Taking place from 10 to 13 June in Prague, Czech Republic, ASEF LinkUp will serve as a meeting point for 20 selected participants from the cultural and government sectors to combine knowledge and approaches from Asia and Europe and broaden new perspectives to cross-regional relations. With this edition, participants will be invited to explore future orientations in Asia-Europe cultural relations with a focus on identifying imbalances and providing solutions for fairer cultural exchanges.
In mainstream media, labourers are usually portrayed as muscular working-class men who engage in physical work to earn money. In order to expand this stereotypical image of labourers, three aspiring curators Trithida Trising, Kukasina Kubaha and Panod Srinual of the project "Start! Art Curator Season 2" created the exhibition "Crossing The Lines" to give a different interpretation of labourers.
In early 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was peaking in China, Sasapin Siriwanij, artistic director of Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM), departed Thailand for a month-long performance tour in northern Europe. Her trip was quickly interrupted, however, by the rapid spread of the pandemic across the continent. After spending several days in limbo, Sasapin regretfully headed home to Bangkok, where she was compelled by the Thai government to spend a fortnight in self-quarantine. Every arts festival in which Sasapin had intended to participate would soon thereafter be cancelled, postponed indefinitely, or converted to an online format.