Soko Phay

Soko Phay is a lecturer and accredited researcher (HDR) in history and art theory at Paris 8 University and the EHESS. She has spent many years writing on the subject of aesthetics and the mirror, her publications including Les vertiges du miroir dans l’art contemporain [Aesthetics and Functions of the Mirror in Contemporary Literature] (Les Presses du Réel, 2016), and art's response to extreme events in its relations with memory and history. With Pierre Bayard, she has directed four collections, including Cambodge, le génocide effacé [Cambodia, the Genocide Effaced] (Laurence Teper, 2013) and Figurations of Postmemory (in collab. with Emmanuel Alloa, Journal of Literature and Trauma Studies, no. 4-1 and no. 4-2, 2015). She has curated a number of exhibitions, including Beyond Narcissus (Dorsky Gallery, New York, 2005), Cambodia, The Memory Workshop: Artworks by Vann Nath, Séra and Emerging Cambodian Artists (Columbia University, New York, 2013), and Géographie mouvante [Moving Geography] (Centre Bophana, Phnom Penh, 2015). Collaborating with Pierre Bayard and Assumpta Mugiranza, she set up the "Ateliers de la mémoire au Rwanda" (Workshops for the Memory of Rwanda) whose works include performances of Retour de Kigali (Return from Kigali) directed by Olivia Rosenthal and Dorcy Rubamga (Théâtre Ouvert, Tarmac, 2016).