A&M and Global Intersections

Business stories and looking beyond Southeast Asia

My Own Words is a monthly series which features personal essays by practitioners in the Southeast Asian art community. They deliberate on their locality’s present circumstances, articulating observations and challenges in their respective roles.

My Own Words is a monthly series which features personal essays by practitioners in the Southeast Asian art community. They deliberate on their locality's present circumstances, articulating observations and challenges in their respective roles.

Art & Market (A&M) is celebrating its eighth anniversary in October 2026. As I look back at the A&M’s trajectory, it has been a journey of gradual evolution and refinement of the magazine’s editorial direction.

This essay picks up from A&M Founder Nadya Wang’s reflection on the platform’s first six years of operation, which was published in 2024. Her piece elaborated on the motivations and context behind establishing A&M in 2018, and projects we initiated such as conferences, publications and mentorship engagements. For my text, I focus on three developments in the last two years as we expand the platform’s purview while offering perspectives from our vantage point in Southeast Asia.

Art x Business

Emmanuel Plat, Director of Merchandising, MoMA Retail. Image courtesy of MoMA Design Store.

Portrait of Irin Siriwattanagul and Nathaphon Phantounarakul. Image courtesy of sp/n.

One question we often receive is about the name Art & Market, and the association it triggers related to the transaction of artworks in primary and secondary markets. However, we view “market” as being more than just a site of commerce but the diverse professions that sustain the industry. This perspective is most clearly represented in the Art x Business series, which features in-depth conversations with industry experts working in art media, exhibition design, artwork fabrication etc. 

The first interview in this series with Emmanuel Plat from Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Retail, remains one of the favourite stories I have worked on so far. In my opinion, MOMA Design Store is the gold standard for a museum shop and Emmanuel shared insights how the museum’s curatorial vision can surface through retail and branding. Such dynamic intersections are at the core of the Art x Business series, representing what we define as “market” in A&M’s editorial vision.

By highlighting the roles played by these professionals, we aim to show creativity and artistic expertise applied across various contexts. The business angle is crucial amidst discussions about long-term sustainability in our industry. This is why our Fresh Face interviews with emerging artists include a question about the other forms of work they do to make a living. We also invite Midpoint artists to discuss their career trajectories, and explore similar themes through the op-ed essays in My Own Words. Taken together, we hope that these stories will demystify aspects of the art world and inspire different ways of thinking and working. 

Share-Meeting 3, group photo of participants and organisers. Image courtesy of Share-Meeting 3.

Coverage of art scenes and practices beyond the region have become increasingly important for A&M in recent years. We maintain an editorial eye on transnational artistic activities connecting Southeast Asia and the world. These global intersections can be found in the international biennale and art fair circuits. Equally important are smaller-scale projects that aim to foster regional networks, such as Share-Meeting 3 in Penang, which I was invited to attend as the editor of A&M. Co-organised by Yamanaka Suplex and Blank Canvas, the event brought together independent art spaces and organisers across Asia. What I find particularly rich about Share-Meeting 3 are the intimate connections that are formed and maintained. At the event, I reconnected with several A&M contributors in person and was introduced to new friends who are now part of a shared network. 

Solo booth by Ping-En Kuo, presented as part of the Made in Taiwan (MIT) Programme at ART TAIPEI 2025. Image courtesy of ART TAIPEI.

Peng Yi-Hsuan, Above (之上), 2026, site-specific installation with zine. Photo by Sid Chen.

In our articles on regional art events, we also try to spotlight learning points that can be adapted. For instance, my Taipei Art Week 2025 Report hones in on how the Taiwan Art Gallery Association (TAGA) and governmental bodies worked together, as well as collector-founded spaces in the city. The examples serve to make a bigger point about the infrastructure and relationships behind individual projects. 

A similar intention underpinned my decision to publish Taiwanese art critic Sid Chen’s review of Yancheng Art Festival, which proposed a different relationship between art and locality from the model of spectacle-driven tourism. The piece was originally published in Chinese on on Sid’s platform 記号 JIHAO and he translated the essay into English for A&M, fulfilling our long-time wish to work across languages.

The A&M core team comes together to maintain continuity of work and grow these regional networks. Our sustained engagement with the Taiwanese art scene is built upon strong connections with local players and repeated partnerships with art organisations such as Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts, Asian Art Biennial, TAGA etc. Nadya covered ART TAICHUNG 2026, which expanded its programme this year, and will return for Taipei Art Week 2026. Similarly, A&M Art Director Sharrona Valezka will review the next Asian Art Biennial in November 2026. Rather than covering these events as singular happenings, we consciously build upon previous articles to track developments, which we believe adds value to our work.

Collaborations with Like-Minded Peers and Institutions

Julien Delagrange in his studio in Harelbeke, Belgium (2024). Photo by Trish De Buyser.

In tandem with building a community around A&M, the most exciting development are our new collaborations with individuals and organisations that share our ethos. Informed by my own experiences as an artist and editor, I am interested in other practices that similarly straddle across these domains. One example is my interview with Julien Delagrange, who is an artist, art historian and founder of Contemporary Art Issue (CAI). Prior to the interview, I had followed the CAI YouTube channel for several years and appreciated Julien’s dedication towards answering practical questions about art careers. His insights on writing resonated with me, and I have a deep respect for his overarching practice. 

A&M is also collaborating with Painting Diary (PD), led by Clare Gemima and André Hemer, two artists from Aotearoa New Zealand. This exchange was initiated by André and we started with PD republishing the Midpoint interview with Sherman Mern Tat Sam. There will be an upcoming two-part interview between me and André that explores our recent museum residencies, the state of painting and art writing.

Another independent media platform we are collaborating with is Twos Studio, best known for its short-form content about the history of art and design. Do look out for a similar two-part interview with Twos Studio founder Sajad Safajooee which will be published across both platforms. 

Open Call for the deCentral Travel Grant for Writers programme.

KADIST x Art & Market collaboration.

I am also proud of our ongoing partnerships with deCentral and KADIST. We are working with deCentral on publishing the English texts from their Travel Grant for Writers programme. A&M is also co-curating a Collection Spotlight series with KADIST, which will unfold on Instagram over a few months beginning in October 2026. These partnerships affirm a shared goal for diverse artistic discourse, especially perspectives from Southeast Asia with global relevance. 

On behalf of the A&M team, I express our appreciation to our readers, clients and collaborators as we continue to foster meaningful connections and a more sustainable art ecosystem.