Cambodian creative cafes

Cambodia's riverside capital (Phnom Penh)is on the rebound. After little more than a decade of peace following 40 years of war, the city of two million is recapturing some of its early 20th-century flair. Foreign visitors drawn to Cambodia by its ancient monuments are discovering a thriving contemporary cultural scene with arts cafes, clubs and galleries springing up all over town. Among all those places, two places stand out from the crowd. 

JavaArts is a cultural enterprise that was launched in partnership with Java Café & Gallery in the year 2000 in Phnom Penh, where it operates a gallery and arts lab.  Supported by the café and gallery activities, JavaArts is a platform for the development of contemporary visual arts in Cambodia.  It works to sustain arts practice for artists, researchers, curators and other creative practitioners and has provided a launching pad to many emerging artists who have since gone on to become prominent figures in the contemporary art world.

Java Café & Gallery is a neighborhood hub, and an “icon” of café culture in the capital of Cambodia, being one of the first to open in 2000. An alternative to the daily routine, it is a place where creatives, families, students and business people all come to feel at home and be inspired.

In response to the changing artistic climate in Cambodia, JavaArts launched the Arts Lab and Residency program in 2012 to formalize and expand the support for art production, providing grants, workspace and logistical support to Cambodian artists. Initially, the space was created to showcase emerging artists, but it became clear that it served the community best in a generative role. The space evolved to be a modular arts lab that functions as an office, a studio, a gallery and an incubator for contemporary concepts and ideas.

In January 2007, German filmmaker Nico Mesterharm and his Cambodian team opened Phnom Penh's META HOUSE in association with the International Academy at the Free University of Berlin. Located in the heart of the city, Cambodia's first art/communication/media center is just a few minutes away from the riverside and Royal Palace.

Boasting more than 200 square meters of art exhibition space, the three story META HOUSE gallery in Phnom Penh/Cambodia offers an excellent space for artists-in-residence and visiting artists to interact. The kingdom's first art/media/communication center promotes the development of contemporary art in Cambodia through local and international exhibitions, workshops, community-based projects, artist exchange programs and by fostering links with South East Asian and international universities, galleries, curators, non-governmental and governmental organizations.

META HOUSE has not only established itself as a meeting place for artists and art lovers, but also as an intercultural and interdisciplinary networking platform for Cambodian-based artists, Cambodian artists living overseas and their international colleagues.