់នៃ ទស្សន៍សិល្បៈនោះតែម្តង ជាពិសេសបើនិយាយពីរូបថត។ ក្រោយពីការពិនិត្យល្អិតល្អន់ទៅលើការសម្តែង
នៃខ្វៃ សំណាង, លឹម សុខចាន់លីណា, Amy Lee Sanford និង អានីដា យើុ អាលី មក ខ្ញុំឃើញថាឯកសារមាន សារសំខាន់លើសលុបទៅលើការសម្តែងនៃ សិល្បករក្នុងវិស័យនេះ ហើយម៉្យាងទៀតការសម្តែងឲ្យ ទស្សនា ផ្ទាល់ឬដោយមានការផ្សាយផ្ទាល់ផង ក៏ទទួលនិងជះឥទ្ធិពលទៅវិញទៅមកដែរជាមួយឯកសារ។ ខ្ញុំឃើញថាមានគន្លឹះឬចំណុច៤សំខាន់។ ទី១គឺសិល្បករខ្មែរច្រើនតែឃើញការសម្តែងនានានៃបរទេសតាមរយៈឯកសារពោលគឺពុំមែនតាមការទស្សនាផ្ទាល់ប៉ុន្មានទេ។ ទី២ ឯកសារទាំងនោះជួយជម្រុញឲ្យអ្នកទស្សនាងាយយល់ការសម្តែងក្នុងក្រប ខណ្ឌនៃទស្សន៍សិល្បៈនាបច្ចុប្បន្ននេះ។ ទី៣ ការរៀបចំឯកសាររូបថត, ខ្សែវីដេអូ ជាការ
ដែលគេនិយមបំផុតនៅកម្ពុជា។ ទី៤ គឺរបៀបរបប, លំដាប់, ខ្នាតនៃការសម្តែងខ្លះកើតឡើង ដោយបត់បែនទៅតាមប្រព័ន្ធនិងបរិក្ខារប្រើប្រាស់ក្នុងការរៀបចំឯកសារ។ ខ្ញុំសន្និដ្នានដោយស្នើថា ដើម្បីយល់ពីបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពនៃសិល្បៈនៅប្រទេសម្ពុជាឲ្យបានពេញលេញ គេត្រូវតែយកការសម្តែងគ្រប់បែបយ៉ាងដែលមានមកជាគំនិត
ពិចារណា។
Journal articles by Roger Nelson
Siddharta Perez, Hendri Yulius Wijaya, Piyaluk Benjadol, Kanoknuch Sillapawisawakul, Nontawat Numbenchapol, Pinaree Sanpitak, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Moses Tan, Roger Nelson, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook
Book chapters by Roger Nelson
Appears in: The Routledge Companion to Literature and Art, edited by Neil Murphy, W. Michelle Wang, Cheryl Julia Lee
ISBN: 978-1-947198-05-0
Translated and with an introduction by Roger Nelson (NUS Press, 2019)
First published in Khmer in 1961
"A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land" traces the story of Sam, a young man who leaves the countryside for the capital after the death of his parents. In Phnom Penh, he suffers countless hardships and injustices as a cyclo driver. Sam’s humanity is denied him at every turn in the city’s capitalist society, leading to devastation for him and his wife, Soy.
As Cambodia develops and Sam’s fortunes change, he realises that while life as a farmer is far from easy, it has the potential to bring fulfilment and happiness.
First published in 1961, eight years after Cambodia gained independence from French colonial rule, Suon Sorin’s novel is an iconic work of modern Khmer literature. A singularly illuminating historical document of the new nation, the novel offers a fresh view into a period of profound transformation in Cambodia.
This is one of the first English translations of a modern Khmer novel, and is accompanied by an extended introduction which situates Suon Sorin’s work in its historical and artistic context.
"Many survivors of Norodom Sihanouk’s time in power in Cambodia (1955–1970) refer to the era as a golden age – as it certainly was when it’s compared with what came next. A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land has been deftly translated and introduced by Roger Nelson. Reading this passionate, absorbing novel, it’s poignant to re-enter a period that was filled for many Cambodians with optimism, autonomy and self-respect."
