Bureau
for Cultural Interconnectivity
Collaborative and Participatory Practice
Member of Resartis and
IntraAsia Network
Selected
Articles written by jay koh
E-mail contact: ifima@gmx.net
66, South
Bouna Vista Rd, #03-06, 118175 S, Singapore (Registered)
Founding Director :
Jay Koh
Project Director :
Chu Yuan
Writing Big
Books for Children workshop by Singaporean novelist Suchen Christine Lim, Sept
2003, in NICA, Yangon, Myanmar
IFIMA is an international cultural organization committed to:
(i) promoting art as a cultural activity in which the creative process
contributes towards people’s developmental
needs on an interdisciplinary
and participative
platform
(ii) forging collaborations, networking and resource-sharing across disciplines,
and across cultures
(iii) promoting discourse across disciplines and sectors so as to build
engagement amongst co-participating
communities in arts and cultural activities
(iv) curating and organizing art and cultural events which respond to specific
cultural contexts
(v) devising and facilitating context specific training and resource-building
programmes with aim of promoting
self-management
and professionalism of arts communities
IFIMA’s activities
Our activities are art-based and diverse, and designed to address specific
contexts, cultural and developmental needs.
As such, our projects entail study
of each site and cultural context and identifying and organizing the appropriate
activities.
These activities ranges from curating and organising exhibitions,
seminars, workshops; networking, resource-sharing and
capacity-building,
consultancy, management and administrative services, human resource training,
advocacy, writing,
publishing, research, to other necessary activities. We
source and raise funds for suitable personnel to be appointed for
specific
projects. We channel resources to those who are lacking and in need of
assistance.
Thai
artists Vasan Sitthiket, Paisan Phangblienchang & Jittima Pholsewek performing
in The Other Critic, 1997, Cologne, Germany.
Beginnings
IFIMA evolved from a non-profit art space arting, which was founded
by Jay Koh, and was located at Bruesseler Strasse 29
in Cologne from 1992-1999.
arting promoted contemporary art, and worked in a interdisciplinary
manner with other art and
cultural foundations and organizations. It has shown
works of artists from over 20 countries, from Eritrea to Korea,
Kurdistan to
India, USA and the U.K. and was supported by the Art Council of Cologne. IFIMA
developed as an
international platform to coordinate arting’s then
expanding cross-cultural activities.
IFIMA’s work in Asia
From 1996 to 2003, IFIMA has been working with artists, groups and individuals
in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China,
Cambodia, The Philippines, Bangladesh
and more actively in Myanmar (Burma) and Singapore, in building up relationships
for sustained engagement which we believes are necessary for effective
cross-cultural collaboration, understanding
and exchange, in arts and cultural
activities.
Exchanging
Thought - ET, by Jay Koh, interactive installation and performance in various
wet marketplaces, 1995/6, ChiangMai, Thailand
Some of IFIMA’s past and present projects:
Among some of the projects carried out by IFIMA are:
E.T. (Exchanging Thoughts), Chiangmai, Thailand, 1995/96
The Other Critique, Cologne, Munich and Kassel, 1997 - 1998
The OtherX/change, Goethe Institut and Artist Store House, Beijing-Cologne,
1999 - 2000
Oriental Curtain - Contemporary modern art of Myanmar - Inya Artist Group,
Galerie ON, Cologne, 1999 and Varkaus Museum, middle Finland, 2001
Visual Culture: Tourist Industry - Contemporary art from Thailand, Forum
Stadtpark, Graz, 2000
Translation, Displacement, Actualisation. Gallery 68elf. Cologne, Germany, 2000
International Symposium on Cultural Exchange: Crossing Cultures: Issues on
Engaged Art, Museum on Site and Shanghai Art Space, Hong Kong, 2000
M-Spaces: Crossover or Assimilation. Nokia-Singapore Art 2001. Singapore, Jan
2001.
Investigating Public Engaged Art, Singapore, The Substation, Singapore, Feb –
July 2001
Seminar on Engaged Art in Public Spaces, Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art,
Danzig, Poland, Sept 2001
International Symposium on Public Engaged Art, Singapore, March 2002, The
Substation, Singapore
Collaboration, Networking and Resource-sharing: Myanmar, Yangon, Myanmar, 2002
City Transformers: Art and Architecture in the City, symposium and project,
Gdansk, Poland, 2002.
"Critiquing Critical Art", a symposium of Locus: Interventions in Art Practice,
Manila, The Philippines, 2002
Comparative Contemporaries, An international symposium on art writings, Oct
2003 + Oct. 2006, The Substation, Singapore
NICA (Networking & Initiatives for Culture & the Arts), Myanmar/ Burma, 2003 -
present
Installation by Myanmar artist Nyo Win Maung, in Installation Art Workshop
series I at NICA, 2003, Yangon, Myanmar
Some Facets of our Work
1. Engaged Art as a form of Interdisciplinary and Participative Practice
Engagement takes place in a spectrum and is implicit in all forms of art-making,
in varying degrees. ‘Engaged art activities’,
referring to art activities which
engage with social issues, have been on the rise in response to social and
political issues
challenging contemporary cultures. Within engaged art
practices, IFIMA feels a need for a more expanded, extended and
active form of
engagement; for art to work in collaboration with other disciplines, and with
societal structures, to influence
social change. We believe that for
contemporary art to play an effective role as a catalyst for change, it has to
go beyond
display (show), spectacle, and critique. It needs to situate itself as
part of a wider network of practices, and be willing to
engage in dialogue with
other practices, disciplines, publics and structures.
