Biography & selected CV of Jay Koh
E contact:
kohjay@gmail.com
Biography & selected CV of Jay Koh
E contact:
kohjay@gmail.com
The artist Jay Koh originates from Southeast Asia and since 1999 has become an EU citizen. As an artist, he takes on multifaceted roles, and has created projects, installations, videos, performances, as well as given lectures and published critical essays and publications in both Asia and Europe. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies in artistic research on collaborative and participative art practices in the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.
Jay is prolific in initiating and managing international projects, especially in intercultural work. He has initiated and established networks for artists' exchanges between Asia and Europe, including founding the network international Forum for InterMedia Art (iFIMA) in 1995, evolved from the independent space arting, which Jay set up in Cologne, Germany in 1992 and managed till 1999. iFIMA is currently registered in Singapore and mobilizes ad-hoc affiliations of artists, writers and activists in Europe and Asia for specific projects.
Jay takes on multifacetted roles in order to negotiate with social-political structures on site and conceives of appropriate actions in response to local needs and contexts. These roles include creating art works, curating and organising exhibitions, seminars, workshops and learning programmes; community capacity-building, advocacy, writing, publishing, and in recent years, mediating, mentoring, evaluating public art programmes. From 2001, Jay has been working with Malaysian artist Chu Yuan in developing models of critical engagements with publics and communities.
Additionally, Jay also lectures and writes. He has taken on short teaching assignments in MFA classes in Tempere Polytechnic, Tempere and Academy of Fine Art, Helsinki in Finland; National College of Art and Design, Dublin and Galway Media Institute of Technology, Galway, West Ireland, and conducted workshops in Singapore Art Museum, Singapore and elsewhere. His works and writings are based on the concepts of Engaged Art and Critical Art Process. His writings have been published mostly in English, as well as in Burmese, Chinese, Danish, French, Polish, and Vietnamnese.
Jay's efforts in building up a critical discourse, complemented by practice, on Engaged Art activities include his involvement in organising symposiums and conferences in Asia and Europe. In 2003, he initiated the Open Academy, an open learning and resource development programme in Rangoon, Burma, which was also initiated in 2008 in Hanoi and Hue, Vietnam in collaboration with the Dongson Today Foundation, with support from the Ford Foundation; and in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2008 as a 3 year programme with the Fine Arts Institute, Mongolian University for Arts and Culture and the local art community with support from the Prince Claus Fund.
His wide associations and experience have earned him positions as adviser to the Irish Chinese Culture and Sports Association in Dublin, O+I (Organisation and Imagination), London, formerly known as APG (Artist Placement Group), the Blue Sun Art Centre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Arthub in Hong Kong; RYLLEGA gallery in Hanoi, and 1948 art space in Kuala Lumpur and as a member of the Core Committee of the IntraAsia Network and partner to FreeDimensional.
Prior to becoming an artist, Jay studied Chemistry and Biology at the University of Cologne, and worked in a health and social interest NGO "Gesundheitsladen Koeln" in Cologne, specialising as a critic on the subject of Genetic and Reproduction Technology. He helped create a Citizen Interest Group called "BuegerInnen Beobachten Petuniaen" in Cologne (1988) which continues to be active till today.
Present Positions and Responsibilities:
Founder and Director of iFIMA - international Forum for InterMedia Art
Core member of Intra Asia Network
Advisor to Irish Chinese Culture and Sports Association, Dublin
Advisor to Blue Sun, Independent Art Centre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Advisor to Creative World, First Contemporary Art Magazine in Mongolia
Advisor to ArtHub, an Asian art regranting foundation in Hong Kong
Advisor to Open Academy, a resource-development programme of RYLLEGA, Hanoi and The Infinity Group, Hue
Advisor to 1948 art space, Seri Kembangan, Malaysia
Past Positions and Responsibilities:
Specialist Critic for Genetic and Reproduction Technology with the Der Gesundheitsladen Koeln, Cologne, Germany (1986 – 1990)
Founding Director and manager of arting, Cologne, Germany (1992 – 1999)
Founding Director and manager of NICA, Yangon - Networking & Initiatives for Culture and the Arts (2003 – 2006)
Advisor to Organisation + Imagination ( Artist Placement Group), London, UK (1999-2005)
Advisor to The League of Khmer Artists, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2000-2001)
Advisor to The Ayeyarwaddy Artists Assembly, Yangon, Myanmar (2001 -2002)
Curator of the curated section of the Textile Biennale 2009, Kuanas, Lithuania (2007)
Advisor and partner to FreeDIMENSIONAL network, on socially progressive artist hosting communities (2006 -2007)
Links
Notes on Jay Koh and Chu Yuan's Collaborative Practice
Selected Portfolio from Chu Yuan & Jay Koh, pdf doc. 2.8MB
Selected Articles written by jay koh
Teaching Experience
Visiting lecturer and artist at:
