Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

Kwok Kian Chow Collecting and Exhibiting Asian Art at the Singapore Art Museum Let us begin our discussion with the museum arch itecture which is the fi rst frame of the exh ibition . I n t he 1 960s and 1 970s, there were many new art museums established in which architecture represented so-called 'zero-degree presentation '. The galleries were supposed to be white boxes in order that the art works could take supremacy. The fi rst frame of an art exhibition, i .e . , the museum building, was designed to be as transparent as possible. Within the museum building, space was supposed to be non-hierarchical, and the sense of enclosu re minimised . Zero-degree presentation cou ld have influenced some interior design of art galleries i n South-East Asia, but I am not able t o think o f an example o f an art museum building designed with the curatorial concept of zero-degree presentation in mind. In the era of the 1 960s/1 970s, the Cultural Centre of The Philippines in Manila was probably the most outstand i ng manifestation of architectural design symbolising cultural vibrancy. Rich in symbolism , the Cultural Centre of The Philippines was very different from the zero-degree concept. In fact, what was really i nteresting in South-East Asia in the development of national art gallery spaces was the restoration and adaptation of buildings which were originally built for other pu rposes, from schools to hotels. To me, this pattern is a vivid reminder of the beginn ings and development of art exh ibition in South-East Asia. This development may be characterised as having a general lack of central planning in arts programming , resulting in various make-shift or short term a rrangements for galleries supported by pockets of artists, collectors, small segments of colonial and post-colonial administration , and often with the involvement of foreigners with personal overseas links to art, art education , and market networks. I n the 1 980s and 1 990s, the post-modern period of museology, art exhibition programming has tended to be locked i nto a new curatorial opacity, reflecting the post-modern understanding that nothing escapes from the labyrinths of representation. Architecture of art museums has once again become a conscious i mprint of concepts, aesthetics and pol itics. There is also a renewed i nterest in constructing history, accompanied by interest in expand i ng the scope of art in terms of cultu ral and geographical zones, disciplinarity, material and materiality, and a udience. In the absence of self critical exhibition programming , such as in the debate on the nature and degree of presentation , exhibiting South-East Asian art has been driven by a mix of international exhi bition practice , deg rees of governmental support at different points in time, market stimulation, commercia l interest, corporate public relations and efforts of i ndividuals. The new generation art museums in South-East Asia - the Singapore Art Museum, the forthcoming National Art Gallery of Malaysia, the National Art Gallery of I ndonesia and the Bangkok Art Gallery - are in a way post-modern museums. Art museum development in South-East Asia , however, did not go through the trajectory of the zero-representation period . The context for the South-East Asian museums is the specific i ntersection of post-colonial cultural programming, circumstances of building use planning i n the context of urban redevelopment, and the various engagements with international artistic networks at a broad , such as national, level . The exh ibition o f South-East Asian art i s now poised t o attract an unprecedented broad­ based reception . The architecture of these new art museums echoes the specific development of art from instances of private, market and foreign interests, to a movement toward municipal or national level cultural programmi ng . The first frame of art exhibition, the architecture , is anything but transparent. This is a necessary channel to introduce modern and contemporary art. 92