Artzine

STPI at Art Basel Miami Beach

Keep reading for to see what STPI brought to Art Basel Miami Beach this year.

December 08, 2014

Ten Gifts for under $1,000

Click through for The Artling's picks of ten unique artworks to gift to your loved ones, all under US$ 1,000!

December 05, 2014

Singapore Art Fair

Click through for some images of the first day of the inaugural Singapore Art Fair!

November 28, 2014

Interview with Brian Curtin of H Gallery Bangkok

Brian Curtin currently programs and curates for H Gallery Bangkok, including H Project Space and H Chiang Mai. You earned a PhD in Studio Art from the University of Bristol, presumably hoping to be an artist, what happened? Do you still have thoughts of becoming an artist instead of a curator? There are different ways to answer this. I studied at a number of Irish and British art schools through the 80s and 90s when the now commonplace professionalization of fine art practices was only burgeoning. The culture of art schools was still a magnet for creative types with no clear sense of a career-path. In fact, I knew many aspiring writers back then and people with a generic interest in what we now call the creative industries, rather than individuals with a dedicated interest in becoming a visual artist. I ended up studying for a PhD because I was part of the historical moment when independent art schools and colleges in the UK began amalgamating with universities and therefore came under research culture and interdisciplinary methodologies. The PhD was becoming the new MFA. My PhD was studio-based but I also wrote a thesis. My research was in queer masculinities and I became somewhat politicized about my own relationship to the world and decided that writing, rather than visual art, was the best way to address these interests. I could answer the question facetiously with “What do mean by ‘artist’?” And I have been [lightly] accused of curating as a frustrated artist. But any writer or curator who began life as an artist will say the same: they are interrelated practices and it just so happens that one won out over the other, at least professionally. I moved to Bangkok in 2000 and was still working as an artist. By 2005 I’d worked out that Thailand didn’t need foreign artists (back then) but the city did need foreign art critics. That was another incentive.   Installation view of H Gallery with works by Sopheap Pich, 2014. Image courtesy of Ernest H Lee   What does H Gallery set out to do, and how does it differ from H Project Space? H Gallery was founded, as an exhibition space that built on a private dealership, in 2002 by the US-born Ernest H. Lee. The gallery rode the wave of increased international interest in contemporary art from diverse regions and specialized in art from Thailand. H later worked with the curator Connelly La Mar who introduced foreign artists and quirky group shows into the mix. I approached H in 2011 to add to the work that Connelly established in terms of greater dialogue between Thai and foreign, including regional, artists. I also opened H Project Space because Bangkok had no experimental spaces at the time in spite of the precedents of Visual Dharma Gallery, Project 304 and About Café in the 80s and 90s. But H Project Space has a caveat: the artist would be challenged by the period details of the architecture and the fact the room has natural air-conditioning, so can be very hot. We’ve done site-specific shows with Jedsada Tangtrakulwong, whose minimal intervention was based on a cobweb; and Sheelah Murthy turned the space into a traditional massage parlor where the movement of participants’ bodies was linked to projected stock exchange reports. Many other artists have worked outside their established methods. H Project Space does not mount object-based shows, which the main program of the gallery typically does. However, because the local art scene is evolving with experimental spaces like Speedy Grandma and Soy Sauce Factory I am in the process of reinventing H Project Space. By 2016 I hope the space will function as a network point between the artists’ working space, publishing/education initiatives and spaces abroad which will give life to the work. The current model of experimental-variation-of-an-exhibition space is becoming exhausted. Besides curating for H Gallery, you are also a lecturer and art critic, how do you juggle everything? And is this a natural thing to do? Distinctions between these activities can blur. My situation in this regard is common because inter-disciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity have been in vogue for as long as I can remember. Further, there have been cultural shifts such as the death of the figure of the singular, dominant art critic who now can no longer be emulated; relationships between academia and the art world have evolved exponentially; and the expansion of the international art market has produced more