In Our Best Interests: Afro-Southeast Asian Affinities during a Cold War presents contemporary art works and archival material that nuance Afro-Asian legacies that grew out of the Cold War. Focusing on Southeast Asia as a geopoetic imagination alongside a global post-WWII anti-colonial resistance to racism, the exhibition traces a historical line between early regional imaginations such as Maphilindo to contemporary appropriations of Afro-Asian histories, such as China’s development of cultural infrastructure in Senegal.

In parallel with a series of webinars that map out the histories of Afro-Southeast Asia affinities, In Our Best Interests questions what a global solidarity can mean, thus, bringing into relief the geopolitical stakes of working for ‘our’ best interests in a failed “post-racial” contemporary and in the face of the global pandemic, COVID-19.

Curated by Kathleen Ditzig and Carlos Quijon Jr.
With artworks by Fyerool Darma (Singapore), Bani Haykal (Singapore), Ariko Ikehara (Okinawa), Eisa Jocson (Philippines), Vuth Lyno (Cambodia), Simon Soon (Malaysia) and Munriah Mansoor (Singapore), Ming Wong (Singapore), Yee I-Lann (Kota Kinabalu). 

This exhibition at NTU ADM is part of a research project that has been developed in partnership with KONNECT ASEAN. 

Image courtesy of Kathleen Ditzig.