Mekong Cultural Hub


FROM CONNECTION TO COLLABORATION
October 20th – 29th, 2022

Meeting Point is a place where people working with arts and society in Asia can find each other to discover new friends, exchange ideas and experiences and leave with fresh inspiration to take your work forward. The content and format of the sessions is developed by artists and other practitioners, who work together over several months on the journey towards the Meeting Point. Because of this structure, Meeting Point takes place every 18 months. The last Meeting Point took place from October 20th – 29th, 2022. The next Meeting Point will take place in March 2024.

The theme for the 2022 Meeting Point was “From Connection to Collaboration”. Through a series of online and in-person programs taking place over ten days, 85+ art and culture practitioners and 29 organisations and collectives from 15 countries came together and discussed the following questions: As the community of socially-engaged arts practitioners around Asia is growing, why does it matter that we  connect? Are we equipped to connect and to collaborate effectively? If we want to work collaboratively, what are the foundations that need to be put in place and what kinds of attitudes do we need to nurture, what kind of structures do we need to unlearn? What are the forces driving us to collaborate?


Programs

Opening

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Co-hosted by MCH and TAEF (Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation)

TIMELINE (UTC +7)

13:00: Welcome remarks (30 mins)
13:30: Echoes from the Stars (45 mins)
14:30: Lost in TranslationPart 1, Roundtable (90 mins)
16:10: Lost in Translation: Part 2, Open discussion (50 mins)
17:00: Close

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

We are all familiar with the challenges of language in cross-cultural cooperation and collaboration. But is language the only obstacle getting in our way of understanding each other? As we start to reconnect with people after the constraints of the COVID pandemic, is there a chance to re-construct ways of collaborating? How might communication transform spaces for collaboration to be more inclusive, dynamic and mutually beneficial? 

We kicked off the 2022 Meeting Point program with a screening of My Mother’s Tongue, a film by Jean-Baptiste Phou (JB), which told the story of a mother and son who didn’t speak the same language, until something unlocked when she suddenly fell very ill. After the screening, Jean-Baptiste introduced us to his new participatory installation, Echoes from the Stars, which was created in response to audience reactions to his film. Echoes from the Stars was open for Meeting Point audiences to take part in throughout the rest of the program, with a special event on 28th October where audiences couls join the creators of the artwork Jean-Baptiste (JB) and Theerawat (Meng) to explore the installation.

Following a short break, we returned for lively panel discussion on the topic on “Lost in Translation? Intercultural Communication in Asia”. Our conversation was inspired by four panellists sharing experiences and critical reflections on collaboration from their perspectives as researchers, film makers, producers and artists from Indonesia, Laos and Taiwan respectively.  The discussion tackled the complexity of translation, interpretation and understanding in different facets of connecting and collaborating at the intersection of arts and society

In part two, the floor opened to encourage questions, insights and critique from the audience, in conversation with each other and with the panellists.

This event was co-hosted by Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF) in collaboration with MCH. While working in different ways and with different focuses on Southeast Asia, both MCH and TAEF share an aim to explore and expand the diversifying relationships and cultural exchange between Taiwan and Southeast Asia.  

NOTE

The welcome remarks, panel and Q&A was mainly in English, with simultaneous interpretation available in Mandarin and English.

My Mother’s Tongue is in French with Khmer and English subtitles. Transcripts was also available in Burmese, Laos, Thai, Vietnamese and Mandarin.  The film was available for Meeting Point audiences to view on demand from October 20th-29th.

Thank you to the MCH Fellows and team members who worked on the translation: Nwet Kaykhine (Burmese), Chanmaly Panyaphone (Laos), Narumol Thammapruksa (Thai), Pham Ut Quyen (Vietnamese), Jennifer Lee (Mandarin).

Meeting Point 2022 開幕活動 現場參與

Meeting Point 2022之開幕活動,由臺灣亞洲交流基金會與湄公河文化中心共同主辦;開幕活動採取「現場參與」和「線上參與」兩種方式,同步進行。

*若您想以蒞臨現場的方式參與開幕活動,請點選此連結報名;因現場參與名額有限,主辦單位將以電子郵件的方式通知您是否報名成功。

*若是您想以線上(ZOOM)的方式參與開幕活動,請在此活動網頁點選「SIGN UP」完成報名。

日期/時間:2022年10月20日(四),台灣時間14:00pm-18:00pm
現場參與之活動地點:台灣當代文化實驗場 共享吧(地址:台北市建國南路一段177號)
語言:活動進行以英文、中文為主(提供中文、英文的同步口譯服務
報名:請點選此連結
現場參與之相關洽詢,請聯絡:jennifer@mekongculturalhub.org

Contributors

Echoes from the Stars

Echoes from the Stars

Panellist:

Panellist:

Create & Share

Culture and art can offer us space to communicate beyond language and to experience connection in different ways. Please explore the two participatory art projects below. MCH commissioned these projects for Meeting Point because we believe the act of contributing our creative energies into a shared effort will help us to know each other better and build solidarity across our community.

Virtual Programs
Local Gatherings

Interpreting our theme of ‘From Connection to Collaboration’ in ways relevant to their local context, a network of MCH Fellows curated and delivered live programs as part of this meeting point. From October 20th – 29th, 14 organising teams from 15+ cities, gathered people to discuss topics as diverse as the environmental crisis in the Mekong Delta, solidarity for SEA diaspora artists, connecting generations through literature and drinking Ice Tea.

The event hosts were selected through an open call and each has received a small grant from MCH to enable their event coordination. The hosts connected monthly online to connect their networks and exchange perspectives.


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