and new employment opportunities. In the specific case of Southeast Asia, there is a pressured need to take on different roles because, simply, there aren’t enough people involved. My colleagues in Phnom Penh, for example, work constantly on diverse projects as a consequence of increased international interest. I sometimes think of an anecdote by the US writer Peter Schjedahl who reported that he refused writing commissions from galleries because this would conflict with his status as an art critic. This is unthinkable now. We all make work – artists, curators, writers – to be seen, read and discussed across different contexts and as relationships between these modes become tighter, if not segue, our individual practices run a spectrum of activities. Furthermore, the idea of ‘research’ increasingly underlines art-related practices and education programs in galleries have become very sophisticated so relationships to university culture are inevitable and secure. We can see this, for example, in the sponsorship of Singapore’s Center for Contemporary Art by Nanyang Technological University, and the programs the center has established.   Sheelah Murthy, Economies of Touch, January 2013, H Project Space. Image courtesy of H Gallery Bangkok What inspired you to move to Thailand in 2000? And how has the art landscape changed since then? My partner is the Thai artist Be Takerng Pattanopas. The Asian Economic Crisis in 1997, which began in Bangkok, turned the city into a time capsule for a few years: it was literally stalled. I still remember noting new building work beginning around 2002. However, while the art scene was small it was moving. Silom Art Space mounted the brilliant installation Yellow Simple by Sakarin Krue-On, 100 Tonson Gallery was showing Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, and Apinan Poshyananda was then director of the Art Center of Chulalongkorn University where he showed videos by Marina Abramovic. Also, Thailand first took part in the Venice Biennale in 2004. The main difference between then and now is that there are more foreigners involved now and the scene is more variable in types of spaces and projects. When one talks about Thai Art, usually we think of decorative wall art, landscape scenes or Buddhist sculptures… what is Thai Art today? How would you define or describe it?  The reference to Buddhism is reasonable because Buddhist art did constitute an avant-garde in the 70s and 80s in Thailand as a reaction against accelerated foreign influences in art. And the Department of Thai Art at Silpakorn University has produced some great artists, including Maitree Siriboon whose early works were influenced by rural temple murals but with an unembarrassed homoerotic element.  But, in terms of ‘contemporary art’, the question of ‘Thai’ is vexed – like ‘Southeast Asia’ or ‘Asia’. While few would seriously take these terms as self-evident in their meaning, they are nevertheless often blithely used in curatorial and writing projects. There have been some appalling survey exhibitions that seek to integrate disparate practices to a nationalistic agenda; or market-minded exhibitions that merely throw a spotlight on the region; or curators who mount nation-based ‘showcases’ of artists at art fairs. Within Southeast Asia’s art contexts, it seems that there is much more work to be done on the discursive connections between history, culture, trans-nationalism and geo-politics; and, of course, the critical issue of what can be meant by ‘contemporary’. In recent years I’ve detected a new flavor of criticality in younger Thai artists, what we could term post-national. That is, there has been a shift ways from overarching national interests (such as Buddhism, and the problems of economic development) to a preoccupation with individual identities and the very fragmentation of identity itself. We can see this in the photographs of Tada Hengsapkul, the installations of Pisitakun Kuntalaeng and the remarkable fabric works of Jakkai Siributr, amongst others.  But art in Thailand from recent decades is marked by a diversity of forms and potentially multiple interests. Siributr’s practice, for example, can be linked to Thai animist beliefs but he is also relevant to histories of the relationships between craft, decoration and canonical visual art. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook is comparably situated between divergent interests, between local ritual and universal considerations of meaning and interpretation. I believe this diversity has contributed to the relative invisibility of ‘Thai art’ on international circuits; it is less availability to fixity than, say, the postcolonial contexts of art from the Philippines or the political contexts of artists emerging from Cambodia.   