Remembering the Present

The opening discussion outlines social and political problems in Southeast Asia: how is artistic production moulded by the confrontation with poverty, oppression and abuse, along with the conflicting interests among different generations, the state, and religion? In this context, “Remembering the present” refers to critical reflection on social reality from the perspective of an opposing individual perspective.

Keynote speaker: Goaenawan Susatyo Mohamad (Indonesia)

Born in 1941, the writer and journalist is one of the foremost intellectuals in Indonesia. In 1971 he founded the news magazine Tempo, which was banned for a time during the Suharto era.

Nuraini Juliastuti (Indonesia)

As an expert in cultural studies, Juliastuti works as a reporter, journalist and correspondent. Her work focuses on a wide range of topics including media, youth culture, gender studies and art criticism. She has translated Rosa Luxemburg and Simone de Beauvoir into Indonesian.

Sotheary Meysan (Cambodia)

Already interested in writing in her youth, the writer and journalist works for TV, radio and newspapers. Most recently she became director of the newsroom at the Woman’s Media Centre of Cambodia.

Marianne Villanueva (Philippines/US)

Villanueva works as a writer and teacher in higher education. She has written poems and short stories, and was nominated for the O. Henry Prize for her short story “Silence” in 1999. Villanueva is co-editor of the anthology of Filipino women writers "Going Home to a Landscape" (2003).

Moderator: Ulrike Kremeier

The curator and art historian directed the communications programme of documenta X and was a professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig until 2004. In 1995 she founded the project space plattform berlin, which she currently directs.

Within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Weeks, which are supported by the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin (DKLB).