IBA Stage: 9th Asian Art Biennial – Merv Espina

9th Asian Art Biennial Curator Merv Espina Courtesy National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

IBA Stage: 9th Asian Art Biennial
February 13, 2025 (Thursday)
4:00 pm (Taichung City/GMT+8)

Introducing Merv Espina: Curatorial Team of the 9th Asian Art Biennial

As we continue to introduce the curatorial team of the 9th Asian Art Biennial, we now turn to Merv Espina, an artist, researcher, and curator whose work navigates the intersections of contemporary art, sound cultures, and social engagement.

Espina has exhibited, intervened, and performed in ad-hoc and informal initiatives, as well as institutions and major international art events, including the Jakarta Biennale (2015), Yokohama Triennial (2020), and Colomboscope (2024). His curatorial and research work spans a wide range of artistic and social practices, often engaging with sound, media, and alternative networks.

As a curator for the WSK Festival of the Recently Possible (est. 2008), Espina has been instrumental in shaping the sound and media art landscape. The festival also ran WSK.FM 107.9, an itinerant pirate radio station from 2013 to 2018, and co-initiated Nusasonic (2018-2022), a platform for sound cultures research and experimental music exchange between Europe and Southeast Asia. Until 2020, he was curator and program director of the artist-run space Green Papaya Art Projects (est. 2000). In 2014, he co-founded the Philippine artists’ moving image screening and archiving initiative Kalampag Tracking Agency with artist Shireen Seno. He is also a member of Kulagu tu Buvongan (est. 2021), a collective advocating for environmental justice and indigenous people’s rights in Mindanao’s Pantaron Mountains.

His recent co-curatorial projects include: “SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now” (Tokyo, 2017); “MISFITS: Pages from a Loose-Leaf Modernity” (Berlin, 2017); the 15th edition of the Philippines’ oldest biennial, VIVA EXCON (Roxas City, 2018); “Motions of This Kind” (London, 2019); and “Necessary Fictions: Negotiating Realities in Post-national Philippine Documentaries” (Taipei, 2022).

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To have the possibility to hear and discuss with the individuals behind biennials has been a key component of what we believe IBA can offer to our members and the wider public and we value your participation through our live streams. As always IBA Stage events are meant as a moment to hear about a project through its makers and have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session at the end of the presentation.

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This event will take place on February 13 at 4 PM Taiwan time. Stay connected with us through our social media channels for updates and further details.