Borderlessness

Photo by Samantha Hull

Stories from the Farther Shore: Southeast Asian Film

March 20, 2019–March 24, 2019

The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco partnered to copresent Stories from the Farther Shore: Southeast Asian Film, a showcase of recent documentary, art, and feature-length films by Southeast Asian filmmakers. Screenings included Finding Phong (2015) by Tran Phuong Thao and Swann Dubus, which examined struggles with transgender identity; Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017), Anucha Boonyawatana’s meditation on love, loss, and mortality between two former gay lovers; and Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s The Island (2017), a dystopian art film shot on the Malaysian island of Pulau Bidong−the site of the largest and longest-operating refugee camp after the Vietnam War.

In conjunction with the exhibition Other Walks, Other Lines, SJMA worked with a steering committee of ten organizations to create “New Terrains: Mobility and Migration, ” a multidisciplinary, community-wide initiative focused on “how bodies move through social and political spaces.” The steering committee collectively decided on "New Terrains" as a governing theme, and 39 institutions contributed to the project. Of these, 11 were new partnerships for SJMA. SJMA supported these partnerships with a shared website, newterrains.org, that included a map, list of things to do and see (exhibitions, special projects, performing arts, talks and discussions and family activities), and information on each partnering organization. The Museum also hosted a community party, in conjunction with the opening celebration of Other Walks, Other Lines, that showcased partner work. The party coincided with the conclusion of Montalvo Arts Center’s contribution, a 24-hour marathon broadcast project conducted in a self-driving vehicle by the international artist collective Radioee.net. SJMA received many positive comments from visitors, colleagues, and partner organizations about the inclusive nature of its collaborative work with partners. As one colleague wrote, “It is exciting to see the ways in which you are building new relationships with both big and small organizations in the region. I look forward to exploring the many exhibitions and programs of New Terrains in the coming months.”

New Terrains: Mobility and Migration featured contributions from the following organizations:

• Art Ark Gallery • Art Object Gallery • Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University • Chamber Music Silicon Valley • Children’s Discovery Museum • Chopsticks Alley Art • City Lights Theater Company • College of Adaptive Arts • Consulado General de Mexico en San José • The de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University • FWD.us/Wecome.us/genArts Silicon Valley • History San José • Institute of the Arts and Sciences and The Arboretum, University of California, Santa Cruz • Institute of Contemporary Art San José • San José Museum of Quilts and Textiles • San José Public Library • Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History • SETI Institute • Soul Focus Sports • South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition • Teatro Visión • The Tech Museum of Innovation • MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana • Montavlo Arts Center • New Museum of Los Gatos • Pajaro Valley Arts • Palo Alto Art Center • Research Center for the Americas, University of California, Santa Cruz • Sangam Arts • San Jose Jazz • Walk San José • Works/San José • Yu-Ai Kai Senior Community Center • ZERO1