-- David Chandler, Emeritus Professor, Monash University
"Of value to researchers and diasporic Khmers alike, this is tragedy as Khmer tragedy comes, entangled in class violence, national pride, and hope."
-- Prumsodun Ok, author, dancer and choreographer
Suon Sorin was born in Battambang, Cambodia in 1930. "A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land" is his only known work of fiction, and was the best-selling novel of the 1960s. It remains widely read in Cambodia today.
168pp / 229 x 152mm, 2 images
Paperback
ISBN: 978-981-3250-77-2
https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/a-new-sun-rises-over-the-old-land-a-novel-of-sihanouk-s-cambodia
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=6T7zDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=modern+art+of+southeast+asia&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: National Gallery Singapore; 1 edition (September 15, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9811147256
ISBN-13: 978-9811147258
Published in a special issue of World Art journal titled "Contemporary Art Worlds and Art Publics in Southeast Asia", guest edited by Michelle Antoinette and Francis Maravillas. Link to full issue: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rwor20/10/2-3
by Thanavi Chotpradit, J Pilapil Jacobo, Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez,
Roger Nelson, Nguyen Nhu Huy, Chairat Polmuk, San Lin Tun, Phoebe Scott,
Simon Soon and Jim Supangkat
This essay concerns the construction and interpretation of post-independence architecture in Cambodia, taking as an exemplary case study the National Stadium in Phnom Penh, completed in 1964 and designed by Vann Molyvann. To date, most accounts of the Stadium—and of Molyvann’s work and modern Cambodian architecture more generally—have emphasized Angkorian stylistic references. Considered historiographically, this focus on the temples of Angkor constructs a narrative which is teleological, and nationally bound. My counter-reading centres instead on the trope of the domestic, which enables greater attention to coeval architectural forms and broader regional intersections. The essay is based in three related approaches to the Stadium, which correspond to three interlinked understandings of the domestic. The first considers the politico-historical context of the building’s construction, proposing the Stadium as emblematic of Cambodia’s policy of Cold War non-alignment, under Prince Sihanouk’s rule. This draws on archival work in Cambodia and the United States. The second is iconographic: it considers references to stilted wooden housing in the Stadium, as well as the repetition of architectural features from large-scale public buildings in smaller, anonymously-designed private houses. The third is a spatial and experiential reflection on the internal division of spaces within the Stadium, into smaller-scaled zones.
http://www.stedelijkstudies.com/issue-3-place-performance/
This essay considers three distinct forms of performance in Southeast Asia, each in relation to their engagement with pathways of various kinds. The essay begins by discussing a 1959 dance performed to celebrate the opening of a highway, which adapted classical Cambodian choreographic forms in distinctly modern ways. Then, a number of performances made by visual artists in Southeast Asia in the last half-decade are introduced. The essay concludes by looking to political demonstrations in Cambodia during the historically significant 2013 national elections; the actions of opposition demonstrators are considered in light of performative intersections with pathways of various kinds.
The essay does not attempt a comprehensive survey, and its intention is not to sketch a linear history. Rather, the focus is on repeated gestures and actions within these various performances. This attentiveness to recurring embodied forms aims to facilitate a comparison that spans generations and encompasses disparate modes of performance.
documentation renders performance legible as visual art in the contemporary Cambodian context; thirdly, that photo- and video-documenting is an automatic and everyday activity in urban Cambodia for those with access to the technology; and finally, that the format of some performances is actually shaped by the apparatuses used to record their documentation. I conclude by proposing that any meaningful understanding of contemporaneity in the Cambodian context must encompass performance in all its forms.
