Collectors discuss intentional collecting, and how they address specific themes, issues, advocacy and education through building a publicly visible art foundation or collection.

Moderated by Aaron Cezar, Founding Director of the Delfina Foundation, London, and creator of the programme ‘Collecting as Practice’, which explores the philosophy, psychology and politics of collecting, through exhibitions and a London-based collectors’ residency.

ART SG x UBS Discussion Series is a series of quarterly talks and discussion panels on critical and thought-provoking current issues within the Southeast Asian and global contemporary art scene, presented by ART SG and Founding and Lead Partner, UBS. The launch edition of ART SG takes place between 12 – 15 January 2023 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, featuring an exceptional line up of leading galleries from around the world.

This talk is streaming live on SAW Digital, please register for a free ticket here.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Nadia Samdani is the Co-Founder and President of the Samdani Art Foundation and Director of Dhaka Art Summit (DAS). In 2011, with her husband Rajeeb Samdani, she established the Samdani Art Foundation to support the work of Bangladesh and South Asia’s contemporary artists and architects and increase their exposure. She is a member of Tate’s South Asia Acquisitions Committee, Tate’s International Council, Art Dubai’s Advisory Council and Alserkal Avenue’s Programming Committee, and is one of the founding members of The Harvard University Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute’s Arts Advisory Council. In 2017, with her husband Rajeeb, she was the first South Asian arts patron to receive the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award.

Works from the Samdanis’ collection have been lent to institutions and festivals including: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2019); Para Site, Hong Kong (2018); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2018); documenta 14, Kassel and Athens, (2017); Shanghai Biennale (2017); Office for Contemporary Art Norway, Olso (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2015); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein, Düsseldorf (2015); Gwangju Biennale (2014); and Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014).

Patrick Sun is a prolific patron and collector of modern and contemporary Asian art, and founder of the SUNPRIDE FOUNDATION, which aims to foster a stronger, healthier, and more equitable world for the LGBT+ community in Asia through the display of art. In 2017, the Sunpride Foundation co-hosted the first ever large scale museum survey of LGBT+ themes in Asian art-making, 'Spectrosynthesis — Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now', with Taipei's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). In 2019, the foundation staged a second exhibition in the series, titled 'Spectrosynthesis II — Exposure of Tolerance: LGBTQ in Southeast Asia' at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC).

ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Aaron Cezar is the Founding Director of Delfina Foundation, where he develops and oversees its interrelated programme of residencies, exhibitions and public platforms. Over the last seven years, he has positioned the Delfina Foundation as a meeting point and incubator of creative talent, forming partnerships with leading institutions internationally. Aaron sits on numerous boards, committees and advisory groups of organizations such as Art Jameel, the Asymmetry Art Foundation, Kunsthalle Praha among many others. He has curated external exhibitions, performances and programmes at Hayward Gallery Project Space, SongEun Artspace, ArtBo, and Art Dubai, to name a few. As part of the official public programme of the 58th Venice Art Biennale, he conceived the opening week and final weekend performances with Ralph Rugoff.

Co-presented with ART SG x UBS