Talking Contemporary: Recent Episodes
Bianca Winataputri
Listen and learn directly from artists from Southeast Asia as they share about what it means to make art in this time, and the challenges and encounters along the way. Talking Contemporary podcast is hosted by Bianca Winataputri and produced by Reagan Susanto, Adela Saputra, Stevani Susanto, and Trivita Winataputri.
Welcome back! In this special episode, I sat down with Indonesian-Australian artist and researcher Tintin Wulia. Tintin wore many hats over the course of her artmaking journey. Before becoming an artist, she was previously trained as a musician, composer, and architect. Tintin’s journey in making art had many unexpected turns, but she has always been guided by her passion for learning and embracing the process wherever it may take her. We spoke about stories from her childhood, uncovering her family history and her grandfather's disappearance, her journey from composing music to making her very first artwork, and what art means to her in a constantly changing world.
This episode is made in partnership with Artlink who are supported by the Australia Council for the Arts; Arts SA; and their subscribers.
In this episode, I sat down with my good friend artist and painter Zico Albaiquni. I spent the day at Zico’s and his wife, Ayas’ house as they settled down in their new home in Melbourne, Australia. We spoke about his experiences growing up in a family of artists, his daily routine as a father of two young kids, and the power of gratitude, creativity, and reflection in life and artistic practice. We also discussed the importance of asking questions and cultivating curiosity in Zico’s artmaking journey. We found that it is often the seemingly small or mundane moments in our everyday life, whether it be making coffee, playing with our kids, or walking to the train station, that feed into our creative practice and strengthens our ability to think deeply about the world around us.
Our lives revolve around time. Collectively, time can be a set duration or norm like working 9 to 5. Time can be a form of value like the saying ‘time is money’. Time can also transcend different dimensions – the past, present, and future. Time is the one thing that we hold on to, but can’t always control. When doing creative work, I often find myself having to slow down. Thoughts, ideas, and even the act of making or producing creative work take time, patience, and the ability to let go and trust the process.
In this episode, I spoke with Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak who has been making art for over 40 years. Pinaree’s practice is centred on her fascination with the potential of the body, especially her own body as a woman and a mother, and how our body teaches us about time. She shared about her early interest in art, and her decision to pursue a career in the arts despite societal expectations. We spoke about her extensive journey, embracing change, and her lifetime dedication to her practice.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the word ‘belonging’. What does it really mean and why do we want it so badly? What does it mean to belong to a community, to a culture, to a state, and to the world? Do we ever really, truly belong somewhere?
For this episode, I invited artist James Nguyen who is based in Naarm, Melbourne. James works with video, writing, collaboration, and social performances. We spoke about James’ childhood experience migrating from Vietnam to Australia, adapting to Australia at such a young age, and the ways in which he has come to terms with belonging, self-worth, and resilience in a world that’s constantly changing.
The stories we hear growing up have great power over us. From folklore, and fairy tales, to anecdotal moments, shared in fragments by our family members, these stories are essentially imagined memories that are always created and re-remembered in ways that speak to the present. Memories of migration, displacement, conflicts, and racism, can be difficult to understand when we have not directly experienced them. So how do we deal with these past stories? How is history, and especially painful histories, being digested by younger generations? And why is it important to remember? In this episode, I invited Cambodian-Australian artist Linda Sok. We spoke about childhood stories, her family history, google translate, family group chats, and how art can be a space for us to heal together.
What is Southeast Asia? To what extent do we identify as ‘Southeast Asian’? In this episode, I spoke with Singaporean artist, researcher, and philosopher Ho Tzu Nyen. We spoke about what sparked Tzu’s interest in Southeast Asia and how this has resulted from investigating his own identity. One of his most renowned works is the Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, an online interactive dictionary that embraces chance, encounters, and diversity of Southeast Asia. In this conversation, we spoke about Tzu’s approach to ‘visualising’ and re-imagining Southeast Asia, why he chose the dictionary format, and how we could learn with and from tigers, weretigers, and ghosts. Tune in to start the journey!
For the longest time, art and storytelling have gone hand in hand. From caveman drawings, myths, folklore, and architecture, the stories passed down for generations, from our parents, grandparents, and ancestors, are testaments to human history and become a shared language that changes and adapts through passing time. Our stories never leave us. In this conversation, I’m joined by Balinese artist, illustrator, and storyteller Citra Sasmita. We spoke about her process of ‘hacking’ traditional stories and unraveling the myths and misconceptions of Balinese art and culture. We also reflected on her experiences, thoughts, and struggles of being a woman artist in Bali. Tune in for more!
The saying “A picture’s worth a thousand words” speaks to the multiplicity of stories, ideas and perspectives in an image. Every place, every object, every being has a story within them. And when they are stitched together in a series of images (or moving images), we are invited to reflect more deeply on what is visible and invisible. In this conversation, I invited my good friend, artist, and filmmaker Leyla Stevens. Leyla is an Australian-Balinese artist who works within moving image and photography. We spoke about the power of image and filmmaking in uncovering and disrupting histories left hidden in our surroundings. We also reflect on Leyla’s relationship and research into her Balinese heritage having grown up in Australia, and the power of image making and storytelling in contemporary society today.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/season2/leylastevens
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
We are back! One of the biggest questions that came out of our first season is how do we define “Southeast Asia”? Where is Southeast Asian art and creative practices? For this second season, we want to reflect and interrogate what constitutes the region beyond its geographical borders and especially considering movement and migration. So in addition to having guests from Southeast Asia, we are now also featuring conversations with Southeast Asian-Australian creatives. In this series, we talked about how to work with ideas and finding joy and sense of purpose through our creative practices. We hope you enjoy this new series!