RÉSUMÉ
“La performance est contemporaine:” la performance et sa documentation chez les plasticiens cambodgiens
Roger Nelson
Il s’agit d’une étude de la performance et de la performativité chez les plasticiens du Cambodge. Si les arts de la scène au Cambodge de nos jours puisent ses ressources dans les traditions théâtrales khmères, il n’en est pas de même de la pratique de la performance chez les plasticiens, lesquels font
peu de cas des dites traditions, se référant plutôt aux codes des arts visuels, surtout à ceux de la photographie. L’analyse des oeuvres de Khvay Samnang, Lim Sokchanlina, Amy Lee Sanford et Anida Yoeu Ali, démontre que la documentation se trouve au coeur de l’art tel qu’il est pratiqué au Cambodge, où les formats en direct et médiatisés sont interactifs et interdépendants. J’identifie quatre raisons sous-jacentes au rôle central que joue la documentation dans ces pratiques. Tout d’abord il faut dire que la première rencontre que peut avoir les artistes cambodgiens avec la performance sur la scène internationale se fait le plus souvent à travers des enregistrements et non en direct ; ensuite, la documentation rend la performance lisible en tant qu’oeuvre plastique pour
un public cambodgien ; troisièmement l’enregistrement photographique et vidéo rentre dans les moeurs quotidiens des citadins ayant accès aux technologies; enfin, la forme même d’une performance peut se définir en fonction du travail d’enregistrement. L’article conclut que toute caractérisation de
la contemporanéité au Cambodge doit prendre en considération l’éventail des arts du spectacle au Cambodge, des arts de la scène proprement dits à la performance chez les plasticiens.
សង្ខេប
“Performance គឺបច្ចុប្បន្ន” ៖ ការសម្តែងនិងការរៀបចំឯកសារទស្សន៍សិល្បៈ
នៅកម្ពុជា
Roger Nelson
សំណេរនេះជាការសិក្សាទៅលើការសមែង្ត និងលទ្ធភាពសម្តែងកុ្នងទស្សន៍សិល្បៈនៅកមុ្ពជា។ ខុំ្ញហ៊ាននិយាយថា ការសមែ្តងលើឆាកច្រើនតែផ្អែកទៅលើប្រពៃណីសម្តែងដែលធ្លាប់មានមក ហើយមិនយូរមិនឆាប់តងែ តបែ ងតើ្ក ជាទមប្លា ម់ យួ ដលែ អណំ ើះតទៅគនេ ងឹ ធតាើ្វ មគ ្នារឯី ការសមងែ្ត (Performance) នៅកងុ្ន ទសស្ ន៍ សិល្បៈវិញ មិនសូវយកចិត្តទុកដាក់ទៅប្រពៃណី ឬទម្លាប់នៃការសម្តែងឡើយ គឺតែងតែផ្អែកទៅលើក្បួនច្បាប់នៃ ទស្សន៍សិល្បៈនោះតែម្តង ជាពិសេសបើនិយាយពីរូបថត។ ក្រោយពីការពិនិត្យល្អិតល្អន់ទៅលើការសម្តែង
នៃខ្វៃ សំណាង, លឹម សុខចាន់លីណា, Amy Lee Sanford និង អានីដា យើុ អាលី មក ខ្ញុំឃើញថាឯកសារមាន សារសំខាន់លើសលុបទៅលើការសម្តែងនៃ សិល្បករក្នុងវិស័យនេះ ហើយម៉្យាងទៀតការសម្តែងឲ្យ ទស្សនា ផ្ទាល់ឬដោយមានការផ្សាយផ្ទាល់ផង ក៏ទទួលនិងជះឥទ្ធិពលទៅវិញទៅមកដែរជាមួយឯកសារ។ ខ្ញុំឃើញថាមានគន្លឹះឬចំណុច៤សំខាន់។ ទី១គឺសិល្បករខ្មែរច្រើនតែឃើញការសម្តែងនានានៃបរទេសតាមរយៈឯកសារពោលគឺពុំមែនតាមការទស្សនាផ្ទាល់ប៉ុន្មានទេ។ ទី២ ឯកសារទាំងនោះជួយជម្រុញឲ្យអ្នកទស្សនាងាយយល់ការសម្តែងក្នុងក្រប ខណ្ឌនៃទស្សន៍សិល្បៈនាបច្ចុប្បន្ននេះ។ ទី៣ ការរៀបចំឯកសាររូបថត, ខ្សែវីដេអូ ជាការ
