The Region: Dialogues on the Power and Precarity of Artist Self-Organisation in the Asia-Pacific

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Western Front, "The Region Symposium," 2021

The Region: Dialogues on the Power and Precarity of Artist Self-Organisation in the Asia-Pacific is an international symposium, co-created by West Space (Naarm / Melbourne), Para Site (Hong Kong), Enjoy Contemporary Art Space (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington) and Western Front (Vancouver), and co-facilitated by CAST research group, School of Art, RMIT University (Naarm / Melbourne).

Co-created and presented by four of the longest-standing artist-run organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, The Region is a online symposium that examines pressing questions of power and precarity, with a focus on artist self-organisation. The symposium will consider the objectives, freedoms and responsibilities of small institutions as they exist across contemporary contexts of urban gentrification and Western hegemony, whose shared futures are informed by local and specific histories, and which are expressed today through new forms of curating and collectivity.

In 2001, West Space, with 17 international peer organisations, convened Space Traffic, a global conference that aimed to “bring together alternative art spaces from around the world to discuss, tackle, and explore issues surrounding non-mainstream art and culture with a focus on the Asia-Pacific.” On the 20th anniversary of the original symposium, West Space, in partnership with two of the original participants, Western Front and Para Site, and a new partner, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, will revisit this agenda from our current context.

The five partner organisations will each host an online session, conducted in English over Zoom, with live AUSLAN interpretation and English closed captions. The sessions will be recorded and made publicly available after the symposium’s end.

Admission is free. Registration is required

Speakers TBA

All sessions are at 7-8:30 p.m. PDT

September 21:

Illusions of Structural Change? Resisting the Cultural Identity of Western Institutions in Artist-Run Spaces

Hosted by Enjoy

September 22:

Working in Place: Cultural Perspectives and Responses to the Complexity of Gentrification

Hosted by West Space

September 23:

Collectivism and New Forms of Curating in the Asia-Pacific

Hosted by Para Site

September 29:

Legacies: Acknowledging Histories, Imagining Futures

Hosted by Western Front

September 30:

The Scene: Future Friendships, Possibilities and Partnerships

Hosted by CAST research group, School of Art, RMIT

The Region is made possible with support from the City of Melbourne, and RMIT University, Australia.