Convened by: Dr Fuyubi Nakamura, RSH, ANU & Dr Ana Dragojlovic, RSPAS, ANU

Registration form (Word Doc)
Program (PDF 540Kb)
Abstracts (PDF 1.5MB)

This interdisciplinary conference explores how ‘Asia’ has been imagined, imaged, represented and transferred visually across linguistic, geopolitical and cultural boundaries. It aims to challenge established assumptions (and consumptions) of cultural products of ‘Asia’, from arts, artefacts and film to performance. Despite the constant movement of people and objects in the globalized world, ‘location’ still remains an important reference point in identifying images of/from ‘Asia’. The particular focus is on the role of ‘long-distance cultural specialists’ (Harris 2006) – understood in this context as artists, writers, anthropologists and intellectuals, whose works have the distinctive feature of bridging or traversing different worlds. These members of the Asian diasporas, subaltern intellectuals and transnational cultural workers use their artistic and intellectual mobility to represent their ‘native culture’ in the ‘host culture’ or elsewhere. Hence a critique on authenticity, indigeneity, hybridity and inter-cultural influence and borrowing – all of which inevitably leads to questions on power and agency – can benefit from a dialogue between theories in art history, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, and anthropology.

Effectively a globalised examination of localized cultural ‘Asia’, this conference is an
interdisciplinary dialogue along the following themes: 1) ‘Locations of cultures’; 2) Identity and images; 3) Representation of culture as translation and 4) Hybridity and agency. It seeks to develop an analytical apparatus to capture the complex positioning of ‘cultural translators’ and ‘cultural products’ across borders. As such, this conference will shed fresh light on the diverse, polyphonic cultural productions of ‘Asia’ against the backdrop of shifting power dynamics between ‘east’ and ‘west’, ‘north’ and ‘south’ in a transnational era.

Invited speakers
Dr Clare Harris, University of Oxford, will not, regrettably, be able to be with us for this conference but her paper will be presented on her behalf.
Professor Chihiro Minato, Tama Art University
Professor John Clark, University of Sydney
Dr. Morgan Perkins, State University of New York College at Potsdam
Dr Jan Mrazek, National University of Singapore

The Exhibition - Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia
Exhibtion flyer (PDF 416Kb)
Exhibition invitation (PDF)
The ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra, Australia
6 April-1 May 2010; Official opening: 13 April 2010