June Round-Up

SAM, DECK, Gravity Art Space, 333 Gallery, MIT List Visual Arts Center, WOAW Gallery, NGS
By Vivyan Yeo

Jane Lee, detail of ‘Lila (The Ultimate Play)’, 2023, mixed media. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

Contemporary Art Exhibitions at Singapore Art Museum

Singapore Art Museum (SAM) opens three new art experiences that play with scale and presentation formats. The first is a solo exhibition by Singapore artist Jane Lee, who expands the boundaries of painting through mixed media experimentations. The second is the inaugural edition of ‘SAM Contemporaries’, a biennial project highlighting trends in local contemporary art. Titled ‘Residues & Remixes’, this edition explores new technologies and features work by six Singapore-based artists: Anthony Chin, Fyerool Darma, Khairulddin Wahab, Moses Tan, Priyageetha Dia and Yeyoon Avis Ann. The third experience is the Southeast Asian debut of German artist Hito Steyerl’s immersive video installation, ‘Factory of the Sun’.

‘Lila: Unending Play by Jane Lee’, ‘SAM Contemporaries: Residues & Remixes’ and ‘Hito Steyerl: Factory of the Sun’ run from 18 May to 24 September 2023 at Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Click here for more information.

DECK Associate Creative Programme 2023. Image courtesy of DECK.

DECK Associate Creative Programme 2023

The DECK Associate Creative Programme 2023 invites artists, curators, cultural producers, collectives and thinkers across the globe to produce and share new knowledge about photography and its adjacent practices. To participate in the open call, creatives may submit proposals through exhibition plans, scholarship and publications, education and outreach programmes, photography or research-based projects and public engagement. Each successful associate will work towards delivering their proposed project over a three-month creation period. They will receive a stipend of SGD2,500, access to resources, and support from DECK’s network of professionals.

Applications for the DECK Associate Creative Programme 2023 close on 7 June 2023. Click here for more information.

Wika Nadera, ‘What Light is Able to Retain’, 2023, cyanotype prints, sampaguita decorative blocks and zines. Image courtesy of Gravity Art Space.

object orientations

Curated by Carlos Quijon Jr., ‘object orientations’ challenges conventional understandings of the art object. It asks how we can understand objects beyond their use-value, as autonomous, inherently meaningful and self-sufficient. The show expands ideas around art and objecthood through performance, experiments with materials and techniques, poetic representations of language research, and more. The group exhibition features work by 13 Philippine creatives, including artists Bunny Cadag, Judy Freya Sibayan and Costantino Zicarelli, poet and translator Floraime Pantaleta, designer Clark Mendoza and art initiative Load na Dito.

‘object orientations’ runs from 26 May to 24 June 2023 at Gravity Art Space, Quezon City, the Philippines. Click here for more information.

'Body, Community, and Society: She is House' at 333 Gallery, installation view. Image courtesy of Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani.

Body, Community, and Society: She is House at 333 Gallery

Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani has curated an exhibition exploring the body in various ways: as a physical form and architectural habitat, and as a grouping, such as in a body of people or a body of knowledge. Featuring four artists, Mella Jaarsma, Maharani Mancanagara, Citra Sasmita, and Natasha Tontey, the works examine the intersections of body, gender and power in Indonesian societies, and how received ideas persist or are actively challenged. 

The exhibition opened at 333 Gallery in Bangkok on 3 June and runs till 2 July 2023. 

Look out for an interview with Mella Jaarsma in the upcoming CHECK-IN 2023 publication. More information here.

Sung Tieu, detail of ‘New Generation’, 2022, black steel, soil, 150 x 75 x 100cm. Photo by Mareike Tocha. Image courtesy of MIT List Visual Arts Center.

Sung Tieu: Civic Floor 

MIT List Visual Arts Center presents a solo exhibition by Berlin-based Vietnamese artist Sung Tieu. Comprising sculpture, installation, drawing, sound and video, her works investigate the psychological impacts of space. They allude to the sense of isolation embedded in sites of control and bureaucracy. Highlights include a series of sculptures that sit on unconventionally high pedestals, making them difficult to view from above. Created with black steel and spaced evenly apart, the geometric sculptures are reminiscent of Brutalist and Minimalist architecture designs, which promote surveillance and restrict behaviour. 

‘Sung Tieu: Civic Floor’ runs from 4 April to 16 July 2023 at MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, United States. Click here for more information.

William Lim, ‘Night Safari 3’, 2023, oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm. Image courtesy of WOAW Gallery.

In Search of Nocturnal Worlds 

The solo exhibition by Hong Kong artist and architect Dr William Lim showcases a new series of 15 oil paintings inspired by Singapore’s Night Safari. Titled ‘In Search of Nocturnal Worlds’, the show pays tribute to nature and its mysteries. His artworks bridge the human and natural worlds, integrating images of flora, fauna, wild creatures, and architectural frames. Simultaneously dark and colourful, his paintings convey a sense of intrigue, tranquillity and excitement. They serve as a reminder to protect and preserve the environment for future generations.

’In Search of Nocturnal Worlds’ runs from 2 June to 22 July 2023 at WOAW Gallery, Singapore. Click here for more information.

Jean Marie Syjuco, ‘See Me, See You (Revenge of the Giraffe)’, 1986, environmental components remade 2023, acrylic paint, gold powder and lacquer on wood, lens, bulbs, sound box, buzzer, books, ink, paper, sintra board, shelves, mirror, vinyl, cathode-ray tube television, video camera and live video feed. Image by Joseph Nair, Memphis West Pictures. Image courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.

See Me, See You: Early Video Installation of Southeast Asia

Presented by National Gallery Singapore, ‘See Me, See You: Early Video Installation of Southeast Asia’ is a two-part series that sheds light on historical moments in the 1980s and 1990s when video installations first appeared. The first of two installments displays five works by artists across Southeast Asia: Apinan Poshyananda from Thailand, Baharudin Mohd Arus from Malaysia, Chng Nai Wee from Singapore, and Jean Marie Syjuco and Johnny Manahan from the Philippines. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, these pioneering artists explored unconventional mediums at the time, incorporating installation, performance, audience participation and video.

The first part of ‘See Me, See You: Early Video Installation of Southeast Asia’ runs from 5 May to 17 September 2023 at National Gallery Singapore. Click here for more information.