Nanyang Academy of Fine Art and Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh; KUVA - Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Department for Environmental Art, University Turku and Tempere Polytechnic Art Academy, Tempere, Finland; Fine Art Dept., University of California San Diego; NCAD and MAVIS/IADT, Dublin, GMIT, Galway in Ireland and Sunway University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Conducting and curating the Open Academy in Yangon and Mandalay; Hanoi and Hue; Ulaanbaatar
Selected Activities Categorised from 2005 - 2009
Commissioned Works and Activities in 2009
Awarded funding to carry out a cross cultural project Reading Self - Reding Others with a new community in Dublin by The Arts Council's Artist in the Community Scheme managed by CREATE-Ireland
As mediator for the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office, public art programme, “Place & Identity”
Mentor in the mentoring project programme that research on best practice for artists and community organised by Create-Ireland and Common Ground, Dublin
Conduct a 2 days workshop and mentoring activities for participants of the summer semester on collaborative art for Cittadellarte, UNIDEE- University of Idea, Bielle, Italy
Conduct a workshop as part of the the international colloquium for The Festival of Emergent Art on Practice-as-Research for the Central School for Speech and Drama, University of London
Speaking on the 2 days discussion on Public Art, GradCAM (PhD programme of NCAD, DIT, Ulster and IADT) and visiting lecturer with MAVIS/IADT in Dublin
Organise an international colloquium on Public and Participative Art: Performance in Everyday Life for the Postgraduate Prog., The Finnish Academy of Fine Art, Helsinki
Curator for the Open Academy in Ulaanbaatar funded by Prince Claus Fund, The Netherland
Contributed a video work to the International Guerrilla Video Festival held in association with Open Spaces, Dublin City Council
Commissioned Works and Activities in 2008
Ni Hao - Dia Duit cross community art project, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Evaluator and consultant for the public art and rural community project, X-PO, Kilnaboy, Co.Clare, Republic of Ireland
Independent evaluator commissioned by CREATE-IRELAND on art development activities in North Clondalkin and West Tallaght, SDCC, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Provide mentorship activities for artists working in public and community projects, commissioned by Common Ground, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Conducting open learning and resource development seminars and workshops for the art communities as part of the Open Academy programme in Hanoi and Hue, Vietnam organised by Dongson Today Foundation and supported by FORD Foundation, Asia.
Curating the 1st year of a 3 years programme of Open Academy Ulaanbaatar with the Fine Arts Institute, Mongolian University for Culture and the Arts and Blue Sun artists community in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia supported by Prince Claus Fund.
Artist and consultant in Residence with 1948 art space and participating in the art and community project "Entry Points" in Seri Kembangan, Malaysia
Presented the paper “Mindsets, Divides and Narratives” in the interdisciplinary workshop, RO-MD/Moldova in Two Scenarios organised by KSAK-Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau, Moldova with support from Association Vector, Iasi, Rumania
Commissioned Works and Activities in 2007
Selection panel of the open call section of the Textile Biennale 07, Kuanas, Lithuania with Prof.Janis Jeffries for Visual Arts, Goldsmith London and Linara Dovydaityte, Curator of Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
Symposium and Retreat of FreeDimensional in Breuninger Stiftung, Wasan Island, Toronto, Canada
Lecture in Barcelona, Pati Manning, Barcelona Provincial Council, “Mediating across Divides and in between Layers“ at the “Culture and Conflict Prevention” seminar commissioned by ARCADE (Awareness Raising on Culture and Development in Europe) and ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development)
Lecture in Wolverhampton; commissioned by CADRE (Centre for Art, Design, Research and Experimentation), School of Art & Design, University of Wolverhampton, UK to present his paper “Performances in Everyday Public: Engaged Art Practice“
Speaker in the specialist panel on “Working in Public” in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Organised by Gray’s School of Art in the Faculty of Design and Technology of the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen
Research assignment for a cultural programme of Prince Claus Fund, The Netherland
Commissioned Works and Activities in 2006
As one of 3 lead curators chosen by Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) to assist the organizers (ASEF, Goethe Institute, Jakarta and Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung) in the selection of participants and creating the programmes for the workshops of The Multi Faceted Curator in Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia, March 2006. 22 participating curators came from 37 countries in Asean+3 and the European Union. www.goethe.de/curator
Research trip and the Visiting Artist/Lecturer programme of University of California San Diego, Spring 2006 with artist groups in Los Angeles and Tijuana
Research presentation of Art activities in Asia at the Mexico: Gateway to the Americas, Mexico City organized by the National Council for Culture and the Arts of Mexico and ResArtis
Conducting the workshop Articulating the Art Encounter: Art Criticism and Writing Workshop in the Singapore Art Museum.
