Connecting people through art 

“Dinh was a trailblazing artist, the co-founder of Sàn Art and a pillar in the Vietnamese artistic community. His gift of bringing ideas and people together, his friendship, his boundless generosity and our shared vision and desire to support video art was vital in setting up the Han Nefkens Foundation Southeast Asia Video Art Production Grant.” - Han Nefkens, speaking about Dinh Q. Le

We are thrilled to announce that Som Supaparinya (1973, Thailand) is the winner of the Han Nefkens Foundation – Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2024, in collaboration with Sàn Art, Vietnam; the Jim Thompson Art Center, Thailand; Museion, Italy; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark and Rockbund Art Museum, China.

The Jury stated - “We are pleased to announce Som Supaparinya (1973, Thailand) as the winner of this year's edition of the Han Nefkens Foundation -Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant. Supaparinya's unique and skilful form of video-making commonly involves intensive research processes, a focus on both historical and contemporary socio-political issues, a profound connection to land in local and global contexts, as well as intensive filming processes mingling documentary and experimental visions.”

“In doing so, she simultaneously creates multi-layered and coherent mature works. We commend Supaparinya's ongoing dedication to the medium of video and its evolution and look forward to seeing Supaparinya being deservingly celebrated on an international level.”

The final jury was chaired by Mr. Han Nefkens and composed of Henriette Bretton-Meyer: Curator at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark, Mary Lou David: Curator and representing Sàn Art, Vietnam, Gridthiya Gaweewong: Director Jim Thompson Art Center, Thailand, Bart van der Heide: Director Museion, Italy, Takeshi Matsuoka: Curator Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan, Kazune Shimizu: Curator Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan and X Zhu-Nowell: Artistic Director Rockbund Art Museum, China in the presence of Hilde Teerlinck and Alessandra Biscaro, respectively Director and Coordinator of the Han Nefkens Foundation.

Som Supaparinya

“I am in deep appreciation for the Han Nefkens Foundation creating such a supportive grant to enhance the video arts practice in Southeast Asia, in order to maximize our creativity at a prestige, international level. I will never have enough words to say about this warm-hearted initiative. I would like to thank the person who nominated me, Annika Kristensen, we don't know each other in person, but I am honoured by this opportunity to be trusted. Finally, I would like to thank the committee who saw my potential and have given me a chance to create a new work.

It's not easy to keep making video art at the beginning of my career when most people in our region don't understand it, there is a lack of equipment and support. When it comes to staying trendy and radical in the era of video art, it's quite a challenge in terms of technicalities, approach, and meaning. Nowadays, even if digital media has become a popular medium in the art world, the art market in the region still tends to collect object-based art works rather than digital works. This makes video art in the region challenging to develop freely without support. Considering these difficulties, I am really appreciative for a grant that is devoted to the development of video art, thank you in advance for continuing to do this with more artists from the region.”

Som Supaparinya will receive $15,000 for the production of a new work. The Han Nefkens Foundation will use a viewing copy of the produced artwork for presentation at art institutions worldwide with whom the Foundation collaborates. Supaparinya will donate one copy of the newly produce work, to enter the collection of Museion, Italy, while the remaining copies will remain her property. Her newly produced work will be presented by each partner institution of the Grant.

The Han Nefkens Foundation – Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant aims to be a tool for increasing contemporary artistic production in the video art field and is directed at artists living in Southeast Asia. The Grant involves the production of a video art work. Any type of film or documentary or performance documentation that does not belong to this artistic discipline is excluded. In order to consolidate the candidates’ career, the Grant appraises artists living in that region who have established a solid trajectory but have not been given a major opportunity to exhibit extensively worldwide.

The initial selection of artists formally presented to the jury was put together by ten internationally recognised art critics, curators and artists who were in turn nominated by the partner institutions of the grant. The scouting process itself expands the selected artist’s network of contacts and discovers lesser-known video art works and thus, in itself, also promotes this discipline.

The scouts were: Alfonse Chiu, Hao Pei Chu, Mayumi Hirano, May Adadol Ingawanijm, Natalie Khoo, Annika Kristensen, Mary Pansanga, Russell Storer, Kazue Suzuki and Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran.

The shortlist of eight artists, whose proposals were then shared and discussed by the final jury was Kray Chen (b.1987, Singapore), Rui An Ho (b.1990, Singapore), Rizki Lazuardi (b.1982, Indonesia), Aksornsawang Puangsoi (b.1989, Thailand), Shireen Seno (b.1983, Philippines), Som Supaparinya (b.1973, Thailand), Elsa Wong (b.1999, Singapore), Moe Myat May Zarchi (b.1994, Myanmar).