Interpreting Shared Maritime Histories
Join us to celebrate the rich maritime heritage of Southeast Asia and Australia at the official launch of the SEA-Collections digital exhibition. Co-curated by leading curators from across the region, the exhibition marks the culmination of a year-long project, ‘Interpreting shared maritime histories through Southeast Asian maritime collections’.
The exhibition features cultural objects from the National Maritime Museum of Thailand in Chanthaburi, the Marine Heritage Gallery in Jakarta, the Brunei Darussalam Maritime Museum, and the Ayala Museum in the Philippines, as well as from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australian National Maritime Museum, and Chau Chak Wing Museum.
It builds on a series of Significance and Interpretation Workshops with partners in Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines, in which the University of Sydney and SEAMS worked with museum professionals to apply the Significance 2.0 framework—developed by the Collections Council of Australia—to assess and reimagine cultural objects in museum collections. Adapted to local contexts, these workshops allowed participants to explore fresh stories and connections within their collections, centred around cross-cutting themes that reflect the region’s shared maritime histories. These insights now form the foundation of the co-curated digital exhibition, which showcases the diverse and interconnected maritime heritage of Southeast Asia and Australia.
Program
Explore the rich maritime heritage of the region through the launch of a co-curated digital exhibition, designed around cross-cutting themes and featuring objects from Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Australia. Participants are invited to bring their own personal devices (phones, tablets) with which to explore the online exhibition.
Meet the project team and other key stakeholders, including ASEAN Consuls-General, AAC representatives, curators, and researchers, while enjoying light refreshments in a relaxed setting.
The exhibition is funded by the ASEAN-Australia Centre (AAC) and led by Dr Natali Pearson (The University of Sydney) in collaboration with Southeast Asia Museum Services (SEAMS), and with additional support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Interpreting Shared Maritime Histories (SEA-Collections) project is generously funded by the Australia-ASEAN Council at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Additional support for the Brunei workshop was provided by UNESCO.
This event is co-hosted by the Chau Chak Wing Museum, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and the School of Humanities.
Header image: Decorating a 'lis-alis' (Madurese fishing boat), Telaga Biru, Madura, 1999. By Jeffrey Mellefont.