The Asia-Europe Foundation has organised in partnership with the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture Malaysia, National Art Gallery Malaysia, Goethe-Institut Kuala Lumpur and Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur, with the support of  Japan Advertisting Photographers Association, Nikon Malaysia, the Annexe Gallery and Epson Trading Malaysia, the “Creative Economies” Forum, which has brought together 23 emerging photographers and 8 facilitators cum resource persons from Asia and Europe.

The Format of the Forum consisted of two phases. The first phase started with an online interaction and exchanges between the participants and the facilitators via the Asia-Europe Photo Collaboratory platform. This phase was followed by an intensive week of lectures and workshops during 11- 18 May 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, where photography collaborations have been complemented with dialogues focused on the exploration and experimentation of artistic photography in the context and manifestation of the creative economies with Peter Bialobrzeski (Germany), Professor for Photography, University of Arts, Bremen, Shahidul Alam (Bangladesh), Director of “Chobi Mela” - International Festival of Photography, Alex Moh (Malaysia) initiator of the Kuala Lumpur International Biennale, Yee I- Lann (Malaysia) multimedia artist, Hiromi Nakamura (Japan), curator of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Masaaki Nishimiya the honorary advisor of APA and dean of Photography department at Nagoya University of Art and sciences, Nathalie Belayche (France), independent curator and Martin Fuchs (Austria), Magnum Photo editor.

The theme of the Asia-Europe Emerging Photographers’ Forum 2009 was centered on the topic of “Creative Economies”. Twenty-three emerging photographers portrayed indirect and alternative economic outlooks (gift economies, social cooperation, sustainable economies etc.) in Asia and Europe. Through these narratives the photographer’s opened different spaces of imagination, metaphors, fictions, reality and advantages within the context of the current economic crisis. The question which inspired their works was: How can creative photography impact the perception of shifting economies in the globalised world and in which ways can social cooperation and creativity meet in the space of indeterminate economic capacity? The emerging photographers have exchanged their photographic narratives from Asia and Europe conceptualizing documentary and digital photographic formats. To promote future visions and to overcome global financial instability at the local level this process showed the diverse range of possibilities of the medium of photography. During the opening of the Asia-Europe Emerging Photographers' Forum 2009, the exhibition "Secured Area" was launched at the National Art Gallery, Malaysia during the opening, as a result of the collaborative process with the participants of the Future Image: Asia-Europe Forum for Young Photographers, held in Ireland in 2007. 

Online blog: http://photography2009.blogs.culture360.org/