The Second Trans-Southeast Asia Trennial #2
Bali Island: Art and the World beyond the Rainforest
Exhibition Dates
March 20 – May 8, 2026
Venue
3rd Floor Galleries,
GAFA Art Museum
(University Town Campus)
09:00 – 17:30, March 21, Opening Ceremony
15:00, March 20, 2026
Special Presentation
Indonesian Dance Performance
Forum
Global Perspectives:
Imagining and Representing Southeast Asia in Art
Time
09:00 – 17:30, March 21, 2026
Venue
A Cube,
GAFA Art Museum
(University Town Campus)
*Attendance: Open to the public;
researchers and art enthusiasts are cordially invited.
02
In conjunction with the exhibition "Bali: Art and the World Beyond the Rainforest," GAFA Art Museum presents a parallel program dedicated to intellectual exchange. The academic symposium—Global Perspectives: Imagining and Representing Southeast Asia in Art—will convene on March 21st, the day following the exhibition opening.
Taking the exhibition as a point of departure—which juxtaposes historical "Nanyang" (literally "South Seas") practices by Mexican and Chinese artists with contemporary Southeast Asian works—this symposium seeks to place these multifaceted visual dialogues within a broader framework of global exchange. By doing so, it reflects on the fluidity of regional culture, identity, and the ongoing dialogue between the local and the global.
Through tracing these trans-regional art histories and contemporary currents, the symposium aims to deepen public understanding of Southeast Asian art and its global connections, while expanding the academic horizons and methodologies of regional art studies.
Specially Invited Academic Moderators & Roundtable Facilitators：
Professor Yi Ying (Central Academy of Fine Arts)
Professor Hu Bin (Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts)
The symposium is structured into two comprehensive sessions: the morning session examines Bali and Southeast Asia through the lens of global perception and cultural imagination; the afternoon session shifts focus to the interconnectedness between Southeast Asia, China, and the broader world, while further exploring the multifaceted exchanges within global art history.
(Guests are listed in alphabetical order by surname)
Cai Tao, Professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA), art historian and curator.
Chen Dazhe, Vice Chairman of the Jieyang Literary and Art Critics Association, scholar.
Chen Xiaoyang, Professor at GAFA, and Director of the GAFA Art Museum.
Chen Xu, PhD from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA, Beijing) and Lecturer at GAFA.
Chen Ye, PhD in Art History and Curator at the GAFA Art Museum.
Gao Pengyu, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University.
Kwok Kian Chow, Founding Director of the National Gallery Singapore and a leading scholar in Southeast Asian art studies.
Hu Bin, Dean of the School of Humanities at GAFA, Professor
Hu Chao, Research Associate Professor at the Center for New Museum Studies, GAFA, and co-curator of this exhibition.
Ines Katamso, Participating Indonesian artist based in Bali.
Koh Nguang How, founding member of the avant-garde group "The Artists Village (TAV)" and a participating artist in this exhibition.
Lee Khai, Chairman of the Penang State Art Gallery and Advisor to the Penang Art District, Malaysia.
Lim Cheng Tju, Singapore editor of the International Journal of Comic Art, co-curator of this exhibition.
Liu Peishu, PhD candidate at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Her research focuses on contemporary art and exhibition criticism.
See Yee Wah, Daughter of the pioneer Singaporean artist See Cheen Tee.
Tan Kwank Liang, Singaporean artist.
Wang Ai, Deputy Director of the GAFA Art Museum.
Wang Huangsheng, Director of the Center for New Museum Studies and Professor, GAFA.
Yi Ying, Professor at CAFA, Beijing; preeminent art historian and critic.
Yang Xiaohong, Founder of Yangjia Yuan Art Collection
Zheng Lin，Founder of Tang Contemporary Art.
Opening Remarks & Introduction（9:00-9:30）
Theme I: Southeast Asia Art and Images in the World（9:30-12:00）
Speakers and Presentation Topics:
1.Kwok Kian Chow, New Thoughts on the 1952 Bali Trip
2.Koh Nguang How, The Early Years of Performance Art in SEA
3.Lim Cheng Tju, SEA Comic and Woodprint in 1930s-50s
4.Cai Tao, Fu Luo Fei on Bali Island: Thoughts on and off the Exhibition
5.Chen Xiaoyang, Folded Tropics: Notes from a Javanese Fieldwork
6.Tan Kwank Liang, Encountering Papua New Guinea
7.Yang Xiaohong, Teochew Artists and Nanyang
Artist Conversation：
Ines Katamso & Lim Cheng Tju
Roundtable Discussion
Moderator：Yi Ying
Theme II: China, Southeast Asia and the Global South: Artistic Exchanges（13:30-17:30）
Moderator：Hu Chao
Speakers and Presentation Topics:
1.See Yee Wah, Artworks of See Cheen Tee and His Time
2.Gao Pengyu, Miguel Covarrubias, Zhang Guangyu and China
3.Chen Xu, Frontier Perspectives: Liang Baibo’s Sketches
4.Wang Ai, Enlightenment and Detour: Chen Wen Hsi
5.Chen Ye, Transformation of Guangdong Ink Painting
6.Lee Khai, Penang as the Road Crossing
7.Liu Peishu, Fluid Identity: Image of Global South
8.Zheng Lin, Promoting SEA Art: Experiences of Tang Center
Q&A Session
Roundtable Discussion
Moderator：Hu Bin
Note: Please be advised that the final schedule and list of speakers are subject to change
based on actual on-site arrangements.
