Aung Myat Htay
AUNG Myat Htay, Artist/Independent Curator/Educator, was born in Mandalay, Myanmar, currently based in Yangon. He started in art education at the State school of Fine Art, Mandalay in 1991 and graduated BFA at the University of Art and culture, Yangon in 1998, where he worked as a lecturer till 2002. He explores the potential in freedom of expression found in contemporary art. He learnt Contemporary Art in US, Japan and other countries through artist residencies. He is also known as a writer/curator in Myanmar’s art community since 2005 in addition to his involvement within Myanmar. He has presented work in several regions of Asia including Thailand, India, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. He joined Fukuoka Asian Art Museum’s residency program in 2010, Live Art Festival 2011 in Bangalore, India. Koganecho Bazaar International art festival 2012 in Yokohama, Japan, one of a Southeast Asia
20 Finalist award of Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2013. He received a grant award of ACC (Asian Cultural Council) for New York Residency program to research and meet the curators and create new work in the US. He was a curator of the public art section of the “2017 My Yangon My Home” Art and Heritage Festival. He participated the curator workshop 2016 organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Center. In 2019, he participated in the “Serendipity Arts Festival” in Goa, India. In 2023 He participated in Osaka Kansai International Art Festival and recently participated the Zomia in the Cloud exhibition as a pavilion of Thailand Biennale 2023. He curated and published four volumes of “The Documentation of Myanmar contemporary Art” (Formerly known as DVD Magazine), a research-based presentation on Contemporary Myanmar art. Now live and work in Yangon, Myanmar.
20 Finalist award of Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2013. He received a grant award of ACC (Asian Cultural Council) for New York Residency program to research and meet the curators and create new work in the US. He was a curator of the public art section of the “2017 My Yangon My Home” Art and Heritage Festival. He participated the curator workshop 2016 organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Center. In 2019, he participated in the “Serendipity Arts Festival” in Goa, India. In 2023 He participated in Osaka Kansai International Art Festival and recently participated the Zomia in the Cloud exhibition as a pavilion of Thailand Biennale 2023. He curated and published four volumes of “The Documentation of Myanmar contemporary Art” (Formerly known as DVD Magazine), a research-based presentation on Contemporary Myanmar art. Now live and work in Yangon, Myanmar.
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As you know, the political situation surrounding Myanmar is difficult. In this circumstance, what can “arts” do for the future? What can arts do towards assemble potential communities and our future ‘lives’? In this respect, I see ‘arts’ as the ars/techne of restoring the ancient layer of the human mind to a view of “life”. As you may have noticed, there seems to be a limit to a logos worldview alone. The logos world- view has led us to an anthropocentric world, which is causing various contemporary world issues now. In response to this, I believe that the expressions and dialogues of Myanmar contemporary artists touch and awaken our ancient layers of the human mind that we have forgotten. In this sense, the target of this project is to create a place where we can grasp something in our mind, which is old, yet new after the modern world.
Let’s embark on a journey to recover the ancient layers of human’s ‘mind’.
….
(From the Foreword of Aura)
In this workshop, a lecture on Art Curation, followed by discussion will enable participants to focus on useful case studies; three major current exhibitions that illustrate different approaches to curation.
This workshop is intended to strengthen local curating practice. Participants, who will be carefully selected for this workshop will have the opportunity to write about their future exhibition and curation ideas. These texts will be disseminated in a publication.
New Normal has now a different meaning in the context of the current situations. We need maintaining in stabilities as a balance of life and it has become more vital issues in the contemporary world. The project is focused on the reflections of Art and the eco-system and it is a response to technology that infiltrates our daily life. The project will redefine the connection of digital culture and human life in the nature surrounding us, and to know “how we should be reliable in this media & technology era after 2020 pandemic. In Myanmar, media art is still rare, being a narrow field that is a lack of experimental practices in art, but some of creative motivations of everyday global phenomena effectively stimulates to new generation’s interests with these experiments such as using videos or sounds to create art. The technology gives the easy accessible information to us and so, we are familiar in social media. At present, the resources of environments provide the utmost insight into the knowledge required for creative living and its possibilities.
Especially we focus on:
• The communication of ideas that inform and drive artistic thinking and practice, using a careful and relevant selection of artists who use challenging and engaging materials, techniques and concepts to drive their output.
• A focus on female artists and cross disciplinary practice will be foremost. The debate and discussion of these ideas and concepts in relation to the development of the participants practitioners’ own practices.
