ARTERI (www.arterimalaysia.com) is a blogging initiative on contemporary art and culture in Malaysia and South East Asia. It was set up in February 2009 by artist Sharon Chin and curator Simon Soon, who now manage the site along with Eva McGovern, also a curator.
The site is updated weekly with exhibition listings, news, features, reviews and profiles on the local and regional art scene. In addition to our own writing, our content is driven by contributions from a diverse range of individuals with interest in the arts. All approaches are welcomed, regardless of geography, language and ideology. This ensures that we remain an open, inclusive platform, committed to the idea that art can be accessible and enjoyed by all.
ARTERI is read by curators, artists, gallerists, dealers, collectors, critics, students, as well as art enthusiasts. On average, we receive 10,000 unique visitors a month and growing!
In addition to building an online community, ARTERI also develops audiences by organizing events in real-time. Projects include talks, exhibitions and workshops. Similar to our online efforts, we focus on accessible and creative approaches to persuade people to engage with art and ideas.
Why ARTERI?
The past few years has seen a marked increase in art spaces and events in Southeast Asia– in the visual arts alone, there is an average of 2 – 3 exhibition openings a week. However, this has not been accompanied by the capacity to make information and discourse about art readily accessible to a wider audience. Art practitioners continue to bemoan the lack of qualified art writers in both mainstream and alternative media.
In essence, there are two pressing concerns that ARTERI hopes to address. The first is building dialogue and encouraging exchange between diverse communities within the art scene itself, which is lacking due to differences in language, education and other background factors. The second is to make art approachable and accessible to a wider audience. Both these issues must be tackled together, because the idea of an art community encompasses audiences as well as artists. Without a bigger, more aware and engaged audience, we cannot hope to grow artistically. At the same time, lack of discourse within the art scene dulls its vibrancy and fails to attract audiences.
We seek a new way forward by suggesting that art practitioners need not rely solely on dedicated writers to create discourse and disseminate information about our activities. With available technology and the rise of new web platforms like Youtube, blogs and social network sites, these functions can and should be taken up by practitioners themselves.
With this in mind, ARTERI welcomes and actively pursues multi-lingual contributions from anyone who wishes to write or create content about art and culture. Beyond basic quality control in terms of grammar and facts, we maintain a non-hierarchical approach to what is published on the site. Audiences are able to engage with the ideas presented by leaving their comments, and become part of the discourse instead of remaining passive observers. What results is a ‘live’, organic mass of information that captures the cultural and social pulse. Importantly, this information becomes part of a growing archive that visitors can search and use as a resource on contemporary art.
We believe that a varied agenda will reward us with a more sophisticated understanding of contemporary art and thought in the region.
Email: arteri DOT malaysia AT gmail DOT com
SUPPORT US: Click here to find out how!
Contributing Editors:
Bilqis Hijjas
Kelvin Chuah
Nazim Esa
Zedeck Siew
Suraya Warden
Wong Hoy Cheong
Yin Shao Loong
Managing Editors:
Sharon Chin
Eva McGovern
Simon Soon
Special Thanks: Johnny McGeorge (www.jayemmcee.com) for giving us an identity and the name ‘ARTERI’.
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