Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia: Proxy Wars
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2020-10-03

Safe Havens Freedom Talks presented the panel Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia: Proxy Wars in collaboration with ArtsEquator livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 25 September 2020.

The 11 countries that make up Southeast Asia are marked by great diversity. The region was the seat of great empires such as the Majapahit and Champa empires. As part of ancient trade routes, it is marked by the influences of China, India, the Middle East and later, Western imperialism. These myriad inheritances are evident in the religious and cultural practices found across the region. It is reflected in the faces of the people who live in cosmopolitan cities as well as its rural regions. In terms of governance, there are democracies of different tones, authoritarian regimes, historically socialist nations and even absolute monarchies. Significant economic gaps exist between countries, but in-country income disparity is gaining urgent attention too.

Confrontations over arts and culture in the region take many forms. Western colonialists prohibited traditional practices, the Japanese Occupation implemented controls on arts and media. Post-independence, successive national governments across the region have continued to exert control over artistic expression, to varying degrees. The methods used and the rational given continue to evolve. The underlying conditions of these controversies over arts and culture suggest that often, these works become the proxy battles for larger confrontations within society, be it over political power, power to define national identity, to assert moral/religious power rather than something inherent to the work of art. And yet, the regions’ arts and culture makers continue to carve out invigorating spaces and practices that push boundaries.

Our panel of four Southeast Asian speakers, Ann Lee (Malaysia), Katrina Stuart Santiago (The Philippines), T. Sasitharan (Singapore) and R. Sivarasa (Malaysia) will share case studies of recent arts and culture censorship, and share their insights into the underlying reasons and meanings of these outbreaks. Special attention will be paid to the differences and similarities across the region, when it comes to the limits on freedom of expression in the arts in Southeast Asia. The panel will be moderated by Kathy Rowland of ArtsEquator.com.

About the Talks
Our new programming series Safe Havens - Freedom Talks series is closely connected to the annual global Safe Havens conference which we have organized in Malmö since 2013, and in Cape Town, South Africa in 2019. The Freedom Talks series will on a monthly basis focus on issues regarding threats towards artistic freedom, free press and intangible heritage. Guests in the Freedom Talks series are highly knowledgeable and prolific actors in the global Arts Rights Justice sector – fighting for artistic freedom.

You will be able to watch livestreamed versions of the talks through our website and social media channels, and step by step we will open for an audience and on-site participants when the Covid -19 risks and restrictions are over. Keep your eyes open in our channels for updates. The talks will be in- or translated to English.

ArtsEquator is a digital media platform which covers arts and culture in Southeast Asia.

About HowlRound TV
HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us.

https://howlround.com/happenings/arts-and-culture-southeast-asia-proxy-wars