Fireside Chat: Building New Nodes
In recent years, Southeast Asia has seen an exciting emergence of new organisations, foundations, and galleries that are expanding its multifaceted arts ecosystem. These initiatives include the founding of ara contemporary, Jakarta-based gallery, and Muara Arts, a new private organisation in Kuala Lumpur due to open later this year. Bringing together Megan Arlin, co-founder of ara contemporary, and Lydia Yee, director of Muara Arts, in an intimate fireside chat, this conversation will explore how each approaches institution-building in different contexts, and what they are looking toward as they shape the next phase of their work.
Megan Arlin | Co-founder and director, ara contemporary
Megan Arlin is the co-founder of ara contemporary, an art gallery in Jakarta dedicated to supporting emerging and established Southeast Asian voices and contexts. She was formerly the director of Sullivan+Strumpf in Singapore, where she helped expand the Australian gallery’s presence in the region and introduced a new approach to itinerant programming. In 2024, she was part of the first Southeast Asian cohort in the CULTIVATE program by the in_tangible institute in Bangkok.
Lydia Yee | Director, Muara Arts
Lydia Yee, a London-based curator, art historian and museum consultant, is currently director of Muara Arts, a new modern and contemporary art space due to open in Kuala Lumpur in 2026. She is also a senior curatorial advisor to YDP and a member of the external faculty for New Curators. Yee has previously held curatorial positions in London and New York, including chief curator, Whitechapel Gallery; curator, Barbican Art Gallery and senior curator at The Bronx Museum of the Arts. A recipient of the Asian Cultural Council Individual Fellowship (2024–25) and a member of the Turner Prize jury (2024), Yee was also co-curator of Frieze Talks (2018–19) and British Art Show 8 (2015–17).