‘Artist Conference (1) - Interval’ at Comma Space – an Artistic/Critical Gathering
Daniel Chong, Ian Tee, Liu Liling, Victoria Hertel
By Nicholas Song
Daniel Chong, ‘I want to be a plant - Chapter 1’ (film still), 2023, single-channel video with sound, 7:11min. Image courtesy of the artist.
‘Artist Conference (1) - Interval’ opens at Comma Space on 2 September 2023. It is the inaugural edition of what the artistic director, Dr Wang Ruobing, hopes to be a regular feature in the independent arts space’s programming schedule. The show is beguilingly simple in its presentation, but its concept is multi-layered.
At first glance, ‘Artist Conference’ appears to follow the familiar format of a typical contemporary arts exhibition. It features the works of several artists, local and foreign. The featured artists employ various art forms and media which will not be alien to a regular contemporary art show viewer–installations, light boxes, sound, textiles, distressed metal, recycled objects, and so on. The artworks conceptualise various philosophical and societal issues, ranging from the deeply personal to the rigorously intellectual. And, as the name suggests, the exhibition also includes a feature which appears to be increasingly de rigueur in contemporary art shows–a discussion with the artists.
Ian Tee, ‘FIRE BLANKET 13’ (detail), 2023, fibre-glass fire blanket, unwanted textiles, deconstructed shoe bag, mylar, tent fly, polyester webbing, sequin patch and seat belt, 124 x 127cm. Image courtesy of the artist, Comma Space and Yavuz Gallery.
Four artists are featured in this exhibition. Daniel Chong presents ‘I want to be a plant – Chapter 1’, which flirts with absurdist humour in exploring very humanistic desires for care, concern and comfort. Ian Tee’s two works, ‘Fire Blanket 13’, and ‘寒山风’ (han shan feng, which means “Wind from Cold Mountain”) engage with the materiality of his media (textiles, distressed metal) to reflect on socio-cultural discourse as well as aesthetical principles. Liu Liling has three lightboxes in the show – ‘Black Coast II’, ‘Embrace (Spring)’, and ‘Overtone (Pearl)’ – which are meditations on the processes of image making and image viewing. Victoria Hertel showcases ‘Times’, which uses sound to explore the passage of time, and provides a clarion soundtrack to visitors to the exhibition, as the brass bells ring out (or do not) in response to the movement of the audience in, through and around the artwork.
Victoria Hertel, ‘Times’, 2023, brass metronome bells, solenoid actuators, microcontrollers, time-of-flight sensors, power supply, acoustic waves, dimensions variable. Photo by Zeharn & Zeherng. Image courtesy of the artist.
Liu Liling, 'Overtone (Pearl)' (detail), 2023, lightbox, 30 x 7 x 28cm. Photo by Chua Chye Teck. Image courtesy of the artist.
The art works in this exhibition are undoubtedly both intriguing and interesting. And yet, on closer inspection, ‘Artist Conference’ unveils itself to be a rather unconventional art exhibition. The art works on display are not actually the exhibition’s most important feature. Instead, the art works are the catalysts for the actual raison d’être for the exhibition–to serve as a platform for serious discussion of the presented artworks and to provide honest feedback to the artists.
Accordingly, the real highlight of the exhibition is the discussion on its opening day, also known as Opening Conference, between the artists and a panel of three seasoned arts practitioners nominated by the artists themselves. The panellists comprise Dr June Yap, who is Director of Curatorial & Collections at the Singapore Art Museum; Sam I-shan, an independent curator; and Ho Tzu Nyen, an internationally recognised Singaporean artist who had previously represented the Singapore Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011.
Comma Space, an artist-run experimental space located at 51 Jalan Pemimpin, Singapore.
The format of the “artist conference” is simple. Each of the four participating artists has 30 minutes to introduce his/her work, and engage with the panellists with a review of his/her presented work. The audience will also have the opportunity to participate in the discussion between the panellists and the artist following the panel’s initial comments and feedback on the presented work.
The impetus for ‘Artist Conference’ is both straightforward and profound. It springs from Dr Wang’s desire to provide a structured platform for artists in the earlier stages of their artistic practices to be able to receive honest and critical feedback from more experienced arts practitioners, so as to assist these artists in the development of their artistic practices. It draws upon Dr Wang’s multi-hyphenate roles as artist, critic, writer, researcher, curator and, most crucially in this context, arts educator.
“It springs from Dr Wang’s desire to provide a structured platform for artists in the earlier stages of their artistic practices to be able to receive honest and critical feedback from more experienced arts practitioners”
More specifically, Dr Wang notes that in conceiving ‘Artist Conference’, she was moved by the realisation that art students receive a lot of feedback on their art works from their lecturers while in art school, both in formal and informal settings. However, the opportunities for such feedback are rather rare once they graduate. There are hardly any structured discussions of artworks between young artists and seasoned arts practitioners. And at most art exhibitions, the audience is usually polite and enthusiastic. The conversations at an opening usually revolve around gaining insights (or entryways) into the works and the practice(s) and concern(s) of the artist(s), and rarely about thoughtful observations on the strengths (or otherwise) of the works on show.
‘Artist Conference’, then, hopes to fill a lacuna in the development of artists’ practice in their nascent years. And the artists featured in this exhibition are still at fairly early stages in their artistic careers. They all completed their formal fine arts education at LASALLE College of the Arts within the last five years. Daniel Chong, Liu Liling and Ian Tee graduated with BA (Hons)in Fine Arts (Hons) while Victoria Hertel graduated with a MA in Fine Arts. These artists have in less than a decade, each produced bodies of art works which have shown in exhibitions both locally and overseas. Some have also initiated curatorial and writing practices alongside their art practices.
It is also interesting that the participating artists have dubbed this inaugural edition of ‘Artist Conference’ as an ‘Interval’. It implies that the exhibition is indeed a caesura in their respective practices, a chance for external consideration and internal reflection on existing works before they continue with their practices and ongoing bodies of art works.
“It implies that the exhibition is indeed a caesura in their respective practices, a chance for external consideration and internal reflection on existing works.”
Key visuals for ‘Artist Conference (1) - Interval’. Image courtesy of Comma Space.
Even though ‘Artist Conference’ is intended to benefit the artists, the public will also learn how a critique session works. Selected recordings of the panel discussion will also be made available on Comma Space’s website and social media. It is a rare opportunity to listen to and learn how art practitioners approach an art work, especially to get an answer to the question often asked of contemporary art, “what on earth is this about?”pointers to the lay public on how to thoughtfully contemplate a contemporary artwork!
Accordingly, beyond being a visual and an aural treat for the audience, ‘Artist Conference’ promises to be an experimental and learning experience for both the artists and audience alike.
This article is adapted from Nicholas Song’s essay for ‘Artist Conference (1) - Interval’.
The exhibition is on view from 2 to 10 September 2023, at Comma Space, Singapore. Find out more about the show and RSVP for the artist tours here.
About the Writer
Nicholas Song is a lawyer by training and an amateur art enthusiast by temperament. In other words, he is part of the lay public for whom going to contemporary art shows is both a joyful and an anxious experience.
