Hybrid Museum Curator

This episode of A Bit of Culture invites Chase Caldwell Smith who is only 23 but already embarking on his PhD on Spain and Portugal Empires in South East Asia. Together with Ong Jo Lene, a KL born and bred curator who is now based in Amsterdam. Kam Raslan starts the show by proposing a question on what they would like to see in a Malaysian museum because in most cases, our culture is written by colonisers. Chase then comes up with the question of identifying oneself and its process. Reflecting on his mixed parentage, growing up and studying overseas and only now reconnecting with his Malaysian side – which puts him neither here nor there. How does one identify oneself in this hybrid of a limbo? Lastly, Jo Lene explains the works of being a curator – contrary to popular belief it’s not just hanging paintings on the walls.