Pinaree Sanpitak participatory event, Prahok / Plaa Raa, as part of “Rates of Exchange, Un-compared; Contemporary Art in Bangkok and Phnom Penh,” 2014. Image courtesy of H Gallery Bangkok   You are currently working on 2 new publications on contemporary art in Thailand and the history of Bangkok; can you share information about these projects? These are book projects with Reaktion Books in the UK. While they are officially very different both overlap for me because I am interested in the social and political conditions in which art and its meanings can emerge. The book on contemporary art in Thailand traces what I hope will be a straightforward narrative from national to post-national interests on behalf of local artists since the late 80s: the difference between, say, Manit Sriwanichpoom’s early works (such as his famed Pink Man series) and the works of younger artists such as Tada and Pisitakun. I am thinking speculatively about the cyclical nature of Thai politics as the country recently experienced its 13th military coup d’etat since 1930s, the absurd and violent policies to instill a coherent sense of national identity, and the suggestion that the protests by the rural poor in recent years have torn the national imaginary to a degree that can’t be healed. Perhaps this is the backdrop to younger artists stepping back from contributing to the ‘imagined community’ of Thailand. There are many great writers in Thai Studies and Southeast Studies, such as Scott Barme and Ara Wilson and emergent scholarship includes Clare Veal’s research on photography in Thailand, Simon Soon’s work on 70s leftwing artist groups in the region and Koompong Noobanjong’s studies in politics and architectural identity in the country. These are very important sources for a contemporary book on the city of Bangkok as they can help us move away from more typically elite narratives or what Rosalind C. Morris termed the ‘saccharine tropes’ through which Thailand is usually interpreted. Lastly, are there any major projects we can look forward to in the near future? I am currently editing an edition of the journal Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific on the theme of ‘Queer Theory and Visual Cultures in Southeast Asia’. The essayists grapple with ideas of queer as they have been formed in academic contexts and provide rich, complex accounts of how visual imagery can be interpreted, and how it ‘acts’ on us in surprising ways. This is due to be published early next year. Also, in December, H Gallery will mount Rates of Exchange, Un-Compared: Contemporary Art in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, which is the culmination of a co-curated project with the great Roger Nelson, an academic and curator based in Phnom Penh. This was a 6-month project of residencies and symposia that was funded by the Australia Council of the Arts. The exhibition will travel to SA SA BASACC in Cambodia in January and includes Pinaree Sanpitak, Orawan Arunrak and Tith Kanitha.   Brian Curtin. Image courtesy of H Gallery Bangkok   Brian Curtin is an Irish-born lecturer, art critic and curator of contemporary art. He holds a Ph.D. in studio art from the University of Bristol - further to studying at the Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, and the University of Ulster at Belfast - and has been based in Bangkok since 2000. Brian is currently a full-time lecturer at Bangkok University and previous teaching posts include the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University and the School of Architecture and Design at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. His teaching areas are in art history and contextual studies and his research areas include queer aesthetics, contemporary art in Southeast Asia and critical theories of photography. Brian is external examiner for the MFA in Communication Design at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi and has been a tutor for the MFA program at the Art Institute of Boston. As a curator Brian works with a variety of spaces and has mounted exhibitions in New York, China, Korea and the UK as well as regionally. Exhibition titles include The Ethics of Encounter: Contemporary Art from India and Thailand (2008); On the Threshold of the Senses: New Art from Southeast Asia (2012); Intimately: An Exhibition of Photography(2012); Economies of Touch: Sheelah Murthy (2013); Radiation: Art and Queer Ideas from Bangkok and Manila (2014); and Rates of Exchange, Un-Compared: Contemporary Art in Bangkok and Phnom Penh (2014). His curatorial work has been funded by Arts Council England and Australia Council for the Arts. Since 2011 Brian has managed H Project Space as part of H Gallery Bangkok. Brian has been a contributor/contributing editor to the magazines Art iT, Contemporary, Circa, Frieze, Flash Art, Artforum.com and Art Asia Pacific, as well as writing for a range of other contexts. His published profiles of artists include Alice Maher, Sopheap Pich, Collier Schorr, Paul Pfeiffer, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.    

