SEASON OF CAMBODIA to Culminate with Visual Arts 'Open Studio' Exhibition, 5/25-27

Organizers of Season of Cambodia announce the final week of events for its two-month long arts festival, which began in early April 2013, and now culminates with a visual arts 'Open Studio' exhibition of works by five artists-in-residence at Governors Island off the southern tip of Manhattan. This 'open studio' of work reflects two months of work by contemporary Cambodian and Cambodian-American artists in the disciplines of sculpture, photography, video, installation, and performance, curated by curator-in-residence Vuth Lyno and the final piece of the festival's visual arts program, IN RESIDENCE, co-curated by Leeza Ahmady of AhmadyArts and Asian Contemporary Art Week (New York City) and Erin Gleeson ofSA SA BASSAC (Phnom Penh). The three-day event, in conjunction with the annual opening of Governors Island on Memorial Day Weekend, takes place at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Art Center (Building 110) on May 25th - 27th from 12pm - 5pm daily. A ferry schedule for Governors Island can be viewed at http://govislandblog.com/summer-ferry-schedule/.

The artists-in-residence on Governors Island, who are part of Season of Cambodia's IN RESIDENCE program, include: Lim Sokchanlina (b. 1987), who works primarily in photography to confront issues of globalization; Amy Lee Sanford (b. 1972), whose two and three dimensional work and performances explore the evolution of emotional stagnation, and the lasting psychological effects of war; Svay Sareth (b. 1972), who works in sculpture, installation and performance to explore issues of the politics of power, the processes of survival, and the playful ideal of adventure; Than Sok (b. 1984), whose multimedia practice is rooted in spiritual themes; and Vandy Rattana (b. 1980), whose work in film and photography speaks to the interconnected relationship between the practice of image making and historiography.

Season of Cambodia began in April 2013 with official opening ceremonies at Rubin Museum of Art and has since brought 125 artists from Cambodia for a major celebration of Cambodian arts, culture, and humanities. Distinctive works from master and emerging artists and scholars-in ritual, music, visual arts, performance, dance, shadow puppetry, film, and academic forums-have been presented by 30 of New York's most renowned arts and educational institutions, marking an unprecedented city-wide partnership initiative to celebrate one of the world's most vibrant and evocative cultures. Among the institutions involved: Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM), Film Society of Lincoln Center, The Joyce Theater, Le Poisson Rouge, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Parsons The New School for Design, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim, among many others.

"The success of Season of Cambodia as an arts festival in New York City is an unprecedented achievement, particularly given how many institutions have come together to present its rich offerings," said Karen Brooks Hopkins, President of Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM). "It serves as a vivid example of the transformative power of art to heal a nation, and will undoubtedly inspire other post-conflict nations to reassert their cultural identities through the arts."

Highlights of the festival so far have included: the presentation of the ancient art of Shadow Puppetry by the Wat Bo Troupe at Brookfield Place, Winter Garden; the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, as choreographed by Her Royal Highness Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, at BAM; legendary blind musician Kong Nay in concert at Asia Society; popular Cambodian-American pop rock band Dengue Fever at Le Poisson Rouge; a film series curated by famed documentarian Rithy Pahn at Lincoln Center; as well as evocative dance performances from Cambodia-based Amrita Performing Arts and Khmer Arts Ensemble, and numerous visual arts exhibitions and humanities events.

In addition to the Governors Island 'Open Studio', the festival also currently features the following ongoing visual arts exhibitions:

· Wrapped Future by Lim Sokchanlina at Triangle Park, Fort Greene (May 24th - June 30th)

This historic park flourishes as an overgrown natural environment - one of the few remaining in the Fort Greene neighborhood. Through wrapping its trees with caution-orange fencing, artist Lim Sokchanlina (b.1987, Cambodia) acknowledges this small plot of green in a bustling area as a rare and endangered forest - a concern shared in his native Cambodia - thus foregrounding the potential for balance between development and the natural environment. This exhibition runs through the end of June.

· Bomb Ponds by Vandy Rattana at Asia Society Museum (Now through June 2nd)

Bomb Ponds: Vandy Rattana is a poignant series of photographs and a one-channel video by Vandy Rattana (b.1980) exploring the U.S. bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The serenity of Rattana's images belies the violent history of the landscape, while his video highlights the resilience of the Cambodian people. Bomb Ponds also brings attention to the lack of documentation of these unwarranted acts of violence undertaken by the U.S. government.

· Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich by Sopheap Pich at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Now through July 7th)

This exhibition presents ten works by the contemporary Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich. He works principally in rattan and bamboo, constructing organic open-weave forms that are solid and ethereal, representational and abstract. Much of his work is inspired by elements of the human anatomy or plant life.

· Churning by Svay Sareth at Brookfield Place Plaza (Now through June 14th)

Running along a 17 meter-long pedestrian walkway, Churning brings to life one of Phnom Penh's main plazas at one of New York City's. The site-specific mural depicts a typical scene at the busy urban square housing the Vietnamese-Cambodian Friendship Monument. In this artwork, the contentious postwar public memorial has been replaced with a camouflage rendering of "Churning of the Sea of Milk," an ancient creation myth famously depicted as a bas-relief at Angkor Wat.

· Memory Preserved: Glass Plates Photographs of the Royal Cambodian Dancers, 1927 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Shelby Cullom David Museum (Now through May 31st)

Don't miss the last week of this exhibition of rare images of five principal women dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia on display in the United States for the first time. Recently rediscovered, catalogued, restored, and digitized, the 1927 images capture the dancers demonstrating the postures and gestures from the classical canon. French scholar George Groslier, who was the Director of the National Museum of Cambodia, initiated the project to preserve the memory of the ballet, which he believed was endangered.

· Reliefs by Sopheap Pich at Tyler Rollin Fine Art (Now through June 14th)

In a solo exhibition of new works, Sopheap Pich (b. 1971) presents a focused series of orthogonal wall reliefs weighted with materials native to Cambodia's land and history. Burlap, beeswax, charcoal, and earth pigments combine on Pich's rigid bamboo and rattan grids to express his increasingly conceptual and minimalistic sensibilities while retaining a corporeal quality so prominent in his earlier works.

Season of Cambodia is an initiative of Cambodian Living Arts, a non-profit organization based in Phnom Penh and the U.S. founded in 1998 by artist and Khmer Rouge survivor Arn Chorn-Pond. Once focused on the critical task of preserving endangered artists and traditional art forms in the country, Cambodian Living Arts today collaborates with Cambodian artists and organizations, serving as a catalyst to help develop and foster the arts in Cambodia.

This historic collaboration featuring pioneering artists and organizations from Phnom Penh and Siem Reap comes at a critical moment in Cambodia's artistic revival. Only one generation ago the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) set out to eliminate the artists and intellectuals who comprised Cambodia's flourishing artistic community; as many as 90% of them died. As a "living arts" festival, Season of Cambodia will serve as an international platform that not only promotes opportunities for cultural and artistic expression in a country where half of the population is under the age of 25, but also helps pave the way for long-term partnerships between members of Cambodia's burgeoning arts community and pre-eminent artists and cultural institutions in New York City.

For more information, visit the official website at www.seasonofcambodia.org.

Pictured: Lim Sokchanlina