PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — In Phnom Penh, cars drive like motorcycles, motorcycles drive between lanes and on sidewalks, and even the police don’t seem to care much about traffic lights.
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
An Artist Attempts to Draw the Entire History of Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY — At times the downtown here can appear as one great, big construction site — gleaming Chanel storefronts arise around the corner from propaganda posters.
Posted inArt
Photographing the Forgotten Vietnamese Widows of Japanese WWII Soldiers
When we talk about Japan and Vietnam in the 1940s, we discuss World War II, invasions, colonialism, and other monumental events that unfolded in this part of the world, but sent ripples across the globe.
Posted inArt
In Cambodia, War Widows Share Their Stories Through Art
BATTAMBANG, Cambodia — The Cambodia War Widows Project, which began seven years ago as a social practice project exploring photography as a form of art therapy, is now having its first gallery installation in Cambodia.
Posted inArt
A City Where Trees Tweet
The 2010s have settled into their own, and now even the trees get their own hashtag campaigns and Twitter handles.
Posted inNews
The Business of Making Custom Clouds in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Somewhere in the city, there are white Mercedes Benzes, peace signs, and hearts floating up into the sky.
Posted inNews
Vietnamese Artists Respond to Marine Disaster Through #IChooseFish
In early April, a disturbing sight appeared on the central Vietnamese coast.
Posted inArt
The Human Stories that Bind Cambodia and Vietnam
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — What makes a border?
Posted inArt
A Contemporary Khmer Dance and Poncho Designed for Rain
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — The sun sets, the stage lights turn on, and the conversations pause.
Posted inArt
Young Khmer Artists Try the Tricky Business of Mapmaking
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The mapping and the drawing borders has been an especially violent and contested activity here for centuries.
Posted inArt
A Small, Independent Art School Flourishes in Cambodia
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — Over four million people visited Cambodia in 2014, many of whom came to see Angkor Wat, the country’s most popular tourist destination.
Posted inArt
Holograms, Robots, and 3D-Printed Masks at a New Art Center in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Highlighting six HCMC-based contemporary artists and featuring several large works all incorporating new media, this exhibit would feel at home in any global arts city, from NYC to Beijing.