ដែលគេនិយមបំផុតនៅកម្ពុជា។ ទី៤ គឺរបៀបរបប, លំដាប់, ខ្នាតនៃការសម្តែងខ្លះកើតឡើង ដោយបត់បែនទៅតាមប្រព័ន្ធនិងបរិក្ខារប្រើប្រាស់ក្នុងការរៀបចំឯកសារ។ ខ្ញុំសន្និដ្នានដោយស្នើថា ដើម្បីយល់ពីបច្ចុប្បន្នភាពនៃសិល្បៈនៅប្រទេសម្ពុជាឲ្យបានពេញលេញ គេត្រូវតែយកការសម្តែងគ្រប់បែបយ៉ាងដែលមានមកជាគំនិត
ពិចារណា។
Siddharta Perez, Hendri Yulius Wijaya, Piyaluk Benjadol, Kanoknuch Sillapawisawakul, Nontawat Numbenchapol, Pinaree Sanpitak, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Moses Tan, Roger Nelson, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook
Appears in: The Routledge Companion to Literature and Art, edited by Neil Murphy, W. Michelle Wang, Cheryl Julia Lee
ISBN: 978-1-947198-05-0
https://shop.powerpublications.com.au/products/ambitious-alignments-new-histories-of-southeast-asian-art-1945-1990
"FIELDS: An Itinerant Inquiry Across the Kingdom of Cambodia"
Published 2015 by ST PAUL St Gallery, AUT University, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand and Sa Sa Bassac, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
In English and Khmer
Edited by: Charlotte Huddleston and Roger Nelson
Contributors: Charlotte HUDDLESTON, Roger NELSON, Vera MEY, Chhoeung MEY, TITH Kanitha, Arin Rungjang, Janita P N Craw, Erin GLEESON, Lim Sokchanlina, Julia MORITZ, Khvay Samnang, SOTH Polin, Tue GREENFORT, Alex Monteith, Albert SAMRETH, Fang-Tze Hsu, Amy Lee SANFORD, Luke Willis THOMPSON, Sarah Munro
From a project curated by Erin Gleeson and Vera Mey
Publication made possible by a grant from Creative New Zealand
Translation by Sok Leang and Sum Sithen; Proofreading by Tith Kanitha
ISBN: 978-0-9922463-1-0
"FIELDS: An Itinerant Inquiry Across the Kingdom of Cambodia"
Published 2015 by ST PAUL St Gallery, AUT University, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand and Sa Sa Bassac, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
In English and Khmer
Edited by: Charlotte Huddleston and Roger Nelson
Contributors: Charlotte HUDDLESTON, Roger NELSON, Vera MEY, Chhoeung MEY, TITH Kanitha, Arin Rungjang, Janita P N Craw, Erin GLEESON, Lim Sokchanlina, Julia MORITZ, Khvay Samnang, SOTH Polin, Tue GREENFORT, Alex Monteith, Albert SAMRETH, Fang-Tze Hsu, Amy Lee SANFORD, Luke Willis THOMPSON, Sarah Munro
From a project curated by Erin Gleeson and Vera Mey
Publication made possible by a grant from Creative New Zealand
Translation by Sok Leang and Sum Sithen; Proofreading by Tith Kanitha
ISBN: 978-0-9922463-1-0
ISBN: 9791254631317
Bibliographic details:
Roger Nelson, "A House is Inside Me: Meandering and Slowness in the Work of Orawan Arunrak," in "Orawan Arunrak: Exit - Entrance," exh. cat., edited by Nicola Müllerschön and Christoph Tannert, published by Verlag Kettler, Dortmund, 2017.
