Reflections on the Southeast Asia Performance Archive

Abstract

In November 2017, the Southeast Asia Performance Collection (SAPC) was launched by Something Human, a London-based curatorial initiative, and made accessible to students, artists, and researchers within Study Room Library at the Live Art Development Agency (LADA) in East London. This report reflects on the organic and incremental process of building the SAPC had undertaken, which in turn raised critical questions regarding the nature, organizing structure, and role of “archives” in the digital era. How may one main-tain the non-linear, fragmented and open nature of an archive, and continue to contaminate and contest its presumption of canonizing? How may such an archive of practices, experiences, and stories from artists who work within the blurred and contested borders of Southeast Asia be also activated across borders in the UK and Europe? The report tracks the development of the SAPC and its activities from its launch at LADA and subsequent activation at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, while also considering its possible impact on diasporic scholarship and artistic practice in London.