New connections in new media

For almost 10 years, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) has been a catalyst and facilitator in the field of new media arts, primarily through its exchange programmes for young artists, such as some of the Asia-Europe Art Camps and its policy dialogues. ASEF is ideally placed to facilitate intercultural dialogue in new media arts and practice by bringing together practitioners from Asia and Europe.

A turning point in the development of the new media programme was the Mini Summit on New Media Art Policy & Practice held in Singapore (2008), which gathered 54 artists, researchers and policy makers from 26 ASEM countries to evaluate ASEF activities in new media during the period from 2003 to 2008.

During this dynamic Mini Summit, participants considered how artist exchanges relate to governmental policies on new media practices. The Summit developed an overview of the key issues affecting new media arts practice and created policy recommendations.

Participant Muid Latif from Malaysia noted that “This summit helped to create more understanding between different practices of our profession and industry and what we can do to help others, especially to give alternative solutions to help the new generation for a better future”.

Following the recommendations of the Mini Summit, ASEF launched the Asia-Europe Cultural Partnership Initiatives (AECPI): New Media in 2009. Through AECPI projects, ASEF aimed to support capacity-building and enable collaborations between individuals and organisations working in the field of new media in order to bring about more opportunities for networking, understanding and cooperation between Asia and Europe.

The projects were selected through an open call and were voted on by a panel of experts which included new media experts from Asia and Europe; Gunalan Nadarajan, Juha Huuskonen, Monic Narula and Rob van Kranenburg. ASEF called for initiatives such as conferences, workshops, residencies and research happenings.

As a result of the call and selection process, ASEF selected 3 projects to support in 2010:

Expert Meeting on New Media Workers across Asia and Europe in Shanghai, China

Expert Meeting on New Media, Civil society and Environmental Sustainability in Bandung, Indonesia

M.A.P. Mobile Artistic Platform project in South India

These projects connected 40 experts from across 14 countries in Asia and Europe and resulted in in-depth exchanges that contributed to contemporary debate in the new media sector.

For these projects, ASEF worked with five key organisations:

Academy of Fine Arts Saar (Germany)

Institute for Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo (China/UK)

Common Room Networks Foundation (Indonesia)

Reloading Images/NewYorkRioTokyo (Germany)

Maraa Media Collective (India)

ASEF will continue collaborating with new media artists and practitioners to build on this rich and diverse history. Upcoming opportunities will include ASEF’s 2011 edition of the AECPI projects, which will be organised in special collaboration with Arts Network Asia (ANA).