tiSamjort Phnom Penh
2020-...
Initiated by Say Tola (cultural researcher and translator), Neak Sophal (photographer), Tan Vatey (interdisciplinary artist and designer) and Sao Sreymao (iIllustrator)
I'm also part of tiSamjort (“Resting Place”), a Phnom Penh-based collaborative work space, gallery, and short-term residence for artists and cultural practitioners, that I co-initiated in 2020 with my friends Sophal, Sreymao & Tola. Its a meeting space in Cambodia’s capital where people can learn, make art, and feel at home through collective engagement with the arts and in connection with its vibrant neighbourhood.
tiSamjort was born out of love for the arts and care for cultural practitioners. We began to recognize a need for a resting place for artists in Phnom Penh after initiating our first project, Nomadix Arts Tour, which brought arts programming to provincial communities throughout Cambodia. When meeting with artists and cultural practitioners in different parts of the country, we commonly heard that some of these cultural enthusiasts have encountered practical and financial barriers to come to join the art seminars, workshops and cultural events which have always been held in the capital. Though we had long hoped to launch a collaborative work space for artists in Phnom Penh, these conversations led us to dream bigger, and to imagine how we might alleviate some of the financial burden for artists seeking to travel from provincial Cambodia into the capital. By creating tiSamjort, we want to encourage provincial artists to not give up, and to know that they have a home in Phnom Penh, as well as a place where friendship, creativity, art-related discussion and inspiration can be found.
Follow our activities at tiSamjort via:
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Group Exhibition tiSamjort - 2*6
Created by Mech Choulay, Mech Sreyrath, Neak Sophal, Sao Sreymao & Tan Vatey
Opening 4 February 2026 - PLAYGROUNDING
The first show from all tiSamjort collective members after 6 years together!
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Community Events 2026
Hosted by Tan Vatey @ tiSamjort Phnom Penh
28 March 2026 - PLAYGROUNDING
Through interactive activities, artist Vatey Tan fostered a safe and welcoming space for connection, bringing people together through games, painting, music and dance to inspire idea sharing and intimate conversations.
30 April 2026 - MICROSCOPIC MEANDERINGS
From objects to images, participants explored the hidden beauty of everyday materials through a super close-up view on the screen. Iintroduced the microscope from the lab, inviting everyone to observe their own objects and transform them into artistic images
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Lynn Nandar Htoo & Victoria Yam @ tiSamjort Phnom Penh & Studio NearNear
April-May 2024
Invited by TAN Vatey & Sinta Wibowo
After the group residency for Meeting Point in Hanoi, Vietnam in March 2024, politial developments in their home country Myanmar could not give Lynn Nandar Htoo (she/they/whatever) basic safety in work and living conditions, so a residency period at tiSamjort and Studio Near Near could secure Lynn a resting place to land and reorient themselves in Cambodia as an alternative base in South-East Asia. Fruitfully, Lynn started working as a sound designer at Kongchak Film Studios that work on a variety of film projects in South-East Asia. Alongside her job, in no time Lynn also initiated as dj LnhD the dj collective aVOIDance in Phnom Pen together with rEmPiT g0dDe$$, Igorrr and Boba. Her dream is also to build up a sound archive with Burmese sounds, they are part of ALIGN.online, a Southeast Asian Cultural & Sound Innovation Platform, featuring women & queer community and collaborated with Wayang Women, an all-female multinational wayang kulit/shadow puppetry troupe hailing from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, reinterpreting Southeast Asian ghost stories.
It was also inspiring to collaborate with Lynn when she created a live soundscape for the cake performance during my duo exhibition "Where Anything Can Be Everything" We are sure that these talented sound magicians will bring healing through the special vibrations they send into the space!
Find out more of Lynn's sound design for film and dj-sets they're touring around the world with:
https://soundcloud.com/lynnnandarhtoo
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Crowd Chattering
February-March 2024
Lilla von Puttkamer & Carola Rümper @ tiSamjort Phnom Penh
Invited by tiSamjort Collective | Sopheal Neak, Sreymao Sao, Tan Vatey, Tola Say
tiSamjort is located in a neighbourhoud in Phnom Penh with mobile foodvendors, kids running around, neighbours shouting and bonding over cardgames, cats strolling the streets... an alley full of aliveness. We ask artists who want to come in residency, to connect with our neighbourhood or neighbours. Berlin-based artist Lilla von Puttkamer and artist-curator Carola Rümper from Project Space MP43 in Berlin, lived at tiSamjort for a couple of weeks and in front of the entrance, on the street, we all prepared a food installation together with the neighborhood and the artist community, inviting young and old to join and be part of it. Upstairs at tiSamjort we opened our collective studio for the exhibition 'Crowd Chattering';; showing works of Neak Sophal, Lilla von Puttkamer, Carola Rümper, Sao Sreymao, SayTola and Tan Vatey. The exhibition includes performances, interventions, past ups, drawings and objects.
More infos on:
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Masumi Rodriguez & Elena Kirby @ tiSamjort Phnom Penh
January-February 2024
Invited by TAN Vatey & Sinta Wibowo
Following our shared residency time in Kochi, Japan in 2023, Masumi Rodriguez & Elena Kirby decided to come over to Phnom Penh for an artistic research residency at TISamjort and see look at how invasive plants can turn into paper. Earlier in Japan we farmed & manufactured "Washi", the Japanese paper that graces sliding doors of traditional houses and even incited circus artists to use washi paper, strong as cloth, for their aerial acts!
On Saturday afternoon 27 January, Masumi & Elena shared their practices of paper making with artists and other people at tiSamjort. They presented their project Touch Me Don't Forget Me, experimenting with what papermaking can be all about!
More infos on:
