Dada is an art movement that was formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature. Dada artists felt the war called into question every aspect of a society capable of starting and then prolonging it – including its art. Their aim was to destroy traditional values in art and to create a new art to replace the old. Source: tate.org.uk. AWDB highlighted artist: Ayka Go.

Diaspora is a term used to describe movements in population from one country to another and is often cited in discussions about identity.  In relation to art, the term diaspora is used to discuss artists who have migrated from one part of the world to another, (or whose families have), and who express their diverse experiences of culture and identity in the work they make; often expressing alternative narratives and challenging the ideas and structures of the established art world.  Source: tate.org.uk. AWDB highlighted artist: Erika Tan. 

Digital Art is a term used to describe art that is made or presented using digital technology. The first use of the term digital art was in the early 1980s when computer engineers devised a paint program which was used by the pioneering digital artist Harold Cohen. Since then, digital technology has become more sophisticated. In more recent times some digital art has become interactive, allowing the audience a certain amount of control over the final image. Many digital artists have utilised digital art for NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) digital assets that use blockchain to protect physical artworks from plagiarism and to certify their authenticity and ownership. Source: tate.org.uk and the AWDB team. AWDB highlighted artist: The Next Most Famous Artist.  

Dissident art, or activist art describes art that actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. Southeast Asian art is synonymous with dissident art because the region has suffered devastating conflicts throughout its recent past and present. Thus, Southeast Asian contemporary art has rarely been related to art as “art for art’s sake”, but has mostly been politically and socially commentative. Source: the AWDB team. AWDB highlighted artist: Kamol Phaosavasdi.

Documentation in art refers to the process of recording and preserving information about artworks, artistic practices, and creative processes for archival purposes. It can span many mediums, and alongside creating a visual record of the artwork provides insight into an artist’s process. Within fragile or temporary art forms like performance art, documentation is essential for preservation and later presentations. Southeast Asian contemporary visual art lacks enough useful published information with which to understand it. While available research and literature is growing, it remains difficult to find materials and texts of substance on the region’s contemporary art without deep research. At present, the information on the region’s contemporary art is often disparate and the challenges are heightened by the paucity of published journals that spotlight the region, as well as a scarcity of art historians and informed critics. Source: AWDB Team AWDB highlighted artist: Svay Sareth

Essentially drawing is a technique in which images are depicted on a flat surface by making lines, though drawings can also contain tonal areas, washes and other non-linear marks. Ink, pen, pencil, crayon, charcoal and chalk are the most commonly used materials, but drawings can be made with or in combination with paint and any other wet or dry media. Source: tate.org.uk. AWDB highlighted artist: Kuncir Sathya Viku. 

Durational art is a type of performance art wherein works specifically address and use time as an active element in the work in order to affect, change, and create meaning.  Source: PerformanceArt Resources. AWDB highlighted artist: Melati Suryodarmo.