SIFA, Canal Projects, STPI, Art Agenda, JKT and Yeo Workshop
By A&M

Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024

Genevieve Chua, ‘Wilful Machine’. Image courtesy of The Arts House.

Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024, under the directorship of Natalie Hennedige for the third year, is themed “The Declare”, after “Ritual” in 2022 and “Some People” in 2023, under the recurring title, ‘The Anatomy of Performance’. It celebrates the diversity of voices that the Festival features. From 17 May to 2 June, visitors can expect five commissioned productions. They include ‘Wilful Machine’, a performance-installation work created by Singapore visual artist Genevieve Chua, as well as ‘Refuge’ by Singapore band The Observatory and ‘The Prose and the Passion’ by Singapore theatre-makers Haresh Sharma and Chong Tze Chien. There will also be seven invited international presentations, such as ‘Sun & Sea’, the experiential opera performance by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, Lina Lapelytė, first shown at the Venice Biennale in 2019, which will be in Southeast Asia for the first time. Little SIFA, a new series of programmes will introduce children to the performing arts.

Visit sifa.sg for more details and to purchase tickets.

‘Trail Dust’ by Truong Công Tùng at Canal Projects

Truong Công Tùng, ‘The Lost Landscape #1’, 2021. Image courtesy of the artist and Canal Projects.

Vietnamese artist Truong Công Tùng is showing his multimedia installation ‘Trail Dust’ at Canal Projects in New York City. The work reimagines a living garden as a curtain made with beads from forest trees in Vietnam. These particular trees were introduced to the country alongside coffee, avocado, rubber and cashew trees during industrialisation. The artist considers the disruptive impact of modernity, colonialism and conflict on local practices. Together with the curtain is an installation of a row of lacquered gourds connected by clear plastic tubing, with water pumping between them. This is accompanied by a series of paintings, ‘Shadows in the Garden #3’, which shows natural and bodily forms covered by layers of sanded-down lacquer tree resin. And a video ‘The Lost Landscape #1’ (2021) takes viewers through the Natural History Museum in Paris, which reflects the Vietnamese folklore belief that what animals see right before their death are permanently captured in their eyes. All together, the works trace a journey of loss, and suggest alternative pathways to alternative ends.

The exhibition opened on 3 May 2024. More information here.

Departures | New Releases: Yanyun Chen, Hong Zhu An, Prabhavathi Meppayil

Prabhavathi Meppayil, t/lp/twenty nineteen ii, 2021, Embossed STPI handmade paper (triptych), 44.5 x 44.5 x 4cm each. Image courtesy of the artist and STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery.

STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery is showing new works from Yanyun Chen, Hong Zhu An and Prabhavathi Meppayil, created during the artists’ respective residencies from 2019 to 2022. Featuring evocative titles, their works represent experimentations with print and paper, in collaboration with the Creative Workshop. Chen has used handmade mulberry paper in her works, as well as mulberry charcoal and bark, to create works such as ‘Seen, screen, scatter’ and ‘Whisper, mulberry dream’. Hong Zhu Ann has used coloured paper pulp as a basis for the series of works created during the residency, and Meppayil has used embossed STPI handmade paper, such as ‘t/lp/twenty nineteen ii’ (2021), and including the embedding of copper wire in works such as ‘p/cu/twenty nineteen i’ (2021).

The show is ongoing from 13 April to 9 June 2024. More information here.

Hayat: Affandi

Affandi, ‘Banyan Tree’, 1966, oil on canvas, 97 x 125cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda.

Affandi, ‘Lotus’, 1979, oil on canvas, 94 x 125cm. Image courtesy of Art Agenda.

Art Agenda opened the sixth exhibition in The Modernist Series in its Jakarta gallery, featuring the modern Indonesian artist Affandi in an exhibition titled ‘Hayat’, or ‘Life’. The artist painted with empathy, observing his immediate surroundings and successfully capturing daily life on his canvases. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to experience 9 works by the artist in a single space. It is particularly exciting considering the artist’s inclusion at the recently opened Venice Biennale, where his ‘Self-Portrait’ (1975) is on show. Highlights include ‘Banyan Tree’ (1966) and ‘Lotus’ (1979).

‘Hayat: Affandi’ is on show at Art Agenda, JKT, at the JKT Art Hub from 4 May to 31 May 2024. More information here. In addition, read an essay here on A&M by Wang Zineng, Founder & Director, Art Agenda, in which he reflects on his recent visit to the Venice Biennale.

The Not Singapore Art Project: Migration to the Internet Country and Portable Identity. Some paintings at play: a flash solo by NG Joon Kiat

Ng Joon Kiat, ‘patchwork identity 1’, 2021, thread, watercolour on paper, 39 x 48cm. Image courtesy of the artist. — Ng Joon Kiat, ‘Patchwork Identity 1’, 2021, thread, watercolour on paper, 39 x 48cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Yeo Workshop presents ‘The Not Singapore Art Project: Migration to the Internet Country and Portable Identity. Some paintings at play: a flash solo by NG Joon Kiat’, a solo exhibition by Ng Joon Kiat. The artist continues to challenge geographical boundaries while negotiating his artistic identity. Since the pandemic, Ng has used the internet to connect with communities and aesthetics, and it has in turn shaped his sense of self. This is captured in the ‘Patchwork Identity’ series, where landscapes are layered upon screenshots and show how our identities are informed by our exposures to and interactions with our environments. At the same time, some of the works document physical travel that the artist has undertaken, such as with ‘Looking at the South China Sea’. Some earlier series, including ‘White Noise’ (2017) and ‘Painted Vocabularies’ (2019) will also be on show, and collectively display the artist’s play with contemporary painting.

The show opens from 18 May to 16 June 2024. More information here.

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