De-imperialising Histories and Blazing Forms | Conversations on Art from Global Asias

The inaugural gathering,  “Possible Histories and Blazing Forms” took place in 2024, and focussed on the writing of (art) histories in, of, and through Africa and the African diaspora. The term “blazing forms” comes from Margaret Danner’s poem “The Convert” (1960), which reflects upon the blazing power of art and material culture objects from Africa to prompt an understanding of the many worlds made by and inhabited by people from Africa and the diaspora over time and space. Building on this foundation, our upcoming conference, tentatively titled “De-imperial Histories and Blazing Forms,” seeks to extend Danner’s concept to rethink the writing of (art) histories in, of, and through Global Asias.

The Asia Forum for the Contemporary Art of Global Asias is a new platform envisioned for discourse surrounding experimental art practices and research that produce hopeful new worlds beyond the North Atlantic. 

Conceived by Annie Jael Kwan, the Asia Forum works with a council of international curators and researchers, Hammad Nasar, John Tain, and Ming Tiampo, in a sustained dialogue with contributors to navigate the key themes that have arisen in relation to contemporary artistic practices of Global Asias.

• Sopheap Pich 

•  John Tain

• Winnie Wong

• Yuko Kikuchi

• Hira Nabi

•  Ming Tiampo

• Hammad Nasar

• Yoshiko Shimada

• Eunsong Kim 

• Beatrice Glow 

• Yazan Khalili 

• Vera Mey

• Sara Sejin Chang

• Without Shape Without Form (Deep Kailey, Nep Singh Sidhu)

• Annie Jael Kwan