Curated by: Roger Nelson
ការអភិវឌ្បន៍ Developments presents four artists’ views of their changing urban environments. Comprising photography, video, installation, sculpture and drawing, the exhibition includes artists from Melbourne, Australia and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Their overlapping yet divergent perspectives on the transforming space of the city range from celebration, through ambivalence, to lament. Seen together, the artists in ការអភិវឌ្បន៍ Developments thus reveal local specificities of place, as well as perhaps surprising commonalities across experiences of the contemporary.
Curated by: Roger Nelson
The artworks and objects in new artefacts have been “left over” from their proper place in each artist’s practice or working process, and strategically removed from their original contexts. The exhibited objects include working materials, notes, documents and sketches while the exhibited artworks include pieces that, while finished, did not fit within a series, or were edited out in a selection process, or were not included in an exhibition.
new artefacts celebrates the physicality and aesthetic of each ‘artefact’ while engaging audiences with the conceptual directions to which they point. Each work is intended to provide departures for conversations and dialogues about the contestable boundaries between process and “product”, documentation and the “real” work, and about the range and overlap of ideas with which the artists engage.
new artefacts was supported by the Australian Embassy, Phnom Penh and Institut Français, Cambodge.
An exhibition curated from the permanent collection of Meta House. Works were gathered into groups of two and three, in order to suggest possible connections between them. Eighteen artists were included, ten of whom are Cambodian.
Curated by: Roger Nelson
In CONTAINMENT STRUCTURE, five artists present works made through processes involving a purposeful and conscious surrender to an array of challenges and constraints. Their practice nudges at the edges of what can arise from the deliberately limited sets of possibilities these artists each allow themselves.
Supported by an Arts Projects grant from the City of Melbourne."
Speakers:
Thanavi Chotpradit (Silpakorn University, Bangkok)
Chomchon Fusinpaiboon (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok)
Pen Sereypagna (Vann Molyvann Project, Phnom Penh)
Simon Soon (University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur)
Convened by Roger Nelson (University of Melbourne)
As part of the conference "The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia)" at the Nanyang Technological University Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore
To coincide with the exhibition "Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice"
25-26 November 2016
http://ntu.ccasingapore.org/events/conference-impossibility-mapping-urban-asia/
http://afterall.org/events/regions-of-the-contemporary
This panel aims to explore modernist developments in relation to the rise of new actors during times of political transitions in three closely related Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand. Often, the work of the artists cannot be viewed in isolation from networks of patronage, and especially from state patronage, as emerging nations struggle to define cultural and national identities. The papers in this panel aim to re-evaluate historiographical and curatorial discourses of modern art in Southeast Asia by reconsidering the impact that patronage had on formalizing and legitimizing the " work " of artists and the cultural productions of its time.
This project considers the relationship between realist paintings of landscapes and women, and notions of the “modern” in “Cambodia,” as enacted in the work of Nhek Dim (1934–78), the most prominent visual “artist” of the post-independence period here. Building on previous studies in English and Khmer, through archival research in the US, France and Cambodia as well as interviews, the project aims to contribute to closer studies of the artist’s work and his world.
The project focuses on certain historical episodes, as well as elements within the paintings, that have hitherto been overlooked or underexplored. It traces shifts in the ideological meanings invested in the imaged landscape, and maps the period of Nhek Dim’s study in the US (1963-67) onto the tumultuous political situation in Cambodia at the time, including riots attacking United States Information Service exhibition facilities, which resulted in the destruction of 400 paintings by Cambodian artists.
Particular attention is paid to ways in which Nhek Dim engaged with various ideological discourses of modernity in Cambodia, in his representations of women and landscapes, and his participation in cultural activities organised by the US. Nhek Dim’s paintings are also considered in light of songs to which he contributed, and the mediated settings in which his works reached their audiences. In short, the artist and his context are taken to be mutually illuminating.