Research, seminars and collaboration with CityArts, Dublin, Ireland to set up research for a public art project and an intercultural project.
Research and collaboration with Arts Council of Mongolia to set up a resource development programme for art and culture in Ulaanbaatar
Presentation and documentation show "Public Moment" in Artist Forum International, 2006 in Seoul, and symposium for "Artist Mobility" in Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju.
Artist In Residency with Bizart, Shanghai, investigating the structures and projections of BizArt
Panel discussion in the Informal European Theatre Meeting, Helsinki
Lectures in NCAD, Dublin and GMIT, Galway in Ireland
Activities in 2005
Symposium "Art and Social Intervention: the Incidental Person" / “Repositioning the Artist in Society” in Tate Britain, London/ UK
Performance Studies international #11, Providence, Brown University, Rhodes Island presenting a paper "Setting up an Uncomfortable Site" within the panel, Intervention.
Symposium on "Art and Knowledge-Encounter in Intercultural art projects", Helsinki Art Museum and Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki/ Finland
Public Art project "Portraying Ourselves" commissioned by Loennstroem Art Museum, Raumar/ Finland
A Presentation about IFIMA, ARTCONCEPT, St. Petersburg, Russia
Presentation in Asian Artists' Mobility, Taiwan artist village assoc. Tainan and Taipei, Taiwan
Presentation in Res Artist#10, Sharing Cultures and Social Changes, panel "Curating Differences", House of the Cultures of the World and Ufa Fabrik Berlin International Cultural Centre, Berlin, Germany
Presentation in Living Art Museum, Reykjavik and research on Icelandic art scene hosted by CIA.is(Center for Icelandic Art), Iceland
Research trip to Dublin and take part in the Art in the City - Document 17, hosted by CityArts, Dublin, Ireland
Conducting a workshop on Dialogue in art practices within the frame work of Dialogical and Engaged Art, Bildmuseet, Umea, Sweden
Activities Categorised by Type from 1993 to 2007
Selected Artist/ Researcher in Residency
2006 Bizart, Shanghai, PRC China
2005 IASPIS, Sweden with the Umea City, Bild Museet, Gallery Verkligheten and Academy of Fine Art, Umea Univeristy
2005 Helsinki International AiR Programme, Helsinki and RAUMARS residency with commissioned public work with Lonnstrom Museum, Raumar, Finland
2001 The Substation, Singapore, Investigating Public Engaged Art, Singapore
2000 Forum
Stadtpark, Graz, Austria
Selected Group Exhibitions
2000 Translation, Displacement and Actualisation, Galerie 68elf, Cologne, Germany, international show and symposium, part of Heimat Kunst, a federal german culture programme organized by the House of Cultures of the World, Berlin and Art Council Cologne.
1999-2000 The Other
X/change, Beijing, China/ Cologne/ Germany
1997 100x videos, Bali Kino, Kassel Film and Video Society, Documenta X, Kassel/ Germany
1993 45th Venice Biennial, In Between, Turkey's contribution, Venice/ Italy
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2004 "M - Project", Lokanat Gallery, Yangon/ Myanmar
1994 "Stored thinking", Gallery arting, Cologne/ Germany
1992
"Interaction", Gallery Het Getal-0, Amsterdam/ Holland + Gallery arting,
Cologne/ Germany
Selected Performances
2001 Facet of Loves, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka/ Japan
1997 TransArt Communication: 9th International Multimedia Art Festival, Nove Zamky, & Samorin/ Slovakia Republic und in Mucsarnok Art Museum, Budapest, Hungary
1993 "perfect traveller", Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New York/ USA
Selected Videos
2000 Small movement in World Art, Beijing and Gaungzhou/China
1999 The End of Om, Lhasa/ Tibet , Yunan/China and Bangkok/Thailand
1996
The Red Sack, Minsk and Rowkowitschi/ Belarus
Selected Curated Public Art Projects
2002 City-Transformer, Danzig/ Poland
2001-2 M-Spaces: crossover or assimilation, Nokia-Singapore Art 01,
Great Hall@MilleniaWalk, Singapore
1996 ET - Exchanging Thoughts, ChiangMai Social Installation, open markets in ChaingMai, Thailand
1990-3 Genopoly, Bonn, Cologne and Dueren/ Germany
Selected Curated Symposiums/ Conferences
2005 Art and Knowledge, Helsinki Art Museum and Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
2002 Public Engaged Art, The Substation, Singapore.
Symposium and Project on COLLABORATION, NETWORKING AND RESOURCE-SHARING: MYANMAR, Ayerwaddy Art Assembly, Yangon, Myanmar.
