Nguyen Trinh Thi’s “Fifth Cinema” imagines a new kind of film for people between bordered nations who defy neat dichotomies.
Ben Valentine
Ben Valentine is an independent writer living in Cambodia. Ben has written and spoken on art and culture for SXSW, Salon, SFAQ, the Los Angeles Review of Books, YBCA, ACLU, de Young Museum, and the Museum of the Moving Image, to name a few.
Posted inArt
Memorializing the Accelerating Loss of Planetary Life
The crashes of an automatic gong become a dire melody and meditation on the horrors and loss defining the Anthropocene.
Posted inArt
27 Artists Grapple with the Fractious Politics of Thailand
While the majority of the artists of Patani Semasa deal with the contentious politics of the region, they don’t propose solutions, or lean on simplistic answers.
Posted inArt
Upending Clichés About Nationhood, Asylum, and Living Through War
An exhibition in Chiang Mai, Thailand contends with the pain and despair of life washed in economic disparity, genocide, war, and the complexities of nationhood.
Posted inArt
An Artist Entangles Performance, Process, and Wire Sculpture
Tith Kanitha is known for her sculptures of steel wire that read like artifacts from some forgotten, ancient civilization, but she also stages performances and works in film.
Posted inNews
Thai Street Artists Demand Justice After Killing of Endangered Black Panther
After a Thai mogul was arrested for allegedly hunting in a wildlife sanctuary, artists started painting panther murals to keep the story in the public consciousness.
Posted inArt
How the Environmental Humanities Can Heal Our Relationship to the Planet
Connecting the humanities — especially the arts — with current scientific research relating to ecology and non-human life is direly needed.
Posted inArt
The Myths and Failures of Modern Khmer Architecture
Albert Samreth examines the fading legacy of New Khmer Architecture, which wanted to represent recently independent Cambodia as authentically Khmer, but also legibly modern.
Posted inArt
In Vietnam, an Exhibition Reveals How Friendship Nourishes Artists
In Vietnam, networks of artist friends have built thriving communities of discourse and collaboration outside official structures.
Posted inArt
“Censorship Is Always Arbitrary”: An Interview with an Art Critic in Singapore
Weng-Choy Lee, president of the Singapore section of the International Association of Art Critics, discusses the country’s complexities, the evils of capitalism, and the relevance of Foucault.
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How Can Ecological Artists Move Beyond Aesthetic Gestures?
If art is to be relevant to the environment, it needs to move beyond an art context to engage with the land itself.
Posted inArt
Adrift in the Waters of Our Dark, Befouled Planet
In John Gerrard’s new series, he digitally renders polluted bodies of water from around the world.