Let's Get Into Digital (Feb-Mar)

The Non Season, SAW Dialogues and more
By Shalyn Lim

Poster for The Non Season. Image courtesy of Hyphen BB and Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF).

The Non Season

As part of the Art Around the City campaign, The Non Season is an eclectic public art, fashion and lifestyle exhibition organised by Hyphen BB and the Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF). The multidisciplinary event, which can be accessed online here, includes a range of in-store activations and programmes including art installations, workshops as well as panel discussions, such as ‘If Not Seasons: Alternative Structures in Fashion and Art’, which will be moderated by Nadya Wang, Editor of Art & Market with panelists artist Divaagar, fashion retailer Tina Tan-Leo and fashion designer Wykidd Song. 

Click here for more information on the event, which takes place from 17 February to 10 April 2022. 

Kanchana Gupta, still image from ‘Production of Desire’, 2020. Image courtesy of artist. 

‘While She Quivers’

Objectifs will present a two-part series of online talks for the exhibition ‘While She Quivers’. ‘Constructions of Femininity and Women's Expressions’ is the first talk of the series that will discuss how culture and media act as prominent forces behind gender-based socialisations of women. The second talk, ‘Unpacking Feminine Auto/narratives’ will centre on women’s voices and lived experiences, shaped by personal anecdotes, memories and encounters embedded within auto/biological narratives.

Click here for more information and to register for the talks, which take place on 12 and 26 February 2022.

Living Pictures: Lectures on Photography in Southeast Asia

The National Gallery of Singapore is hosting a series of online lectures that examines photography in Southeast Asia.  The first lecture by Dr Alexander Suparnto on 15 February looked at how art historian and archaeologist G.P. Rouffaer reviewed the Javanese antiquity photographs of Kassian Cephas and Isidore van Kinsbergen. Javanese antiquity photographs. On the afternoon of 18 February, Dr Kevin Chua and Dr Christophe Pottier will discuss the work of architect Henri Parmentier (1871–1949) and romanticism in photography of Angkorian temples. This is followed by ‘Visual Empire: Translations & Reproductions’, where Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn and Zoe Butt will talk about the mobility of Vietnamese photographers in the early 20th century and the role their work played in anti-colonial struggles. 

For more information on the talks, click here.

Poster for ‘Pointing ‘South-South,’ or: Art-History Aside’. Image taken from the Singapore Art Museum website. 

Pointing ‘South-South,’ or: Art-History Aside

Singapore Art Museum presents an online talk on 23 February, based partly on the essay “Left, Right, Inside, Out: Art and Comparison” in the January 2022 issue of Artforum.  In the exhibition ‘A Machine Boosting Energy into the Universe’, Korakrit Arunanondchai takes the naga, a serpent-deity of Southeast and South Asian lore, as a figure of unruliness representing a power from “below”. In doing so, he injects chance, chaos and revolutionary forces into the narrative of art and history. In the talk moderated by Chanon Kenji Prraepipatmongkol, Mostafa Heddaya will consider how this gesture of invoking the powers of the South to subvert dominant histories has become fundamental to the rhetoric of contemporary art today. 

Click here to register for the talk.

Poster for the Constructing the Body Reading Group. Image courtesy of Malaysian Design Archive.

Constructing the Body: ‘Ugly Feelings 

Constructing the Body is a reading group formed by Malaysia Design Archive exploring discourses of the body. By unpacking the body as a performative product of systems of power, we can reimagine possibilities for contestations, knowledge, disruption, and play. The next book under discussion is Sianne Ngai’s ‘Ugly Feelings’ (2005), which investigates ideological and representational dilemmas with a focus on gender and race. The group will talk about how it brings to light the suspended agency of art as a site for these emotions.

Click here to register for the talk, which will take place on 21 February 2022. 

Poster for SAW Dialogues 2022

Singapore Art Week (SAW) Dialogues 2022

As part of Singapore Art Week 2022, A&M organised SAW Dialogues in partnership with the National Arts Council, Singapore. The series of 13 talks responded to the overarching theme of retrofuturism, ruminating on past lessons learnt to make smarter plans for the future. Catch up on the talks and read the summaries of key takeaways here on Art & Market. Some of the talks are available as podcast episodes as well.