November 07, 2014

Interview with Stella Chang

The Artling interviews Stella Chang, Director of Yavuz Gallery, Singapore.

November 06, 2014

Gillman Barracks Exhibitions

Click through for a selection of current and upcoming exhibitions at Singapore's Gillman Barracks!

November 06, 2014

Frieze: the Art Mecca

And so it was! After much anticipation, on Wednesday, 15 October, the doors opened to the 12th edition of Frieze Art Fair, the art mecca of international contemporary (and modern) art. Confronting the audience at its doorstep was Gartenkinder, a Walt Disney-like installation by artist Carsten Höller, strategically located and hosted by Gagosian Gallery Since its inception in 2003 Frieze has grown incredibly, adding major components to its core programming thus creating a strong diversity in the art on offer. In 2012 Frieze New York and Frieze Masters were initiated, the latter to run concurrently with Frieze London in the purpose-built structure at the Regent’s Park premises. To optimise the space in this tent-like structure (assembled every year a few days prior to the event and then collapsed and packed right after the fair is over), the Frieze management invited Universal Design Studio this year to introduce a new colour-coded layout that was easy to navigate thanks to fluorescent banners indicating the various sections of the fair. From fuchsia to orange and green, the additional colour-coordinated components of Frieze 2014 are ‘Focus’, dedicated to galleries up to 12 years old; ‘Live’, dedicated to performance and participatory works; and ‘Frieze Projects’, curated admirably by Nicola Lees, which included commissioned works and performances scattered around the city of London. This leading international art fair attracts collectors, art connoisseurs and the general public from all over the world; it is a powerhouse of the art market as well as an open window to the contemporary art scene, though, primarily from the West. In fact, out of the 162 galleries selected for this edition 30% are from the United Kingdom, accompanied by an equal percentage from Germany and the United States. Few, if any, were galleries from Asia and the rest of the world, which is rather disappointing considering that contemporary art is no longer the province of Europe and North America, an argument that Frieze should strongly embrace given the supposedly international approach of the fair. Among the few non-European galleries, Gallery Rampa from Istanbul offered splendid photographs and video documentation by artist Nilbar Gures (b. 1977, Istanbul). The remarkable abundance of textile in the staged images by Gures offered a matter of fact representation of the history and reality of the place of women in Turkish society. As part of the experimental section of ‘Live’, two fascinating presentations caught the attention of the public: UNITED BROTHERS (Green Tea Gallery, Iwaki) and well-known artist Robert Breer (gb agency, Paris).   The latter is a restaging of the historical piece Floats, originally created for Experiments in Art and Technology at the 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka. Floats is made of dome-shaped self-propelled structures. The slow motion of these structures engage the viewers with the disarming sensation that they themselves are moving while staying motionless. Does This Soup Taste Ambivalent? by UNITED BROTHERS is on the other hand a performance executed daily at 1 pm, which involved the offering of portions of soup to the audience. The concoction, cooked in loco by the artists’ mother, contains various plants and ingredients including vegetables grown within the regions of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The ingredients have been certified safe but their use still poses the ethical question of safety and consumption. Two of the ‘Frieze Projects’ off-site events that attracted particular attention were the series of ‘occasions’ hosted by artist Isabel Lewis (b. 1981, Dominican Republic) in collaboration with ICA London and The Old Selfridges Hotel, and the one-night performance at the same location by artist Korakrit Arunanondchai (b. 1986, Thailand), as well as Cerith Wyn Evans’ (b. 1958, United Kingdom) exhibitions at the London Zoo and Serpentine Sackler Gallery. Since its opening in 1909 Selfridges has been committed to supporting the arts. Following this motto ICA has been using the former hotel premises over the years to host art events. Addressing the Asian community in London, Korakrit Arunanondchai collaborated with ICA to stage The Last 3 Years and the Future. This work stems from a series of ongoing performances and video presentations by the artist at various locations, including, recently, MoMA PS1, New York. Arunanondchai left his native Bangkok to study in New York City. His dual perspective as insider and outsider on Thai culture prompts him to produce engaging works that relate to cultural issues in his native land. The major solo show by Cerith Wyn Evans at Serpentine Sackler Gallery, which coincided with his ‘Frieze Projects’ installation at the London Zoo, is an immersive light and sound installation conceived by the artist to respond to the rough, textured space of the gallery covered in brick walls. Wyn Evans described the exhibition as “responding to the spaces which examine the transformative ‘Site/Sight/Cite’ effects that light, sound and duration can have on both spaces and their occupants…” Overall, the public attendance of the fair was overwhelming in terms of number, engagement and, apparently, sales. However, while Frieze sets the bar one notch higher every year, there still seems to be space for improvement as I gathered from Lorenzo Rudolf, founder and director of Art Stage Singapore, when I asked him what he felt was the best and the worst of Frieze this year:  “The best was Helly Nahmad’s installation at Frieze Masters of a collector’s apartment in the 60s. Perfectly done with a wonderful mix of works to show that collecting art should first of all be a deep passion and not an investment. The worst was to see quite a lot of mediocre works at Frieze.” “Is it enough,” Rudolf pondered as he regarded specific works presented, supposedly, as humourous, “to be funny to be considered (good) art?”  

