Throughout its twenty-year history, Gendai has supported experimental curatorial and organizational practices, whilst creating space for East Asian artists and artists of colour. As Gendai’s newest stewards, we (Marsya Maharani and Petrina Ng) are investing in the future of racialized arts leadership through collective research and practice. 

We began with Gendai MA MBA: Mastering the Art of Misguided Business Administration: a year-long capacity-development & network-building think tank between nine majority-BIPOC art collectives to critique and re-imagine institutional practices by centering values of collectivity, equity, and access. 

This developed into Gendai CO-OP: an ongoing research that responds to toxic labour conditions especially experienced by BIPOC arts workers at museums and art galleries. Using gossip as a methodology to trace the contours of institutional power, we build relationships with emerging and mid-career arts practitioners of colour to learn about current workplace dynamics in the sector. Through peer mentorship and access to Gendai’s platform, resources, and network, we have been experimenting with how we can support racialized workers who seek to pursue non-institutional futures.

We are especially interested in working with arts practitioners/collectives who are motivated to imagine or develop “off-ramps” from the linear expressway of traditional, capitalist, and institutional career progression in the arts.

Gendai currently exists and works as uninvited guests on Turtle Island. 

email us: gendaiclub [at] gmail [dot] [com]