Held alongside the exhibition 'Tropical: Stories from Southeast Asia and Latin America', “Worlds Apart, Strangers Together” is a two-day symposium that expresses South-South solidarities and reconsiders the conception of the “Global South,” both within the legacies of modernism and in light of post-colonial debates.

The programme includes a diverse range of lectures, screenings, performances, talks and dialogues, featuring artists, thinkers, and art historians including Manthia Diawara, Solange Farkas, Atreyee Gupta, Yuki Kihara, Partha Mitter, Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera.

Programme:

Sat 23 Mar 2024

11 am, Partha Mitter on Reimagining Modernism: Picasso Manqué Syndrome and the Virtual Cosmopolitan.
In this keynote lecture, Professor Partha Mitter will address the asymmetrical relationship between the centre and periphery and propose strategies for decentring the dominant Western canon.
Free, registration required: https://web.nationalgallery.sg/#/detail?id=294408&type=product.

2 pm, In Dialogue with Yuki Kihara and Patrick Flores.
This dialogue between Yuki Kihara and Patrick Flores will delve into the colonial legacies in Oceania, as well as the complexities inherent in the primitivist gaze and its transformation in contemporary art.
Free, registration required: https://web.nationalgallery.sg/#/detail?id=294378&type=product.

4.30 pm, Screening: "Maison Tropicale".
Departing from artist Ângela Ferreira’s project at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Manthia Diawara’s film 'Maison Tropicale' (2008) probes the complex interrelationship between modernism, colonialism, and architecture in the Republic of Congo and Nige, shedding light on issues surrounding cultural heritage in a post-colonial environment. 
Free, registration required: https://web.nationalgallery.sg/#/detail?id=294383&type=product.

Sun 24 Mar 2024

11 am, Solange Farkas on Transcultural Curation.
Hear from Solange Farkas as she shares about how to curate exhibitions involving different art ecologies and geopoetic conditions.
Free, registration required: https://web.nationalgallery.sg/#/detail?id=294406&type=product.

2 pm, Atreyee Gupta on The Non-Aligned Movement.
Drawing from an elucidation of Octavio Paz in the context of South Asia, Professor Atreyee Gupta will unravel the intricate connections and solidarities between Asia and Latin America.
Free, registration required: https://web.nationalgallery.sg/#/detail?id=294387&type=product.

4.30 pm, "Magic Maids", a work-in-progress sharing by Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera.
Magic Maids is a work-in-progress sharing by artists Eisa Jocson and Venuri Perera, featuring excerpts of their research into the circulation of foreign migrant labour.
Free, no registration required.

https://www.nationalgallery.sg/see-do/programme-detail/978830422/tropical--worlds-apart-strangers-together