October 31, 2014

Interview with Photographer Tay Kay Chin

The Artling interview's Singaporean photographer Tay Kay Chin.

October 31, 2014

Ai Jing, Artist

Our contributor series explores the ideas of gallerists, artists, directors, curators for an insight into the development of the international art scene...

October 24, 2014

Archipavilion Competition Frequently Asked Questions

  We’re pleased to have received such a warm response to The OUE Artling Archipavilion Competition! Some of you have questions about the mechanics and so we’re writing this FAQ entry to answer them. If you’re interested in participating in the competition, we encourage you to bookmark this page as we will update this as we get more questions.   Important Update as of 03 Dec 2014 Following feedback and to help more young architectural practices to submit entries, the Artling and SIA are amending one of the 3 key criteria that apply specifically to the Project Lead Architect Firm which is also the firm/entrant that submits the application: 1. At least one employee/partner at the Project Lead Architect Firm is a BOA Registered Architect. 2. The Project Lead Architect Firm is incorporated in on after 2004 (thus fulfilling the competition’s definition of “young” architects).  3. At least one employee of the Project Lead Architect Firm is a Corporate Member of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA). This will now change to: The Project Lead Architect Firm need not be an SIA member on submission of entry. However, the Winning Entry is required to become a member of SIA, whereupon The Artling will sponsor the cost of an annual membership. The membership requirement applies to the Winning Firm only. 4. The Competition Closing date has been extended to 12 January 2015 and the query deadline will also be extended to 23 December 2014. OUE ARTLING ARCHIPAVILION DESIGN COMPETITION Did you know? The Entries MUST be submitted by a Singapore incorporated Architectural Firm, hereafter known as the PROJECT LEAD. The PROJECT LEAD must be incorporated in or after 2004 (thus fulfilling the competition’s definition of “young” architects). The PROJECT LEAD can choose to enter into a “Submission Consortium” as described under Important Information. At least one employee / partner at the PROJECT LEAD or the Submission Consortium must be a BOA Registered Architect. At least one employee / partner of the Project Lead Architect Firm or the Submission Consortium must be a Corporate Member of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA). Please refer to Important Update as of 03 Dec 2014 The eventual winning entries will be named as in the following example: OUE prize winning design by “ABC Architect - the Project Lead, with XYZ Company.” Important Information The criteria in fact allows the PROJECT LEAD to decide, at its own discretion, to work in partnership with any of the following:  A mentoring entity incorporated BEFORE 2004 which can be in but is not restricted to the architectural industry,  A mentoring foreign-incorporated entity which can be in but is not restricted to the architectural industry,  Professional individual(s) that may be an artist or designer or engineer or have a combination of expert skills the PROJECT LEAD deems would be a needful addition to their entry. Useful URLs For more information on the competition, please visit the Competition page.   The OUE Artling ArchiPavilion Competition FAQs: 1. To whom do the key competition criteria need to apply? These are the 3 key criteria for entry and they apply specifically to the Project Lead Architect Firm which is also the firm/entrant that submits the application: At least one employee / partner at the Project Lead Architect Firm is a BOA Registered Architect. At least one employee of the Project Lead Architect Firm is a Corporate Member of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA). The Project Lead Architect Firm is incorporated in on after 2004 (thus fulfilling the competition’s definition of “young” architects). Please refer to Important Update as of 03 Dec 2014 2. In some of your press articles there was a mention of “young architectural practice”, what does “young” in this context mean?  This criteria applies to the Project Lead Architect Firm, herewith referred to as Project Lead.  The Project Lead may decide, at its own discretion, to work in partnership with any of the following:  (a) an entity incorporated BEFORE 2004 which can be in but is not restricted to the architectural industry,  (b) a foreign-incorporated entity which can be in but is not restricted to the architectural industry,  © professional individual(s) that may be an artist or designer or engineer or have a combination of expert skills the Project Lead deems would be a needfull addition to their entry. 3. Why “young architectural practice”? The organizers intend for the competition to incubate and provide opportunities for younger architectural firms who may not have the means to break through.  It is hoped that the platform will act as a launch-pad to capture international attention. The date of incorporation was chosen after studying other international competitions aimed at young architectural practices and after discussions amongst the Jury.   