Siapa Nama Kamu? – Questions to Answer a Friend
By Syed Muhammad Hafiz (1,823 words, 7-minute read) Recently I was asked by a friend, “How come I don’t see any local Malay artists in the current show at National Gallery Singapore (NGS)?”. My immediate response was, of course, that…
“MAT” at Objectifs: Pluralisms, perceptions and podcast failings
(3,747 words, 12-minute read) Editor’s note: This is a transcript of a podcast recording which cannot be shared due to poor audio quality. It has been lightly edited for clarity. ArtsEquator (AE): Hello everyone. Welcome to the ArtsEquator podcast. My name…
Staying woke: “Awakenings” at National Gallery Singapore
By Nabilah Said (1,000 words, 6-minute read) My friends that have visited Singapore in recent times have been given the following non-food recommendations by me: I point them to Haw Par Villa for its wonderfully macabre dreamscapes of punitive Asian…
Migrant Ecologies Project: A Grain of Wheat Inside a Salt Water Crocodile
By Lucy Davis (600 words, 5-minute read) Another Chinese tradition, which probably has no connection with the previous one is that the Butterworth cannon belonged to ‘Panglima’ (Warrior) Ah Chong a bravo of the Inter-Chinese wars which took place in the Larut tin…
Sharjah Biennial 14: Embarrassment of Riches
By Sharaad Kuttan (878 words, 5-minute read) Landscape and memory – grand themes in the analysis of culture – came together at the Sharjah Biennial 14 (SB14) in the most unexpected ways. Perhaps for the outsider, like me, who had…
The Future is Here. Is the Singapore Art World Ready?
By Reena Devi (1530 words, eight-minute read) Futurists and CEOs love using this quote attributed to ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who apparently said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” These…
An Interview with Dr June Yap: President’s Young Talents 2018
The seventh edition of the President’s Young Talents exhibition (PYT) opened 4 October 2018 at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). Since its first presentation in 2001, the platform has presented 38 artists, including this year’s Chen Yanyun, Chong Weixin, Debbie…
Coda Culture: A Space for Freedom
As told to Akanksha Raja In the latest instalment in our series covering independent art spaces in Southeast Asia, ArtsEquator.com spoke with artist Seelan Palay to learn about his practice, his inspirations, and his journey setting up the independent alternative…
In George Town, a Proxy War for the Nation
By Kathy Rowland (1165 words, 5-minute read) Coloured ink on paper. Only a society that polices gender and sexuality can turn ordinary photos into weapons of mass gay conversion. Over the past eight iterations, the George Town Festival (GTF) has…
Famous photographer finds his old painting (via The Phnom Penh Post)
As alumni of the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) returned to retrieve paintings they had made for their assignments, a well-known Cambodian photographer spotted one of his among the pile. In a picture posted on Facebook, Mak Remissa, who…
Zai Kuning’s “Dapunta Hyang”: Homeward Bound From Venice
Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge by Zai Kuning returns from its showing at the 2017 Venice Biennale for a month long exhibition at Theatreworks Singapore. The exhibition runs from 12 April through 13 May 2018. A series…
Nathalie Johnston: Creating a home for contemporary art in Myanmar
By Victoria Milko (1,800 words, nine-minute read) Despite being nearly 14,000 kilometres from her hometown in America, Myanm/art gallery director Nathalie Johnston has managed to create a home for herself – and Myanmar’s growing contemporary art scene – in the…
Art That Moves: Burmese Photojournalist Minzayar Oo
By Corrie Tan (2,400 words, 12-minute read) Art that Moves is an occasional series where we ask artists and other creative workers to reflect on artworks, performances or events that were personally important to them. Minzayar Oo is a Burmese…
“Out of Print”: classic Singaporean texts get a contemporary makeover
By Corrie Tan (1,300 words, eight-minute read) We’ve all met the gaze of this pair of narrow, red-pupilled eyes – whether with a torchlight under the bedcovers, or in school, snuck into class beneath a desk. The predatory stare on…
Back to the future with Yangon Time Machine
