Elevation Laos

Elevations Laos is a non-profit contemporary art initiative aiming to support and stimulate mobility and exchange in Lao PDR through annual programming with artists, students and the public.

Elevations Laos organises or contributes to contemporary art exhibitions to raise the profile of contemporary art and artists in Lao PDR. The inaugural exhibition was held at the i:cat gallery in Vientiane between November 2018 and February 2019. In February 2020, Elevations Laos facilitated an exhibition by Luang Prabang based Hmong artist Tcheu Siong at the Niagara Galleries in Melbourne, Australia. Spellbrook subsequently funded the acquisition of one of Tcheu Siong’s works by the National Gallery of Victoria. 

In 2019, Elevations Laos entered an MOU with the National Institute of Fine Arts (NIFA) in Vientiane to organise contemporary art awareness programmes for students from Years 2 to 4. These programmes comprised a seminar to over 100 students and a field workshop with over 30 students. 

The Elevations Laos Art Space was established in 2020 at STELLA’s offices and shares spaces (www.thestella.org) for students and recent graduates to use and to host workshops.

During 2020 and 2021, up to 20 students attended mentoring programs by Lao and international contemporary artists. Students and former students that completed the mentoring programme were invited on a field trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand in October 2022 to visit contemporary art galleries and artist studios and participate in a workshop.