Concept of the project
One of the purposes of art has been and remains in the 21C, the challenge to dogma and restrictive thinking. Vitally, this project aims to support dialogue, debate and the ways that Myanmar artists can construct and communicate their practices in challenging conditions. A key part of this is access to other global practices, and the building and nurturing of their networks. The memories we went through these years are hard to save and survive under the pandemics and coup at the same time, while we are dealing with global issues such as humanity, climate -change, refugees and so on. The moments of all art forms, in the shapes of rebellion and powerful responses using different mediums. The moment encourages a revolution and the social changes, until that happens is endurance a way of resistance?
Sincerely,
Organizer
SOCA Art Project Myanmar
The DVD not only presents works of art, but also statements by their involving and understanding on the world of arts and culture. As the statement, contemporary art mirrors contemporary culture and society, offering art students and general people to consider current ideas and re-link to the world. Most of contemporary artists’ works is a new combination of methods, materials, subject and their concepts that in varied presentation. Artists give challenges to traditional boundaries with changing cultural identity, values and new aesthetic of arts.
All of 20 participant artists in this program DVD Magazine will be interpreting their works of arts with open-ended methodology and inquiry based approach on the various subject. That may provoke strong responses, or even contradict personal belief or social values. All outcome of dialogue are important things for engaging with the works of today contemporary art.
AUNG MYAT HTAY
Artist/ Independent Curator
Exploring Contemporary Media and Multidisciplinary Art in Myanmar
Purpose of the Project:
The purpose of this project is to response to the current crisis of ecosystem and political changes through on pandemic crisis by compare or combine of each of artist’s expressions and interpretations, also to documents on local art reflections on this time.
Concept description:
Breathing is the concept of deconstruction and reconstruction inside our body, as like revolves around death and resurrection called “Phyit chin & Pyiat chin” in Burmese truth. It's the same function with scientific reveled of cell growth in living things.
Breathing is a fundamental phenomenal of human exist, which is careful examination in the searching of Buddhist philosophy. Inhaling and exhaling can change the shape of the body physically and same into balancing our metaphorical desires.
Gilles Deleuze’s, Explaining Spinoza: in his practical Philosophy, guided us to know relation of body and mind, he use of the body as a model for philosophers, Deleuze writes that, "When a body 'encounters' another body, or an idea another idea, it happens that the two relations sometimes combine to form a more powerful whole, and sometimes one decomposes the other, destroying the cohesion of its parts. we experience joy when a body encounters ours and enters into composition with it, and sadness when, on the contrary, a body or an idea threatens our own coherence”.
In similar way, our body is almost the same with processes of ever-changing earth's ecosystem. Changes of global environment deteriorate lands mapping surfaces due to such human flows of migration, discrimination and racism in which becomes more paradoxical. At that time our struggle, desire and survives stressfully arises many questions as how to understand these CHAOS processes.
This project “Abstraction of Breathing” based on this phenomena and recognition of human mind parallel between these functions. Intentionally there is a meaning of Abstraction is based on the Latin original “ to drag away” than we known ever as emotion or imagine. This is exactly we aimed to find our-self on this geo-political mapping and bound into one form of visual interpretations by the artists. Specifically, this is also the witnessing of artists responses to the new normal life.
Co-curated by Aung Myat Htay and Yuto Yabumoto
1st Dec 2020
This video interviewing with artists and curators to telling about how to expand the scope of local art after 2015. The experimental art and new ideas are now rising and more emerging among young artists.
Supported by AURA Mekong Art Project and organized by SOCA, we will examine the various voices and to record the feature most important works and ideas of present time in the multidisciplinary scene, through this different generations.
Papers by Aung Myat Htay
…
As you know, the political situation surrounding Myanmar is difficult. In this circumstance, what can “arts” do for the future? What can arts do towards assemble potential communities and our future ‘lives’? In this respect, I see ‘arts’ as the ars/techne of restoring the ancient layer of the human mind to a view of “life”. As you may have noticed, there seems to be a limit to a logos worldview alone. The logos world- view has led us to an anthropocentric world, which is causing various contemporary world issues now. In response to this, I believe that the expressions and dialogues of Myanmar contemporary artists touch and awaken our ancient layers of the human mind that we have forgotten. In this sense, the target of this project is to create a place where we can grasp something in our mind, which is old, yet new after the modern world.
Let’s embark on a journey to recover the ancient layers of human’s ‘mind’.
….
(From the Foreword of Aura)
In this workshop, a lecture on Art Curation, followed by discussion will enable participants to focus on useful case studies; three major current exhibitions that illustrate different approaches to curation.
This workshop is intended to strengthen local curating practice. Participants, who will be carefully selected for this workshop will have the opportunity to write about their future exhibition and curation ideas. These texts will be disseminated in a publication.