Do you ever wonder where our best ideas and inspiration come from? Is there a way for us to spark and sustain our creative juices? In this episode, I sat down with Thai-born, Melbourne-based artist Vipoo Srivilasa and we spoke about the importance of routines and finding ideas and inspirations from everyday objects. We also spoke the meaning of happiness in his practice as well as the pressures and expectations of being an artist and having a 'signature' style. It was such an honest and heartwarming conversation to kick start the year. Tune in for more!
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/vipoosrivilasa
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
In this conversation, I’m joined by artist, Educator, and Musician, Made Bayak based in Bali, Indonesia. Over the last ten years, his ongoing series of projects Plasticology (which combines the words ‘plastic’ and ‘ecology’) have critically responded to issues of plastic waste in Bali and its impacts towards the environment, cultural rituals, health, and education. We talked about the developments of Plasticology and how the concerns related to our environment are very much entwined to our culture, traditions, and ways of being. He shared about the importance of revisiting ancient knowledge that has for so long respected the environment in developing new rituals, and the power of art in bringing communities together to take action.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/MadeBayak
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
In this episode I’m joined by Abhijan Toto and Rosalia Namsai Engchuan from The Forest Curriculum. The Forest Curriculum is a multi-platform project for research and mutual co-learning around the naturecultures of Zomia, which is the forested belt that connects South and Southeast Asia. They first came together through a shared interest in film and cinema and have continued to organize exhibitions, public programs, performances, video, and multimedia projects. In this conversation, we talked about the importance of making space for discussions, slowing down time in building relationships, and how we can work sustainably together. We also talked about some of the challenges they faced working and researching collectively, one of which is the idea of collectives and collectivity being overly 'romanticised' in the arts especially in relation to Southeast Asia.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/forestcurriculum
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
Do you know that feeling of being fully immersed in the process? Whether it's creatively like when we’re writing, drawing, or dancing, or even when we’re running or going for a hike, we can find moments of absolute freedom in the process. Art making is so much like that for Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich. Sopheap is widely known for his large, immersive sculptures primarily made out of bamboo, rattan, beeswax, burlap, and earth pigments. In this episode, we talked about Sopheap’s process of starting with an object and allowing for its possibilities to grow and expand into form in his sculptural works. It’s such a rich and inspiring conversation about process, labour, and finding freedom in making art.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/sopheappich
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
In this episode, I’m joined by Bangkok-based artist Kawita Vatanajyankur. In this conversation, we talked about Kawita’s beginnings as an artist asking the question: what is beauty? And in turn what is ugliness? Where is the line between beauty and ugliness and most importantly who defines them? Kawita’s move to Thailand was also a big turning point in her artistic practice where she starts to question the different societal standards of labor, beauty, and the role of women particularly in Asia. This investigation led to her series of endurance performances where she manifested as household objects: a sponge, a dustpan, a mop, an ice shaver amongst other things.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/kawita
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
In this episode, I’m joined by Vuth Lyno and Lim Sokchalina (or Lina for short) to talk about the beginnings of Sa Sa Art Projects and how they first came together in the now-demolished White building in Phnom Penh. It’s always interesting to hear from artist collectives on how they operate together as a group, where decisions are made collectively whilst also maintaining their own individual artistic practices. We also talked about the importance of artist-led arts education and what it means to teach contemporary art. There are lots of inspiring moments in this conversation and be sure to tune in to the end where we got a little bit too excited over our love of food and the epic-sounding Cambodian sandwich ‘nompang’.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/sasaartprojects
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
In this episode, I’m joined by an artist, a good friend, and a mentor of mine, FX Harsono. I’ve known Pak Harsono for many years now and have learned so much about my own Chinese-ancestry and history in Indonesia. During the New Order in 1967, Chinese Indonesians were forced to change their names into Indonesian-sounding names and were forbidden to practice our traditions publicly including celebrating Chinese New Year. FX Harsono was only 18 years old when he was forced to change his name, an experience that he later revisited in his seminal and moving work Writing in the rain. In this heartwarming and quite emotional conversation, we talked about the power of art in uncovering hidden histories and in healing. We talked about the politics of name, what’s in a name, and what kind of meaning it carries within our identity, memory, belonging, and the ways in which we persevere and survive through history and changing times.
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/fxharsono
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
In this episode, I’m joined by Singapore-based artist Alecia Neo. I came across her Care Index project that collects and brings together diverse stories and practices of care performed by people from all walks of life. The Care Index invites us to perform a gesture of care in video or audio form, which is later archived online on careindex.net. Notions of self-care and caring for others are not ‘new’ revelations, but they certainly have taken centre stage in recent times. In this heartfelt conversation, we spoke about the different experiences of care especially through the lens of caregivers. We talked about empathy and listening and the importance of staying connected and grounded ultimately asking: What does it mean to listen? What does it mean to be invited to enter someone's story? Tune in to our conversation to hear some of our answers (spoiler alert: tiger balms and our mom’s cooking are involved).
Full podcast notes: https://talkingcontemporary.com/episodes/alecianeo
Follow us on Instagram at @talking.contemporary
Listen and learn directly from artists and creatives from Southeast Asia as they share about what it means to make art in this time, and the challenges and encounters along the way.
Talking Contemporary podcast is hosted by Bianca Winataputri and produced by Reagan Susanto, Adela Saputra, Stevani Susanto, and Trivita Winataputri.
talkingcontemporary.com
Follow us on Instagram: @talking.contemporary