The Center for Khmer Studies is delighted to welcome Việt Lê, Ph.D. to our Public Lecture Series. His talk is entitled:
Contemporary Visual Art in Cambodia and Viet Nam:
Ethnographic and Visual Studies Research Case Studies & Research Methods
Date: 24/11/2012
Time: 9 - 11 am
Venue:
Royal University of Phnom Penh, Campus II (RUPP II)
Russian Blvd, Phnom Penh
Please Confirm attendance by 23/11/2012
Email: puthea_sim[atmark]khmerstudies.org or call 023 991 937
Abstract:
Cambodia and Viet Nam are both societies in rapid transition. Artists wrestle with the shocks of modernization as well as the traumas of history. This seminar explores the possibilities of research on current topics, including the intersection of society and the arts.
How can you effectively combine field-based work with object-based research?
This seminar examines two approaches: 1) ethnography and 2) visual studies/ art history. Ethnography's oral history interviews and participant observation complement art history's attention to close readings of artwork.
The first part of the seminar will be present case studies, including artists, international art exhibitions, and brief presentations by select artist-organizers. The second part of the seminar focuses on interdisciplinary frameworks. Related hands-on topics include ethical ethnographic practices, the politics of positionality and translation, and the publication process.
Việt Lê is an artist, writer, and curator. His work deals with popular visual culture, historical trauma, and modernity in Southeast Asia and its diasporas, particularly Việt Nam and Cambodia. Lê has been published in Crab Orchard Review; Fuse; Amerasia Journal; Asia Art Archive; Newsweek Asia; and the anthologies Writing from the Perfume River; Strange Cargo; The Spaces Between Us; Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art; among others. Lê’s artwork has been featured at The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada; DoBaeBacSa Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Cape Museum of Fine Arts, MA, USA; 1a Space, Hong Kong; among other venues. Lê has received fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, William Joiner Center, Fine Arts Work Center, Center for Khmer Studies, and PEN Center USA.
Lê curated Miss Saigon with the Wind (Highways, Santa Monica) and Charlie Don't Surf! (Centre A, Vancouver, BC); and co-curated humor us (Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, LA, CA), and transPOP: Korea Việt Nam Remix (Seoul, Sài Gòn, Irvine, San Francisco) and the 2012 Kuandu Biennale (Taipei). He has co-edited special issues of BOL Journal (Việt Nam and Us, 2008) and Reflections: A Journal of Writing, Service Learning, and Community Literacy (Syracuse University Press, 2008). Lê received his MFA from the University of California, Irvine, where he has also taught Studio Art and Visual Culture courses. He received his doctorate from the University of Southern California. Lê is an Assistant Professor in Visual Studies and Visual and Critical Studies at California College of the Arts, San Francisco.
Please visit our website for further information.
http://khmerstudies.org/events/public-lecture-series/
