Mekong Cultural Hub

Organised by WhichWitch theatre collective, as part of their long-term public art project “The Legend of Nüwa in the New Century, Celebration and Reunion” is a local gathering that invites women to reconnect through shared acts of storytelling, nourishment, and embodied expression.

The gathering consists of a theatre workshop exploring experiences of care and creation, a communal meal inspired by the taste of “mother’s cooking,” and an intimate storytelling evening centered on maternal life. Framed by the symbolic figure of Nüwa, this event reflects on the everyday realities of female labor, bodily autonomy, and the quiet strength found in togetherness. It offers a gentle, grounded space to imagine new forms of connection, support, and celebration among women in contemporary life.

This gathering will be an immersive, community-centered workshop exploring the
intersections of traditional Chin textile weaving, movement, and refugee experiences. It will
serve as a space for cultural exchange, storytelling, and embodied archiving, bringing together
15-30 participants from the community.

The gathering will begin with a weaving and storytelling session leading to exchange on migration, identity, and cultural resilience, followed by a shared meal featuring traditional Chin cuisine. In the afternoon, the focus will shift to movement as a form of cultural preservation. Young people will share songs and stories, leading into a movement workshop inspired by Beyond Moving with Artisans: Rattan Weaving x Contemporary Dance. This session will explore how the body can serve as an archive for disappearing traditions.

The gathering aims to serve two main purposes. The first is to listen to and explore the nuances of arts and social change, particularly at the intersection of literature and education, by applying critical literacy approaches as tools for collecting information in gatherings. As, the intersection of these fields can shape cultural and social narratives, this information can help strategize ways to focus on the role of critical literacy in reading literature within the post-2021 Myanmar education context. 

Second is to identify new entries for collaboration among Myanmar artists, art practitioners, and educators, some of whom remain in Myanmar, while others are now based in Chiang Mai due to the political situation.  

Organised by Ekopraxis Pilipinas and GLFxPanay, >>sa raya kay lawod, river dialogues<< begins a series of dialogues and soundwalks tracing the flow of Bacong river from ilaya (upstream) to ilawod (downstream), to create a sound archive that will culminate into a public listening event. This project centers the sentiments of the rural working class on equitable development, historical memory, and river ecologies in the context of community-built bridges in rural Antique. Our gathering will bring together rural working-class communities, artists, and elders. This work will happen in two parts:

A.   Ilaya// Upstream Remembering: A creative inquiry to uncover the memories and sentiments they have with the almost century old wooden bridge to cross to their home, in contrast to the new bridge and its entanglements in development aggression, grey infrastructure obsessions, and the worsening effects of the climate crisis on rural lives and livelihoods.

B.   Downstream Crossing/Bacong Memories: Down river, on Bacong Bridge, is an untold story of communal resistance of townsfolk, 500 of them during the brutal Martial Law in the 1980s. In this part of the session, we attempt to surface lost memories of this history through dialogue, and field recordings. 

The idea for the gathering is for us to explore each of our selves as an island, and to explore building a bridge for others to enter our island, and for us to enter someone else’s island. After that, we think about lessons we can take away from that experience to art and social action.

This will be a 2-day workshop for 10 participants that is on a large grass patch in Woodlands or in Jurong, which are locations near our bridges to Malaysia – hopefully an evocative fact for participants. The participants will include migrant workers (including ‘expats’ who are also migrant workers but differently labelled), while remaining open to the experience being open to public. It is expected that these participants are all strangers to one another at the start of the workshop.

At Ting Shuo studio in Tainan, we gather for a series of lectures, workshops, performances, collective pondering, debates, imagination, image work, whispering, and moments of misunderstanding. Over two afternoons, we engage in participatory presentations, while two evenings with no set finishing time, are devoted to collective discussions, continuing until sleep overtakes words. The gathering will involve around 4 other artists, curators, or professionals who are mediators of communities or engage with concerns of healing and ecology. Together, we experience various ‘listenings’, including bodies, bio-matter, the elements, sites, time, illusions, magic, spiritual teachings, and the world—each offering a unique embodiment and presence. 

Ting Shuo Symposium invites all to join in the experience within a living room of an old Taiwanese house. The microphone is passed around, and conversations flow freely, weaving connections and energies. ‘Ting’ means hearing, and ‘Shuo’ means speaking—together signifying the act of listening and voicing. When we listen to each other, we take away different aspects of the encounter: a word, a phrase, a pause, a gesture, an attitude, or an energy. It is through our collective differences that we become whole, contributing to a larger palette of colours and perspectives.

Hosted by Book Re:public/ Cafe Democracy, the Mekong Artivists’ Convergence is a collaborative project designed to unite young artivists from northern Thailand and the broader Mekong region. Its primary goal is to foster a vibrant community among these artists by facilitating the exchange of experiences regarding art’s role in addressing critical environmental and social issues. By centering on the Mekong River, a vital yet threatened resource, the convergence aims to build lasting connections and lay the foundation for sustained collaboration within this community, ultimately amplifying creative efforts and communication around the urgent challenges facing the region.

The process of making bamboo boats will be filled with joy. Throughout this journey, we strive to mobilize the participation of various community groups. We hope that more villagers will craft their own bamboo boats, leading to the revival and continuation of this traditional craft. By participating in these activities, villagers unconsciously engage in environmental protection, gradually developing a deeper awareness of sustainability. We also aim to encourage other communities to utilize local resources, reduce carbon emissions, and promote sustainable practices instead of unsustainable exploitation.