By Will Low (780 words, four-minute read) When I meet someone newly arrived in Myanmar, we usually end up talking about the experience of living in its busiest and largest city, Yangon. They’ll ask how long I’ve been here: five…
Regional Departures: An Interview with David Teh on “Misfits: Pages from a Loose-Leaf Modernity”
Between 21 April to 3 July this year, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin hosted Misfits: Pages from a Loose-Leaf Modernity, curated by David Teh. The exhibition featured three artists from Southeast Asia: Fillipino filmmaker Rox Lee, who…
No Escape from the C: Reflections on Censorship and Curation in the Pangrok Sulap case
By Carmen Nge (1110 words, 10-minute read) The dust appears to have settled on the recent controversy surrounding the removal of Malaysian art collective Pangrok Sulap’s artwork Sabah Tanah Air-Ku from the art exhibition, “Escape from the SEA”. Organized by…
“Professional Obligations” in the Artworld
By Alan Oei and Lee Weng Choy (1330 words, 14-minute read) Lee Weng Choy (a former artistic co-director of The Substation) and Alan Oei (the current artistic director of The Substation and also director of OH! Open House) have known…
From Cuba to Vietnam: “A Present Retrospective”
By Clara Cheong (470 words, 5-minute read) A Present Retrospective, an exhibition showcasing archival prints of propaganda artworks created between 1969 and 1972, by the late and widely renowned Cuban graphic artist René Mederos, is on show at Work Room…
Photo Essay: “Knives In The Water” a Solo Exhibition by Speak Cryptic
By Clara Cheong (1005 words, 7-minute read) On a blazing hot afternoon last week, I stepped into the welcome cool of one of Gillman Barrack’s newest private art galleries, Chan + Hori Contemporary. The artist behind the iconic illustrations on the walls…
To Biennale or Not To Biennale (Part II)
By Sunitha Janamohanan (2610 words, 30-minute read) This is the second of a two-part essay on origins and rise of biennales within the context of Malaysia’s aspirations for a world-class international visual art mega-exhibition. Read Part I here. Part II…
To Biennale or Not To Biennale (Part I)
By Sunitha Janamohanan (2900 words, eight-minute read) This is the first of a two-part essay on origins and rise of biennales within the context of Malaysia’s aspirations for a world-class international visual art mega-exhibition. Read Part II here. Part…
Winner, Singapore Biennale 2016 Essay Writing Competition: To-Do List for the End of the World
Congratulations to Marcus Yee for winning AICA + ArtsEquator’s Inaugural Best Essay on the Singapore Biennale 2016 by an Emerging Art Writer Competition with this essay. By Marcus Yee, (3040 words, 30-minute read) “A map of the world that…
An Atlas of Biennales: International Art Festivals in Asia Pacific 2016
By Akanksha Raja (1200 words, 12-minute read) 2016 has seen a few biennales taking place in Southeast Asia. While we didn’t manage to attend each and every one of them, we’ve been reading all we could find about them. Here is…
Singapore Biennale 2016: A/political Performance – Atlas of Mirrors in Context
By Wei Er Xun, Finalist, Best Essay by an Emerging Art Writer Competition* (2700 words, 30-minute read) Introduction The stakes of exhibitions have always been high. Before the advent of the cinema, television and other mass media, large-scale exhibitions and…
Singapore Biennale 2016: The Myth, the Mirror and the Map
By Elaine Chiew, Finalist, Best Essay by an Emerging Art Writer Competition (2996 words, 30-minute read) Much of our ideas about maps today are reduced to their function: their ability to tell us where we are and how to get…
Singapore Biennale 2016: The Performative Curator
By Eunice Lacaste, Finalist, The Best Essay by an Emerging Art Writer Competition* (2900 words, 30-minute read) Introduction Entering the Singapore Art Museum[1] during the media preview of the Singapore Biennale 2016[2], we could barely disregard the museum staff installing…
In the Studio: Hà Trí Hiếu
By Đỗ Tường Linh for & Of Other Things Photographs by Nic Shonfeld A cramped maze lies between Khâm Thiên street and the Temple of Literature. Slim houses and makeshift shacks hosting all-you-could-possibly-need shops snuggle up to 1960s…
You Must Like Chocolate: An Essay on Taste
By Lee Weng Choy (1130 words, 17-minute read) Do you like chocolate? I like chocolate. Who doesn’t like chocolate? Although, come to think of it, I do know of some people who don’t like chocolate — at least, I remember…