As stated above, the competition criteria does not preclude established practices from participating.  Entrants can also be partnerships between the young architectural practice and mentoring local or foreign firms, as long as the submitting firm is Singapore-incorporated and has one partner /director who is a member of the Singapore Institute of Architects.  Entrants, fulfilling the above criteria, can also collaborate with Artists provided the name of the artist is declared.  Please refer to Important Update as of 03 Dec 2014 4. Do you allow firms that were incorporated before 2004 to apply? The Firm submitting the entry, who is also the Project Lead Architect Firm, must be incorporated in or after 2004.  5. Can an associate member of Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) apply? SIA Associate members are not eligible.  The Firm submitting the entry who is also the Project Lead Architect Firm, must have an employee or practicing partner who is Corporate member with the SIA.  Please refer to Important Update as of 03 Dec 2014 6. Is there any registration required in advance? No. The forms just need to be submitted together with your design proposals by the 23rd of Dec 2014. 7. Are there any registration fees? No, the registration is free. 8. Is the Registration Number on the registration form computer generated upon submission? No. This number shall be created entirely by the entrant, as long as it is a combination of 1 alphabet and 3 roman numbers. In the event of coincidental duplication, the organiser will assign an alternative number to the second entrant who will be informed via e-mail.  9. What is the location of the space where the winning design will be built? Subject to The Artling rising funds for the construction, the winning design will be built at The Lawn @ Marina Bay. The tentative plan is for the pop-up structure to be erected from 9 September to 30 September 2015. The exact location may be found here: https://www.marina-bay.sg/organise/Map_of_Marina_Bay.pdf   10. How will the prize money be paid? This will be paid in two installments.  50% will be presented at the Prize Winners Ceremony on 24 February 2015.  The remaining 50% will be presented no later than 30 days after the completion of the construction of the Pavilion. If, however, the construction does not go ahead, the remaining 50% will be paid no later than 14 days from the date of such announcement. 11. Who owns the IP for the Winning Designs? The IP belongs to The Artling. However, The Artling will attribute the winning designs to the respective Project Lead (and team if the submission is a Consortium).  12. Who will own the Winning Structure? The Artling will own the Winning Structure. 13. What does the budget of S$350,000 cover? The Criteria states “the Final Total Construction Cost of the pavilion shall not exceed $350,000.00.”  The budget applies to Construction and ME only.   The Artling will seek in-kind sponsorship to cover the costs for erecting the structure therefore the role of the Winner is one of advisor to the Pavilion project. 14. Who is responsible for the Liability Insurance of the erected structure? The Artling. 15. What is the minimum size of each of the spaces required? At least 60% of the space should be allocated to Artwork Display. The rest of the space should allow for a VIP dining room for 30 people, a small café, a champagne bar, a book corner and an auction/special events/talks room for a standing audience. This allocation will be subject to final evaluation and winners are required to amend the design if necessary at no additional fee.  16. Is storage space for the artworks, etc. required? No, this is not required. 17. Is Air Conditioning required? If so, for which spaces are they required for? All spaces should generally be air conditioned by temporary devices, especially the area for Artwork Display. But if designers can prove that certain non-critical areas can be naturally ventilated comfortably, their design can be considered. 18. For the Budget stated, does it include all M&E systems such as Air Conditioning, Lighting, etc.?  The budget of S$350K should be just for the Pavilion Architecture and Lighting. ACMV cost is not included in the construction budget.  19. Is Relative Humidity Control required? This is usually part of the ACMV cost, so it’s required but not part of the construction cost.  20. Is there an overall area requirement for the entire building? Ideally, the Pavilion should be around 7,000-8,000 sq ft. The location of the structure will be towards the Marina Boulevard (facing the Promontory) end of The Lawn, with the bulk of it located on the tiled area.  21. Are there specific space/occupancy requirements for the small cafe, champagne bar, book corner, or auction/special events/talks room?  The Dining Room should sit up to 30 people, and the Special Events cum Lounge cum Auction area should be able to accommodate up to 80 people standing. There are no specific requirements for the other areas.  22. Can you please clarify “sit atop and not rest on the grass surface area of the site of construction”?  Landlord URA has recommended to consider limiting the damage to the grass turf. Thus, ideally, the floor of the pavilion should be a raised platform. 

