Research-based art practices in Southeast Asia: The artist as producer of knowledge

Since the 2000s, more and more artists in Southeast Asia are engaged in research processes inspired by social sciences, working as historians, archivists, archaeologists or sociologists, yet applying freely the methodologies of work of these disciplines. The outcome of the artists’ research is exhibited as an artwork and not presented in a written and academic format. Still, these artistic “incursions” into academic fields are challenging the established system of knowledge production, in particular the modes of knowledge production dominated by Western academic and scientific discourses inherited by the colonial past, as well as the local established knowledge modelled on authoritative discourses. Research appears thus as a new strategy to convey legitimacy and value to counter-narratives on social, cultural, historical and political issues, while bringing forth new creative possibilities and innovative epistemological languages.

Drawing from extensive fieldwork, I seek to analyze this creative entanglement of academic and artistic research in Southeast Asia, in particular in Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam, and to examine its epistemological significance as a potential new mode of knowledge production. Given the specific context of the region, this thesis aims at highlighting the emancipatory dimension of research-based art practices and the role of research as a strategic agent of creativity and liberation.