Director's Message

Wong Chen-Hsi

Director

Centre for Asian Art and Design

Welcome to the Centre for Asian Art and Design.​

We approach the CAAD with a simple premise: that Asia is not only a site of ancient cultures that call for preservation, but a place from which new ideas, methods and ways of seeing world futures can emerge.

At a time where radical transformations are wrought by technological change, environmental uncertainty and shifting cultural identities, we believe that artists, designers, filmmakers and media practitioners have an essential role in producing new knowledge and productively imagining meaningful futures.​

Much of our work begins by asking fundamental questions: Who are we? Who do we want to be? Who tells our stories? Whose histories are remembered? How do we create space for voices that have been over-written, displaced or neglected? How may these stories and evidence of experience be given shape, re-told and circulated? While we now live in a time where emerging technologies are transforming all aspects of our lives, how might local knowledge(s), our personal and cultural memories, and artistic experimentation come together to re-imagine who we might be in the future?

The CAAD examines these questions through practice-led inquiry, foregrounding perspectives that emerge from Southeast Asia while contributing to global conversations in art, design and media. ​We acknowledge the promise of our rich cultural legacy, while identifying today’s cutting-edge technologies as exciting tools for innovation and ideation.

We invite you to join us in artistic experimentation, academic dialogue and public engagement. ​