Let’s face it, 2021 in Singapore sucked harder than 2020. The waves of mildly inconvenient restrictions did more to chip away at everyone’s mental health than 2020’s “shut-everything-down” Circuit Breaker. Amidst the litany of changes to safe-distancing regulations though, the museums and galleries have remained open. Here’s my rundown of the highlights of Singapore’s museums, …
By Nabilah Said (1,400 words, 7-minute read) “You’re a guest, you’re a guest, you’re a guest.” This anodyne version of the Beauty and The Beast song played in my head as I walked through the exhibition The Body Politic and the Body, currently on at ILHAM Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. For a show referencing the …
Everything In Its Right Place: The Body Politic and the Body Read More »
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 Ding, Hilmi Johandi and Zarina Muhammad. David Chan, Grace Tan, Zaki Razak, Roger Nelson, Jason …
An Interview with Dr June Yap: President’s Young Talents 2018 Read More »
In the vast firmament of Singaporean-Malaysian art history, no star illuminates as radiantly as T.K. Sabapathy. An art historian by training, Sabapathy initially began his career in the early 1970s by reviewing art and thereafter spent close to half a century doggedly writing art history into being in our corner of the world. Seven years …
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 world expos were primary sites for cultural exchange. As Maria Lind explains in a text …
Singapore Biennale 2016: A/political Performance – Atlas of Mirrors in Context Read More »
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 somewhere. However, maps as art inquire what a map is rather than what it does. …
Singapore Biennale 2016: The Myth, the Mirror and the Map Read More »
By Eunice Lacaste, Finalist, The Best Essay by an Emerging Art Writer Competition* 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 wall text decals. Other artworks were still being shifted around. Some of the art viewers did not mind this. …
Singapore Biennale 2016: The Performative Curator Read More »
