October Round-Up

Art Agenda, JKT, Gajah Gallery, XSPACE Art Gallery and more
By Alana Malika and Woong Soak Teng

Sarita Ibnoe, ‘A Weaving about Going and Coming Back – Room Separator’, 2021, wooden room separator and cotton yarns, 178 x 320cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda, JKT.

Inside Out / Outside In
Curated by Ignatius Krishnaya Santoso and Andari Suherlan, Art Agenda, JKT presents ‘Inside Out / Outside In’, a group exhibition which explores the diverse experiences and perspectives on questions of artistic identity, cultural authenticity and belonging of third culture artists. Featuring Kurt Peterson, Ruth Marbun, Sarita Ibnoe, Ella Wijt and Joschua Setiawan, the show hopes to deepen one’s understanding of contemporary Indonesian art, and encourage those belonging to the same culture to explore their own identity. 

Art Agenda, JKT, 6 to 30 October 2021.

Susie Lingham, ‘BookLibrary - Incunabula’, 2021, mixed media assemblage in custom box-frames, 45 x 33.5 x 18cm each. Image courtesy of Gajah Gallery.

5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time
Gajah Gallery, Singapore will have ‘5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time’, a retroactive survey of 5th Passage Singapore’s first corporate-sponsored artist initiative which ran from 1991 to 1996. The show invites artists who have previously presented in the multidisciplinary space, including Suzann Victor, Susie Lingham, John Clang, Siew Kee Liong, Kai Lam, Eve Tan, Ray Langenbach, Jason Lim, Chu Chu Yuan and Susie Wong. Curated by John Tung, viewers are encouraged to reflect on the historicisation of 5th Passage not through a nostalgic revival, but a contemplation of the narratives that emerge from subjective memory.

Gajah Gallery, 23 September to 24 October 2021.

Exhibition view of ‘Painting X’. Image courtesy of XSPACE Gallery, Bangkok.

Painting X
The exhibition ‘Painting X’ at XSPACE Gallery, Bangkok is an inquiry into the contemporary state of Thailand's local art scene. In a collection of 200 paintings by 25 artists, the show uses painting as a medium to explore Thailand through a range of techniques, textures, themes, and more. Curated by Angkrit Ajchariyasophon, the show is staged to propel future experimentations in painting.

XSPACE Art Gallery, 5 August to 5 November 2021.

Exhibition view of ‘Soft Realities’. Image courtesy of 136 Goethe Lab and Third Street Studio.

Soft Realities
136 Goethe Lab, a new project space by Goethe-Institut Singapore, unveils its first cultural programme, ‘Soft Realities’, featuring Fiona Tan, Finbarr Fallon, and Ong Kian Peng. The first of three exhibitions selected through an open call, the site-specific, multimedia installation responds to the built architecture of the institute’s basement with an immersive assemblage of building materials, light, video and sound elements.

136 Goethe Lab, 2 to 31 October 2021.

Chong Kim Chiew, ‘Ringgit Malaysia (we create the value of art, from zero to infinity) #2’, 2021, acrylic and tape on canvas, 90 × 180cm. Image courtesy of A+ WORKS of ART.

Make Money With Money, Make Art With Art
A+ WORKS of ART presents a solo exhibition by Chong Kim Chiew exploring the art of money as both a fetish object and a value system. A development of the artist’s signature style and subject, 12 canvases depicting past and present banknotes are showcased in replica art fair booths, questioning what constitutes money and how it runs the world.

A+ WORKS of ART, Kuala Lumpur, 24 September to 17 October 2021.