The museums behind the murmurs of a Southeast Asian renaissance

Museums have always been both window and mirror: they provide a lens into our society while also functioning as a way to reflect upon our own lives.
They have played an outsize role in shaping culture, often with political purpose; the National Palace Museum in Taipei forms part of Taiwan’s claim that it is the “real China”, while the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts presents what it considers to be works exhibiting the “national character” of the country.
In…