New Normal has now a different meaning in the context of the current situations. We need maintaining in stabilities as a balance of life and it has become more vital issues in the contemporary world. The project is focused on the reflections of Art and the eco-system and it is a response to technology that infiltrates our daily life. The project will redefine the connection of digital culture and human life in the nature surrounding us, and to know “how we should be reliable in this media & technology era after 2020 pandemic. In Myanmar, media art is still rare, being a narrow field that is a lack of experimental practices in art, but some of creative motivations of everyday global phenomena effectively stimulates to new generation’s interests with these experiments such as using videos or sounds to create art. The technology gives the easy accessible information to us and so, we are familiar in social media. At present, the resources of environments provide the utmost insight into the knowledge required for creative living and its possibilities.
Especially we focus on:
• The communication of ideas that inform and drive artistic thinking and practice, using a careful and relevant selection of artists who use challenging and engaging materials, techniques and concepts to drive their output.
• A focus on female artists and cross disciplinary practice will be foremost. The debate and discussion of these ideas and concepts in relation to the development of the participants practitioners’ own practices.
Concept of the project
One of the purposes of art has been and remains in the 21C, the challenge to dogma and restrictive thinking. Vitally, this project aims to support dialogue, debate and the ways that Myanmar artists can construct and communicate their practices in challenging conditions. A key part of this is access to other global practices, and the building and nurturing of their networks. The memories we went through these years are hard to save and survive under the pandemics and coup at the same time, while we are dealing with global issues such as humanity, climate -change, refugees and so on. The moments of all art forms, in the shapes of rebellion and powerful responses using different mediums. The moment encourages a revolution and the social changes, until that happens is endurance a way of resistance?
Sincerely,
Organizer
SOCA Art Project Myanmar
The DVD not only presents works of art, but also statements by their involving and understanding on the world of arts and culture. As the statement, contemporary art mirrors contemporary culture and society, offering art students and general people to consider current ideas and re-link to the world. Most of contemporary artists’ works is a new combination of methods, materials, subject and their concepts that in varied presentation. Artists give challenges to traditional boundaries with changing cultural identity, values and new aesthetic of arts.
All of 20 participant artists in this program DVD Magazine will be interpreting their works of arts with open-ended methodology and inquiry based approach on the various subject. That may provoke strong responses, or even contradict personal belief or social values. All outcome of dialogue are important things for engaging with the works of today contemporary art.
AUNG MYAT HTAY
Artist/ Independent Curator
Exploring Contemporary Media and Multidisciplinary Art in Myanmar
Purpose of the Project:
The purpose of this project is to response to the current crisis of ecosystem and political changes through on pandemic crisis by compare or combine of each of artist’s expressions and interpretations, also to documents on local art reflections on this time.
Concept description:
Breathing is the concept of deconstruction and reconstruction inside our body, as like revolves around death and resurrection called “Phyit chin & Pyiat chin” in Burmese truth. It's the same function with scientific reveled of cell growth in living things.
Breathing is a fundamental phenomenal of human exist, which is careful examination in the searching of Buddhist philosophy. Inhaling and exhaling can change the shape of the body physically and same into balancing our metaphorical desires.
Gilles Deleuze’s, Explaining Spinoza: in his practical Philosophy, guided us to know relation of body and mind, he use of the body as a model for philosophers, Deleuze writes that, "When a body 'encounters' another body, or an idea another idea, it happens that the two relations sometimes combine to form a more powerful whole, and sometimes one decomposes the other, destroying the cohesion of its parts. we experience joy when a body encounters ours and enters into composition with it, and sadness when, on the contrary, a body or an idea threatens our own coherence”.
In similar way, our body is almost the same with processes of ever-changing earth's ecosystem. Changes of global environment deteriorate lands mapping surfaces due to such human flows of migration, discrimination and racism in which becomes more paradoxical. At that time our struggle, desire and survives stressfully arises many questions as how to understand these CHAOS processes.
This project “Abstraction of Breathing” based on this phenomena and recognition of human mind parallel between these functions. Intentionally there is a meaning of Abstraction is based on the Latin original “ to drag away” than we known ever as emotion or imagine. This is exactly we aimed to find our-self on this geo-political mapping and bound into one form of visual interpretations by the artists. Specifically, this is also the witnessing of artists responses to the new normal life.
Co-curated by Aung Myat Htay and Yuto Yabumoto
1st Dec 2020
This video interviewing with artists and curators to telling about how to expand the scope of local art after 2015. The experimental art and new ideas are now rising and more emerging among young artists.
Supported by AURA Mekong Art Project and organized by SOCA, we will examine the various voices and to record the feature most important works and ideas of present time in the multidisciplinary scene, through this different generations.
…