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Anida Yoeu Ali selected as JavaArts Lab first Artist-in-Residence April-July 2012

As part of JavaArts’ new residency program, Anida Yoeu Ali takes up position as the first artist-in-residence at the JavaArts Lab starting April 2.  Her residency will run until the end of June leading to her first solo exhibition opening June 27, 2012.

JavaArts residency program is thanks to the added support of Van Cleve Fine Arts

Pictured above: On May 7, 2012 Anida stages an encounter in the cafe. She is interested in creating a “Public Square” space in the midst of everyday activities in order to shift ideas of art making and art viewing from insular spaces of contemplation towards daily moments of engagement. (Photo by Todd Brown)

Anida’s thoughts on her “Public Square” project:
It’s not that I am against the “white cube” gallery spaces but I would like to challenge the elitism of audience they too often attract and their accessibility to the very community and culture they occupy. I would like to challenge this need to remove art/the artist from their homes/studios, everyday life, community settings, public spaces in order to achieve some idea of “cerebral” contemplation or acceptance in a very particular art scene driven by westernization, globalization, and commodification.

 My work is interested in refocusing the notion of “site-specificity” onto communities. That communities become sites for engagement and the art, created, then becomes specific to that audience. Accessibility has always been an important component to my work. Sometimes and ironically I have to force this access because I believe otherwise everything will always be seen as “too” foreign.
It’s ultimately up to the artist as to how to present their work and sometimes there is a need to present it in a “white box” but I also think one should be aware of the audience and limited audience that has access to those spaces. I seldomly see artists and curators outreaching to change the demographics of those audiences and yes it’s a lot of work but we are here in Cambodia and we should engage with and amongst Cambodians.