Reyum is a non-profit space which sponsors exhibitions, lectures, concerts, film screenings and occasional performances. Founded by Ly Daravuth and the late Dr Ingrid Muan as a place for creative encounter and the exchange of ideas, Reyum originally opened in December 1988 under the name 'Situations: a Gallery'. The first exhibition of the storefront gallery space showcased a collection of work made by contemporary Cambodian artists on the theme of ‘Communication’ for curators collecting work for the First Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (1999). Works on display included those by painters Phy Chan Than, Long Sophea, Soeung Vannara, Hor Kim Srean and Svay Ken, as well as works by the sculptor Prom Sam An. ‘Continuity and Transmission’ was the second exhibition prepared and presented by Reyum. This exhibition featured three artists working in the traditional visual arts: Som Samai (silversmithing), Chet Chan (traditional painting) and An Sok (mask making). A third exhibition presented in the Spring of 1999 featured five large canvases resulting from a collaboration between Reyum and the painter Pech Song. These canvases offered large visual panoramas of each of the five political regimes through which Pech Song has lived and painted. During the summer of 1999, the downstairs gallery called ‘Situations’ expanded to include the entire building which is today called ‘Reyum’. An exhibition entitled ‘Khmer Lacquer Making and Lakhaoun Khaol’ opened in this newly expanded space in October 1999. The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue explored the use of masks in a particular kind of dance, illuminating both the techniques of mask making and the social meaning of the dance within village culture. In January of 2000, Reyum presented ‘The Legacy of Absence: A Cambodian Story’ in collaboration with the ongoing international effort, The Legacy Project. This exhibition assembled a group of works which pondered the absences produced as a result of the Khmer Rouge regime. Artists featured in the exhibition included Vann Nhat, Ngeth Sim, Srei Bandol, Svay Ken, Tum Saren, Phy Chan Than, Soeung Vannara, Lim Muy Theam, Ly Daravuth and Jan Montyn. In the Spring of 2000, Reyum presented a display of research work in progress by the noted Cambodian anthropologist Ang Choulean. Entitled ‘People and Earth’; the exhibition considered the various forms of representation which local spirits, the neak ta, are given at their sites of worship. This exhibition was accompanied by a lecture and illustrated catalogue. In the Autumn of 2000, Reyum presented a solo exhibition by Long Sophea, a professor of design at the Royal University of Fine Arts who received an MFA from an art institute in Moscow. Her new work, a series of silk batik paintings, combines elements of traditional Khmer mythology and ornament in settings whose formal syntax draws from various styles of western abstraction. A subsequent exhibition featured the ceramics work of the Pok Kiln, a private kiln near Phnom Penh founded by the late Chhun Pok. The Pok Kiln aims to research traditional forms as well as local materials, in order to create a line of Khmer ceramics with forms and glazings that draw on Khmer traditions but have contemporary use. In February 2001, Reyum presented an exhibition of traditional tools and their practices in the Cambodian countryside. The exhibition featured a collection of handmade tools borrowed from villagers in central Cambodia; their use was explained and their changing status as tools or objects was discussed. Accompanying photo essays and catalogue entries detailed the shifts in practices brought on by the coming of modernisation. Reyum also incorporates Reyum Publishing, which produces exhibition catalogues, art-related publications and educational materials such as children’s books, any profits from the sale of which are used to produce new titles, to reprint existing editions and to make books available to disadvantaged Cambodian children.