Modern Art of Southeast Asia: Introductions from A to Z features 60 concise and accessibly written accounts of the key ideas and currents underlying modern art in the region. These are accompanied by over 250 beautifully reproduced artworks from the collection of National Gallery Singapore, and other public and private collections in Southeast Asia and beyond. The book offers an informative first encounter with art as well as refreshing perspectives, and is a rewarding resource for students.

A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land traces the story of Sam, a young man who leaves the countryside for the capital after the death of his parents. Once there he is exposed to the hardships and injustice of the city's capitalist society. All Sam wants to do is earn an honest wage for an honest day's work, but he is constantly thwarted by those with money: his landlord, the woman from whom he rents his cyclo, factory bosses and politicians. The city takes its toll on Sam and his wife, Soy, despite the kindness and generosity offered by their friends who are also only barely managing to scrape by. Sam's humanity is denied him at every turn leading to the devastation of his small family and his surrender to temptation.As the country develops and Sam's fortunes change, he realises that while the life of a farmer is far from easy, it is one that has the potential to bring fulfilment and happiness. First published in 1961, eight years after Cambodia gained independence from French colonial rule, A New Sun Rises Over the Old Land by Suon Sorin is an iconic work of modern Khmer literature. The novel-a singularly illuminating historical document of the new nation-offers a fresh view into a period of profound transformation in Cambodia and a region that was coming to know itself and to be known as "Southeast Asia." One of the first English translations of a modern Khmer novel from the decades between independence and the Khmer Rouge atrocities of the 1970s, the novel is accompanied by an extended introduction. In it, translator Nelson situates the author, Suon Sorin, in his historical and artistic context, and points to the novel's value as literature, as well as a resource for students of Cambodia including art historians, urbanists, and regional specialists.

Following the lifework (1960s to 2010) of visionary Singaporean architect William S. W. Lim, The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia) is a compelling compilation of case studies and historical projects. This multifaceted publication takes Lim's ideas to a future Asia: a region defined by an irreducibly complex urban topography under constant flux. Looking from Singapore to Southeast Asia, and from this region to Asia more expansively (and beyond), it presents a diverse range of activities which may be productively framed through the notion of critical spatial practice.The book has three interconnected points of departure: Lim's lifework; the interdisciplinary exhibition 'Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts at Critical Spatial Practice' at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, and the related conference, 'The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia)'; and the cross-cultural and urban festival 'CITIES FOR PEOPLE, NTU CCA Ideas Fest 2016/17', held at venues around Gillman Barracks, Singapore. The multiple links are emphasised in three key ways: through editorial texts, through design concepts, and through selected projects inserted as 'intermissions' between each of the book's sections.Artists, planners, activists, architects, scholars get together in this volume to respond to Lim's critical spatial practice. Research essays, artworks, visual and textual documentation, spatio-temporal maps grapple with the diversity of Southeast Asia, offering unexpected responses to planning, building, and living cities and urban spaces, but also put forward the question, 'Who owns the city?'. This key collection offers a path into spatial questions in Asia and beyond, and serves as a teaching and research tool.