2013 SEASON OF CAMBODIA Festival Announces NYC IN RESIDENCE Visual Arts Program, 4/6-5/31

Organizers of Season of Cambodia, the large-scale, first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary Cambodian arts festival set for Spring 2013 in New York City, today announced details of IN RESIDENCE - the visual arts program of the festival, co-curated by Leeza Ahmady of AhmadyArts and Asian Contemporary Art Week (New York City) and Erin Gleeson of SA SA BASSAC (Phnom Penh).

IN RESIDENCE is a citywide visual arts program centered on two-month residencies complimented by a dynamic map of public programs including exhibitions, screenings, symposiums, open studios, and conversations with the artists and curators most critically involved in shaping Cambodia's unique contemporary art scene.

IN RESIDENCE invites New York City audiences to engage with new perspectives on Cambodia's history and contemporaneity. For decades, Cambodia has been subject to international field research - a practice that has largely shaped distanced, third person perspectives around the nation's occupied and traumatic histories. According to Gleeson, "In the last decade, it is largely Cambodia's local and diaspora visual artists who, by giving form to their experiences, are responsible for anchoring unique first-person perspectives."

To extend these perspectives, IN RESIDENCE engages 1 curator and 10 visual artists in 2-month residencies. The selected Cambodian national and Cambodian-American artists have diverse educations and experiences and work across a range of practices including drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and performance. Born between 1970 and 1987 - either during the U.S. military bombing campaign, the Khmer Rouge era, or Vietnamese occupation - the artists interpret their histories from different angles while many also respond to current cultural changes forced by globalization.

"While the residencies serve as a base from which artists extend their research and practices in NYC, the public programs give an interactive scope to the program. We partner with leading institutions to create diverse platforms that contextualize Cambodia's artistic production both on its own terms and as a part of a broader world dialogue," says Ahmady.

Highlights of IN RESIDENCE public programs include: the solo exhibition Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich, curated by John Guy at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Feb 23 - June 16), Vandy Rattana: Bomb Ponds, a solo exhibition at the Asia Society Museum (Feb 26 - June 2), Contemporary Cambodian Art: A Historical Inquiry, an unprecedented symposium with leading scholars, curators and artists at Cornell University's Art, Architecture, and Planning Center NYC (April 20), a conversation with IN RESIDENCE co-curators Leeza Ahmady and Erin Gleeson at ICI (Independent Curators International) (May 14), and Open Studios at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Building 110 on Governors Island with artists Lim Sokchanlina, Amy Lee Sanford, Than Sok, Svay Sareth, Vandy Rattana, curated by Lyno Vuth (May 25 & 26).

For a full list of public programs, see below. For a full description of public programs, visit http://seasonofcambodia.org/events/category/visual-art/.

Participants:
The IN RESIDENCE contemporary visual art lineup includes internationally renowned artists Sopheap Pich, Vandy Rattana, Khvay Samnang and Leang Seckon, as well as leading regional and local figures Lim Sokchanlina, Amy Lee Sanford, Svay Sareth, Than Sok, Tith Kanitha, Vuth Lyno, Yim Maline, and New York-based Pete Pin.

Partners:
Residency partners include:
Asia Art Archive in America, Asian Cultural Council, Bose Pacia, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Residency Unlimited (RU) and Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education

Public Program partners include:
Asia Society, Arts Brookfield, BAM, Cornell University, ICI (Independent Curators International), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Parsons The New School for Design, Tyler Rollins Fine Art

Media Partner:
ArtAsiaPacific

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All events, residencies, exhibitions, symposiums, artist talks, screenings and open studios listed below have been curated and organized by the IN RESIDENCE curatorial team of Leeza Ahmady and Erin Gleeson, with the exception of events at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York University, and Tyler Rollins Fine Art.

Featured Solo Exhibitions:

March 28 - Apr 18
Sopheap Pich: Compound
Winter Garden, Brookfield Place World Financial Center / Arts Brookfield

February 26 - June 2
Vandy Rattana: Bomb Ponds
Asia Society Museum

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