This course explores how processes of globalization and political change have impacted the shape of Southeast Asia’s art world since the late-1990s. It is often the case that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 is taken as a starting point for understanding contemporary globalization. In order to move beyond such Eurocentric perspectives of global change, this course instead, takes the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis as a starting point to look at what in the last two decades has been the exponential growth of Southeast Asia’s art world. As a result of forces such as regime change, greater connectivity, and the influx of capital, the type of art produced and the venues in which it circulates have shifted. In order to frame our inquiry, we will begin with a discussion of key terms such as “Southeast Asia” and “the contemporary” before moving to an examination of topics ranging from the influence of tradition, large-scale exhibitions like biennales, and the role of the market to the work of specific artists who appear time and again in these “new” networks of exchange. 

This course fulfills the following Major requirements: Geographical area (B) and Chronological period (III).