Fine Arts and Performances: Understanding Queer Aesthetic

The third discussion focused on Fine Arts and Performances, featuring Renan Laru-an as the moderator and Bonnibel Rambatan as the discussant. This session brought together Vatey Tan, Nerissa del Carmen, Ishvara Devati, and Oat Montien, who shared insights into their diverse artistic practices and approaches.

A key theme that emerged was the diversity of queer artistic practices and the ways in which the body is read and considered as a central component of artistic expression. The speakers examined how self-organization, materiality, and embodied experiences shape their artistic practices, emphasizing the emotional, vulnerable, and desirous dimensions of queer life as a foundation for their methods. They discussed how engaging with emotions, erotica, and queer bodies—whether through poetry, performance, or visual arts—can transform queer experiences into art, foster community, make political statements, or serve as an intervention against dominant narratives within and across the specific ecologies in which they operate.

Recognizing the expansive horizon of queer experiences and artistic expression, the speakers also shared their strategies for navigating and negotiating political, institutional, and financial constraints within the art scene. They discussed how the possibilities within fine arts and performance enable them to respond to these challenges—whether through the use of queer coding, creating their own spaces, or building supportive communities.

In closing, the speakers reflected on vulnerability and care as integral to queering both artistic practices and the broader art scene, emphasizing their role in fostering more inclusive and sustainable creative ecosystems.

The discussion also underscored the value of learning through experience, embracing mistakes, and continuously reflecting on both potential harms and future possibilities. Recognizing that taking the first step is crucial, the speakers reinforced the importance of ongoing reflection and adaptation in building a just and inclusive environment, especially in the queer activism spaces in Southeast Asia.

Artist

Oat Montien

Thailand

Oat Montien (b. 1989) (he/him/they/them) is a Bangkok based artist and writer working across various media ranging from drawings, poetry and moving images. Montien is a leading figure in the queer community in Thailand, where he actively promotes sexual diversity, queer history, and erotica as a protest against the status quo.

Artist

Vatey TAN

Cambodia

Vatey, an interdisciplinary artist and designer from Phnom Penh, creates art installations, abstract paintings, sculptures, and creative book designs, drawing inspiration from her life and surroundings. Her work has been featured in solo shows, group exhibitions, art fairs, and festivals both in Cambodia and internationally. At just 11 years old, she won the Foreign Minister’s Award at Japan’s 33rd International Children’s Art Exhibition, and in 2013, she was the 3rd runner-up in Thailand’s Art on AIDS Competition. In 2017, Vatey’s career took a significant turn with the "Mutual Unknown" project, which led to collaborative works with Sinta Wibowo and exhibitions in Brussels, Jakarta, Phnom Penh, and other locations.

Vatey has participated in numerous artist residencies, including at Sa Sa Bassac, Vermont Studio Center, and Washi Plus, and has been involved in panel discussions at institutions like Asia Society and OCAC. In 2023, she created a solo exhibition for Cambodian Living Arts' 25th anniversary, with her works becoming part of their permanent collection. She co-initiated tiSamjort art space in Phnom Penh in 2020 and continues to contribute to various creative projects. Vatey’s collaborative approach and passion for the arts also extend to her role as a facilitator for initiatives such as Mekong Cultural Hub’s Meeting Point and Youth Learning Camp.

Artist

Nerissa del Carmen Guevara

The Philippines

Nerissa or Ricci is an associate professor at UST, a creative writing teacher, and a UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies resident fellow. Her durational performance art “Elegies” and shorter “Infinite Gestures,” which she presents as poetry in space, has been featured in a diverse range of platforms, including PIPAF, CPP PERFORMATURA, SIPA International Art Festival, Biennale Jogja Equator XV, LAPSody Helsinki, and Grace Exhibition Space New York. She was an early career researcher of GlobalGRACE Philippines, funded by the UKRI’s Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF), and the director of the LGBTQIA Virtual Artistic Residency GlobalGRACE Ph AiR. Her poetry has been featured in various international and national publications and anthologies, including A/PART: An Anthology of Queer Southeast Asian Poetry in the Pandemic. Ricci is an award-winning writer who received the prestigious Palanca Award for Literature in the Philippines.

Artist

Ishvara Devati

Indonesia

Ishvara Devati (she/her) is a trans-artist based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She focuses on inter-disciplinary exploration in performance arts. Her practice tends to explore ideas about transwoman identity, transhumanism and the interplay between technology and body transformation. Ishvara has participated in workshops such as CP[3] by Dance Nucleus, Feminist Activism Tech Camp by PurpleCode. Her works have performed in Indonesia and internationally, including short film ‘less than an ounce’ at Indonesia Bertutur 2024, and performance work ‘Deliberated Weirdness’ at Theater der Welt, Germany and Theater Spektakel, Switzerland.

Ishvara is active in residencies such as Invisible Dance-The Body in Friction in Ahmedabad, India; Farm-Lab Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan; ARTEFACT#11 – Dance Nucleus, Singapore and is involved in various international collaborations with artists, such as in the project “CROSS” with artists from Germany.

Artist

Renan Laru-an

The Philippines

Renan Laru-an is a theorist and curator, formerly the artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin. He is also a founding member of the Philippine Contemporary Art Network (PCAN) at the University of the Philippines Vargas Museum and the founder of DiscLab | Research and Criticism (2012-2015). Laru-an designs exhibition, public, and research programs that explore “insufficient” and “subtracted” images, subjects, and artistic works at the intersection of development and integration projects.

Laru-an has served as (co-)curator for prominent events such as the 2nd Biennale Matter of Art in Prague (2022), the 6th Singapore Biennale (2019), the 8th OK.Video—Indonesia Media Arts Festival in Jakarta (2017), and Lucban Assembly in Quezon (2015). He is also the curator of Soil-Beings, the Philippine Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2025. Additionally, Renan is the editor of Writing Presently (PCAN: 2020) and sits on various advisory committees, including the Istanbul Biennale (2024-2027) and esea contemporary in Manchester. He currently resides in Berlin.

Artist

Bonnibel Rambatan

Indonesia

Bonnibel Rambatan is a transfeminine nonbinary writer and artist passionate about finding new possibilities for solidarity and liberation. They currently serve as Head of Product at New Naratif, a movement for democracy in Southeast Asia, and Director of Arts and Creative Expression at Rainbow Panda, a community for the welfare of queer and trans children in Asia.