Critiquing Critical Art, Pananaw Ng Sining Bayan, Inc., Lopez Museum, Manila, The Philippines
Selected Participation in Symposiums/ Conferences
2003 Comparative Contemporaries: symposium and workshops on contemporary practices in Southeast Asia, The Substation, Singapore
2002 Locus 1: Interventions in Art Practices, Lopez Museum, Manila, The Philippines
2002 City Transformers: Engaged Art and Architecture of the City, Gdansk, Poland
2002 International Symposium on Public Engaged Art (symposium organizer and presenter), The Substation, Singapore
2001 Seminar on Engaged Art in
Public Spaces, Lasnia Centre for Contemporary Art, Danzig, Poland
2005 Art appreciation and writings, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2005 Student assessments on independent activities, Tempere Polytechnic, Finland
2002 Creative Centre, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore
2001 Seminar on Engaged Art, Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Danzig / Poland
Selected Lectures
2001 Public Engaged Art practice, Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Danzig / Poland
2000 Symposium on Cultural x/Change, Crossing Cultures: Theories and Practices on Engaged Art, Museum of Site and Shanghai Street Artspace, Hong Kong Art Development Council, Hong Kong
1998 Littoral "Critical Sites", Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Technology, Dublin/ Ireland
1997-8 Critical
Art Practice
in ShilpaSamannaya Art Centre, Chittagong;
Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka
University and Shilpakala Academy in
collaboration with Goethe Institut, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Selected Publications
2006 Locating the Mobile Artist: from Cultural Diversities to Local Specificities in Residencies: Spaces + Artists + Managers + Communities, Berlin, UFA Fabrik,, RES ARTIS and Asia Europe Foundation. Pg.18 - 26, co-author: CHU, Chu Yuan
2005 Politics of the Self in the Negotiation of Soilidarities in
Locus: Interventions in Art Practice, Manila, a PROJECT OF Lopez Memorial Museum
and Pananaw ng Sinnig Bayan Inc, National Commission for Culture and the Arts,
Pg.188-193, co-author: CHU, Chu Yuan.
City Transformers 2002 Gdansk, Danzig,
Poland, Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk. Pg.15 -19,
co-author: CHU, Chu Yuan, Published in English and Polish
2004 Potholes and Corners: Intentions, Desires and Constraints of Cross and Intercultural Activities in Links, Platform and Networks, Publications of Asia Art Archive (AAA), Hong Kong and International Association of Art Critics Hong Kong (AIAC/HK), Hong Kong, Published in Chinese, English and later in Vietnamese in the The National Culture and Arts Magazine ( Tạp chí Văn hóa Nghệ thuật), Hanoi, 2007, NR.5. Pg 85 - 90
2002 Vasan Sitthiket, son activisme et le groupe Ukabat, Inter 81, art actuel, Quebec, Canada 2002. Published in French
Encounters in Engagement: Investigating Public Engaged Art in Singapore, Section One-Public Engaged Art, focas #4, Forum On Contemporary Art & Society, Singapore, Pg. 38 – 52, co-author: CHU, Chu Yuan. Editorial for Section One, Pg 24 - 221
2001 The Need for Opening up Structures for more Effective Engagement, focas #2, The Necessary Stage, Singapore, Pg.115 – 130, Published in English and later online in Vietnamese
2000 "58", commissioned essay for catalogue of Station to Station: Images of the World, Danish Center for Culture and Development (DCCD), Denmark, Copenhagen, Published in English and Danish
View selected texts/publications written after 2000
Selected Bibliography
2010 Southeast Asian Art edited by Nora Taylor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Grant Kester, The One and the Many: Agency and Identity in Contemporary Collaborative Art (Duke University Press)
2007 taide 2 / 07, Finnish art magazine, Jay Koh ja kuuntelemisen taide, Helsinki, 2007
2004 Grant H. Kester, Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art, University of California Press, 2004, USA
2003 Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985, edited by Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung, Blackwell Publishing 2003, New York/ USA
2000 KunstForum Bd 149, Kunst und Kapital: metaphorische Symbiose und politische Kritik, Juergen Raap, Cologne/ Germany