Much has been said about heritage, history, and memory. Many have expressed the need for a meaningful connection between past, present and future. Some have drawn the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage – the loss of landmark buildings, for example, also mean the erasure of histories and memories. Amnesia and nostalgia often go together. Recently, “hawker culture” is recognised as intangible heritage and “Asians” are superficially represented in the gaze of Hollywood. What about ideas and ideals, thoughts and experiences, and forms of artistic creativity and intellectual explorations that have been forged in the crucible of deep questioning? Do these expressions of our humanity find a significant place in our heritage? Who can we claim as our intellectual exemplars? Do their ideas still matter today? Just as well-loved buildings and hawker culture can disappear, can certain precious ideas and ideals fade into oblivion? What does it mean to build artistic and intellectual traditions here and now, in this time and place?

This Symposium is co-presented by Asian Urban Lab and The Substation, held in celebration of the intellectual contributions of William Lim and his generation.