Group exhibition with young queer artists and archives from Southeast Asia and its diapora

Co-curated with Hải Nam Nguyễn, Ferdiansyah Thajib, Thảo Hồ, Ragil Huda / 28th November 2024 to August 2025 / Schwules Museum

Featuring Kelvin Atmadibrata, Hoo Fan Chon, Suriya Sam-Khuth, Việt Lê, Indra Liusuari, Oat Montien, Nu, Natthapong Samakkaew, Shasti, Eda Phanlert Sriprom, Tamarra, Thảo Miên Trần, Queer Indonesia Archive, Hanoi Queer Museum, Vanasay Khamphommala, Alvin Collantes, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Visal Kim, and more



(Monopol Article “Der junge Vogel weiß nicht, warum er singt”)
(Tagespiegel Article “Queere Kunst aus Südostasien”)

     

     Archive of Song Hak Ky (1950-2000)

Songhak Ky (b. 1950, Kandal–d. 2000, Berlin) was a Cambodian artist who came to study art and design (metal and enamel work) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1972. He subsequently fled to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1987 and remained without returning to Cambodia until his death in 2000 in exile. This text aims firstly to shed light on and historicize one of many examples of the artistic practice of migrants in the GDR, whose presence has rarely been researched, and secondly, to link Ky’s artistic positions to a larger socialist internationalist context, in contrast to an attempt to read a notion of nationalism onto them. For many artists of Cambodian origin, regardless if they were to be categorized as ‘contemporary’ or ‘modern’ (let alone if either word has any functional translation in Khmer), readings of their works tend to refer to and define them under two paradigms. One is trauma, specifically in relation to the Khmer Rouge’s genocide (1975–1979) and Cambodia’s long period of civil wars (1967–1975). The second angle is one of craft and tradition, and the tendency to assign ‘Cambodianness’ (or even a broader ‘Asianness’) to the artworks regardless of how they have been made. It could be argued that this need to ‘perform’ a particular mix of exoticism and authenticity lingers on for all migrants in the West until now. In the specific case of Cambodia, the genocide and civil wars have created a gap in its official art history, rendering those who live (and survive) in diaspora a living archive, irrespective of if they want to be associated with the nation-state now called Cambodia or not; the latter was the case with Ky. This text aims to shift away from these two discourses and look at Ky’s work in a larger international context as well as on a local scale.

Exhibited
- Echoes of the Brother Countries, Haus der Kulturn der Welt 2024
- Dislocations-within reach, Kunst Raum Mitte 2025

    Where is my karaoke? How did we meet?

Archive corner at “Echoes of the Brother Countries” / March - May 2024 / Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin

Featuring interviews and music from Sonny Thet, “Modestudent in DDR” (pseudonym), and Dresndr Studentklub

(Publication can be ordered at Archive Books)

    Where is my karaoke? Let’s sing along and sing away

Mixed media and archival material installation on Vietnamese, Laos and Cambodian music and histories in former East Germany (GDR) / Co-curated with Phuong Phan / Part of “Re-Connect: Art and Struggle in Brotherland” curated by Sithara Weerathunga and Marcus Hurttig / 17 May - September 2023 / Museum of visual arts (MDBK) Leipzig

(Publication can be ordered at Hirmer Press)


   

    Where is my karaoke? Still, we sing

Exhibition and program about Vietnamese, Laos and Cambodian practices and exchanges in former East Germany (GDR) / Co-curated with Phuong Phan /25 May - 2 October 2022 / D21 Project Space Leipzig

Featuring Ho Rui An, Nguyen Xuan Huy, Tran Minh Duc, Phung-Tien Phan, Postmigrant Radio Collective, Song Hak Ky

(D21 website)