Projects:
City Transformers and "Engaged Art and Architecture of the City" conference,
Danzig, Poland, August – Sept 2002. Public
art project and conference on
incorporating art and cultural life into city planning. Organised by Lasnia
Centre for
Contemporary Art, Danzig, Poland, co-organised by IFIMA
Voicing the City, Danzig,
Poland 2002, Interactive public art mobile installation and performance.
Organised by IFIMA
Voicing the
City, interactive installation and performance in public spaces, by Amanda Heng,
Ho Soon Yeen, Lee Foo Koon
and Chu Yuan (Zhu Zi Yan), 2002, Danzig, Poland
2. Establishing Sustainable Links and Networks for Collaboration and
Resource-sharing
IFIMA works on establishing and developing sustained links and exchange
networks between artists, writers, historians,
cultural organizers and workers
for artistic and intellectual exchange and discourse; for the sharing of skills,
knowledge and resources.
Projects:
Collaboration, Networking, and
Resource-sharing: Myanmar. An open-ended project to facilitate Myanmar artists,
writers and cultural practitioners to develop collaboration, networking and
resource-sharing with counterparts and organisations
outside, for the
development of contemporary art and cultural practices in Myanmar. 1997 till
present.
Public Act
by Jay Koh, performance in public spaces, 1998, Yangon, Myanmar
MNX (Mekong Networking &
Exchange), Yangon, Chiangmai, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Nov 2003 - Jan 2004.
A
network to facilitate intellectual exchange and sharing of ideas, cultural
knowledge and professional methodologies
among artists, writers, art organizers
and curators, and art and cultural historians of the Mekong region
Co-organised with Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture, Phnom Penh.
Myanmar
artist Pe Nyunt Way working with children of Reyum Art School in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia, as part of MNX (Mekong Networking &
Exchange)
Yangon-Chiangmai-Bangkok-Phnom Penh, Nov 2003 - Jan 2004
3. Promoting and Facilitating Intercultural, and InterSectoral Dialogue
and Critical Discourses
IFIMA has been actively organizing platforms for critical exchanges and
discourse in Southeast Asia and between Southeast Asia
and Europe. In addition
to identifying and bringing key persons together for dialogue, in seminars and
conferences, another aspect
of dialogue-making is to mediate between artists,
communities, and institutions in negotiating issues that act upon our lives. We
find
it necessary to extend and expand the engagement on common issues across
power structures and peoples, cultures, knowledge,
histories, literacy and
narratives.
Project:
International Symposium on Public Engaged Art, Singapore, The Substation,
Singapore, March 2002. Papers, artists’ talks,
video screenings, documentation,
and exhibition presenting and deliberating on various models and modes of
engagement
in engaged art projects from around the world.
International Symposium on Public Engaged Art, March 2002, The Substation,
Singapore
4. Promoting resourcefulness and self-management
IFIMA takes on middle term projects (1 to 3 years) aimed at promoting
resourcefulness, independence and self-management by arts organizations
and
groups for the needs of each community. This involves a thorough understanding
of the complexities of each local environment, devising solutions,
and
channeling of and developing resources needed for each organizational set-up.
IFIMA’s contribution can range from providing tools and
organizational
expertise, to devising and developing context specific training and
resource-development programmes.
Project:
centre for culture and the arts
in Myanmar.
Computer
and drawing classes, Young Adults Training programme at NICA, Yangon, Myanmar
5. Curating and organizing art and cultural projects that respond to
specific cultural contexts
IFIMA works on curating and organizing art projects that build on and respond to
the social-cultural contexts in which the project take place.
Projects:
E.T. (Exchanging Thought),
Chiangmai, 1995/96. Interactive public art project in wet markets.
The OtherX-change, Beijing and Cologne, 1999. A cross cultural project.
M-Spaces: Crossover or
Assimilation, Singapore, 2001. Video, sound, photo and site-specific
installations in shopping mall.
Performance Site: Myanmar
05, Yangon 2005. An international performance art festival
Portraying Ourselves, 2005.
A public art project commissioned by Lonnstrom Museum, Rauma, Finland
Beijing by
Jay Koh, 1999, Great Wall, China in The OtherX-change M-Space: Crossover or Assimilation, Jay Koh,
Singapore 2001
Scenes from
Performance Site:Myanmar 05, Borders Within Without
Portraying
Ourselves, Rauma, Finland, 2005
Bureau for Cultural Interconnectivity: MM, Seoul 2006
Cross
Cultural Communicator, Hanoi 2007