October 24, 2014

Interview with Annie Jael Kwan, Festival Producer and Curator of Visual Arts & Moving Image at SEA ArtsFest London

In its second consecutive year, SEA ArtsFest London opened its series of events on September 25th. The ArtsFest takes place at various prominent venues throughout London and it continues until November 2nd.  The Artling speaks to one of the founders and organizers of the SEA ArtsFest, Annie Jael Kwan, to learn more about this promising initiative. How did the SEA ArtsFest come about?  SEA ArtsFest started, as many good ideas do, around a delicious meal and a chat. The food was of course, Southeast Asian, and typically, spicy and plentiful. The conversation was, as I remember, quite inspiring. It was a table of academics, artists and producers – all coming together with very different perspectives and foci of interests, which perhaps were exactly the right ingredients. What is your background and how did you end up as one of the originators and producers of SEA ArtsFest? I grew up in Singapore. My interests were always in the creative field, first in literature and then I started studying and working in the theatre in my teens. I then went to London to study Drama and Theatre Arts, and research in cultural theory and moving image at Goldsmiths, before doing a law conversion degree. I’ve lived and worked in London for over a decade now, working across various fields in visuals, filmmaking, installations and exhibitions. A few things came together over the last few years – first, reaching a point in my life where there was an urge to reconnect with Asia, with a sense of cultural identity, and subconsciously seeking out projects and opportunities that would allow me to do so, and this led to meeting more likeminded people with shared interests. I see the festival as a great platform, to do projects that specifically seek to connect both regions, and hence encourage dialogue and artistic exchange between the two regions.   Photo credit: Jai Rafferty   The festival focus is exclusively on SEA. Why this regional choice within the broader Asia?  There are several reasons for this. In the UK, there’s been a lot of work done to increase representation for South Asian communities but even as the numbers of Southeast Asians living in the UK increase, this group is still quite underrepresented. The region is also undergoing a lot of change, with a flow of economic investment into developing countries in the region, and in the last few years, there’s also been a surge of activity in terms of political and social development. At the same time, and maybe, typically, there’s been a lot of interesting, innovative work emerging from artists, writers and practitioners in the region, all responding or calling into question these trends.  Does this regional art have specific characteristics that distinguish it as typically SEA?   This is such an interesting and yet challenging question. Different curators and programmers might say so but yet posit the reasoning entirely differently. There are references to shared Hindu/Chinese heritage strands, an all-encompassing Buddhist sensibility, etc. but to a certain extent, it is such a culturally diverse region, where each place has its own particular socio-economic, cultural, political and religious context. It’s daunting and also dangerous to draw too broad strokes which might negate these finer points.   Photo credit: David Sentosa Within SEA art, is the ArtsFest drawn specifically to certain art practices? Was there something you tried to move away from while selecting / conceptualizing the ArtsFest? I think one of the exciting things about our team, is that we each have quite different passions and different foci in our work, which allows for development of different strands of work in visual arts and moving image, literature and music, heritage and performance. We each lead on different aspects, though usually, we all end up quite interested and involved in each other’s programmes. I lead the visual arts and moving image programme. I wouldn’t say we “tried to move away” from anything in the selection – personally, my approach is more about being interested in what is happening on the ground level in the UK and in Southeast Asia, the dialogues relevant to the relationship between the regions. Could art works shown away from the SEA region be misinterpreted as exotic? Yes, one could say so, and even so, geographically within the region, depending on who is looking. One could argue that the viewer projects his own fantasies or anxieties on the object, and that can happen anywhere.  There are also always situations where one can self-‘exoticise’ – by being aware how one is presented to the international eye and trying to cater to the demands of the global market. But the subjective eye/I is on the move as well, as artists and makers extend their practice abroad via residencies and collaborative projects, and there’s an increase in self-reflexivity in different directions.   Photo credit: Annie Jael Kwan 2014 is the second edition of the SEA ArtsFest. How was it received last year and what did you learn from last year’s experience?  SEA ArtsFest simply exploded last year from an initial idea of a weekend, into 6-week programme that spanned theatre and outdoor performance, film, literature, music, and visual art. We had terrific support from diaspora artist groups, researchers and local communities. What we did learn very quickly, was that we needed a bigger team – or try to do less, but as you can see, we didn’t succeed on that front this year. What do you hope audiences in London may take away from this festival?   I hope they take away a sense of the diversity and rich potential of the region – and also an insight into some of the issues currently in discussion over there and also very much relevant here. Also, I hope people just have a really good time and enjoy the work, and of course, the food! BIO  Annie Jael Kwan trained in theatre arts, film and cultural theory at Goldsmiths College and then obtained a postgraduate qualification in Law. She has worked as producer and curator on numerous arts projects, including with arts collective, The Light Surgeons from 2006 till the present. Works included producing immersive installation, Domestic Archaeology at the Geffrye Museum, funded by Arts Council England; Articulated London, a large-scale multidisciplinary exhibition at the four storey London Oxo Barge House, sponsored by Nokia Nseries; the Overture Film commissioned by the South Bank Centre and projected on the Royal Festival Hall during its re-opening weekend; the visuals for Vangelis: A New Hope; “TLS vs ELO”, a LED installation on the front façade of the Wembley Theatre; and touring The Light Surgeon’s live audio-visual performance, Super Everything, commissioned by the British Council Malaysia, to Singapore. Apart from being co-director and founder of Something Human, she is also Festival Producer for SEA ArtsFest, the UK’s only arts festival that champions Southeast Asian artists and works inspired by the region, and leading on curating its visual arts programme and SEA ArtsFilm, its screening programme of feature-length and short moving image works.   The SEA Arts Fest is a collaboration among: Mark Hobart - Director of SEA Arts Ni Made Pujawati - Artistic Director of SEA Arts Hi Ching - Artistic Director of River Cultures and Director of SEA ArtsFest 2013/2014 Annie Jael Kwan - Festival Producer and Curator of Visual Arts and Moving Image  Cui Yin Mok - Producer-at-Large, leading in Marketing and Digital programming Lin Mingyu - Associate Producer, Theatre and Performance Thong Kay Wee - Videographer and Production Jai Rafferty - Videographer, production and technical consultant Dr Tan Shzr Ee - Consultant for Academic Panel

