Market Watch Notes on the Contemporary Southeast Asian Art Market

This article surveys contemporary Southeast Asian art through the lens of the market and, in particular, the role of auction houses and their symbiotic relationship to primary markets. It pays special attention to developments taking place within the past five years and how the auction itself has played an integral role in reifying the idea of a discrete body of contemporary Southeast Asian art. A secondary issue concerns the role and growing relevance of private collectors and collections. Lacking the kind of extensive public artistic infrastructure found in other countries, many Southeast Asian countries tacitly depend on the activities of private collectors to promote the visibility of works which have only recently emerged as a key force within a contemporary art market whose appetite for expansion seems limitless. © 2011 Third Text.