Abstract:
After being forbidden in French Cambodge, representational painting was introduced by a Japanese teacher following the Japanese occupation in 1945. Sentimental images depicting the Cambodian landscape quickly boomed in popularity, and representational drawing and painting became synonymous with artistic modernism in the years following independence in 1953. Its growth was aided by intensive involvement in cultural affairs by the United States, as part of their attempt to influence “neutralist” Cambodia in the “Cold War” context of war in neighbouring Vietnam. This paper explores how the Cambodian “modern” is articulated in the work of the most prominent visual artist of the period, Nhek Dim (1934-78). Drawing on research in the archives of the United States government, particular attention is paid to the intersections between Nhek Dim’s paintings and the cultural activities of the United States, who organized numerous exhibitions in Cambodia in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and sponsored the artist’s study in the US from 1964-67. This paper will argue that Nhek Dim’s work embodies the possibility of nationalism amidst a policy of non-aligned neutralism: a balance that was endorsed by the US and became defining of the modern in this context.
Convenor's Abstract for Panel:
This panel will explore a burgeoning area of contemporary art scholarship concerning artistic-social collaboration through a concrete examination of collective art practices arising at moments of crisis around the globe. Numerous examples of creative, collaborative resistance exist, for example, following the violence of the post-‘68 neoliberal military state in Mexico; the economic and cultural opening-up and subsequent censorship of expression in China and Korea in the 1980s; changes in conceptions of socialism before and after the dissolution of the USSR; the construction of postcolonial states and civil societies in Senegal during the 1990s and 2000s; or more broadly, the crisis of global climate change and threats to Earth’s ecological sustainability. What different forms have art collectives taken in the contemporary world? How do such practices relate (or not) to recent scholarship concerning art’s social efficacy (Grant Kester, Claire Bishop, etc.)? What other recent strands of theoretical inquiry — Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory, Gayatri Spivak’s planetarity, Catherine Malabou’s plasticity — offer insights into such diverse artistic formations?
Since the publication in 2007 of Gregory Sholette and Blake Stimson’s edited volume Collectivism After Modernism, the study of art collectives has become key to understanding contemporary art. Our panel aims to develop this subfield further by continuing to move beyond an established canon of Euroamerican groups in order to interrogate the expansion of globalized social imaginaries since the 1970s. Our focus is not on various participatory and relational tendencies in contemporary art that have arisen largely to advance the social outreach of art-world institutions, but rather collectively produced art in the contemporary world that stakes claims to agency by negotiating between the demands of specific localities and large-scale historical processes. What kind of symbolic solidarities have artistic collective formations been able to offer or create during moments of sociopolitical, economic, or ecological urgency? Papers could examine generative moments of artistic-cultural action that arose through collectivity, theoretical issues regarding collectivism, or the histories of specific art collectives such as Huit Facettes, Laboratoire Agit-Art, los grupos, certain networks within the ’85 movement in China, minjung art, Collective Actions, Desire Machine Collective, among many more examples. We are particularly concerned with how analysis of locally- and regionally-specific collective practices offers a better grasp of the poetics as well as the politics of expanding processes of global awareness today.
In this paper, I will offer a view of Chan’s work that focuses on his use of kbach, as well as his method of composition, and his choice of materials including pencil shavings and imported laces and beads. I will suggest some ways in which Chan’s practice reflects the hybrid nature of contemporary Cambodia, including the coevality (and the insufficiencies of a binary view) of old and new, and the comingling of local and global. I will ask what Chan’s method of composition—which is derived from drawing from life—reveals of the continuing legacy of the colonially introduced system of art education. I will posit that Chan’s practice, specifically his use of Khmer kbach, might illuminate not only contemporary Cambodia’s complexities, but also suggest ways of thinking (both art historically and ontologically) about the nature of contemporaneity as a necessarily global concept that resists progressivist teleological narratives.
Convened by: Cornell University and the Center for Khmer Studies
As part of: Season of Cambodia festival, New York
A significantly revised and expanded version of this paper will be published in "Udaya: Journal of Khmer Studies" in 2014.