October 16, 2014

Spotlight: Isaac Julien at CCA

For two days only, don’t miss this rare opportunity to meet internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien.  Julien’s illustrious career includes exhibiting in MoMA, Documenta11 and collaborating with cinema’s finest, such as showing James Franco as a sleek art advisor in “Playtime” and casting legendary Chinese actress, Maggie Chung for the epic work “Ten Thousand Waves.” Julien’s “Vagabondia” (2000) currently playing in CCA’s “Theatrical Fields” was nominated for UK’s prestigious Turner Prize in 2001.  Isaac Julien, Vagabondia, 2000. Installation. Two screen projection, 16mm film. Digital transfer, colour, sound. 7 min., looped. Choreography by Javier De Frutos. Image courtesy of the Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (CCA) Artist Talk Friday, 24 October, 7.00pm–8.30pm School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) SOTA Concert Hall, Level 2 1 Zubir Said Drive, S(227968)  Register at vafaculty@sota.edu.sg Contact number: +65 6594 8480 The talk is part of the Louis Vuitton - SOTA Arts Excellence Programme.   Brunch, Conversations and Screening  Isaac Julien and Mark Nash Sunday, 26 October, 11.00am–1.00pm CCA Seminar Room  Block 43, Malan Road Gillman Barracks Join in the discussions with curator Mark Nash on Isaac Julien’s earlier works and the screening of his recent production. 

October 15, 2014