<i>Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II</i>
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<i>Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II</i> reviews the performative format that marked NTU CCA Singapore’s inauguration in 2013. <i>Free Jazz</i> 2013 was a series of talks and performances where participants of various disciplines were invited to imagine and envision a new institution and its potential. On its five-year anniversary, the Centre continues advocating for free spaces, celebrating the practice of improvisation, as well as of collective and performative approaches. Discussing ethical values with an expanded sense of community, territorial, and environmental concerns, <i>Stagings. Soundings. Readings.</i> employs an open, multidisciplinary structure that challenges traditional modes of presentation and re-presentation through a range of artistic practices and formats. <br /><br />Situated within a complex and contemporary understanding of the Centre’s current overarching research topic CLIMATES. HABITATS. ENVIRONMENTS., the featured works link theory and practice, emphasising collectiveness. Today, the planet is witnessing a moment of unprecedented loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, and cultural transformations. In the face of such agitated times juxtaposed with advanced communicative tools, contemporary social and environmental issues require responses from a collective body, through establishing processes of instigation, negotiation, and collaboration. <br /><br />Can we learn from what we see as opposed to being merely seduced by images, becoming active participants instead of only passive observers? <i>Stagings. Soundings. Readings.</i> is an enactment between the artists and the audience. The invited artists engage with a less prescribed environment, reflecting on history, collective action, and human interaction. <br /><br />Located outside the Centre, <b>Maria Loboda</b>‘s sculptural installation is grounded in historical narratives as a reminder that things can change and be taken down overnight, especially by the invisible mechanisms of power. In the Centre’s foyer, <b>Tyler Coburn</b> addresses forms of labour and examines the notion of writing in the 21st century by engaging with complexities of our legal, technological, and geopolitical networks, while <b>Heman Chong</b> analyses motifs of exchange and its boundaries, embracing the space of inter-human connections. <br /><br />Unfolding in the exhibition space, <b>Cally Spooner</b> brings to Singapore an exercise in building new vocabulary and knowledge through bodily means. Using the space as a laboratory, the work investigates new ways of organising and working together. <b>Alexandra Pirici</b>’s choreography explores the possibility of collectively assembling memories of human and non-human presence on the planet. <b>Carlos Casas</b> presents his long-term multi-format ethnographic research based on the human ecology and richness of one of the world’s highest inhabited villages, Hichigh, located in the Pamir mountain range in Tajikistan. Together with composer <b>Phill Niblock</b>, they will create an audio-visual experience, traversing landscape, soundscape, and contemporary music that changes with every iteration. <br /><br />In response to the five-year anniversary and by taking the topic of its celebration <i>Free Jazz</i> literally, <b>Ming Wong</b> will stage an improvisational performance. Similarly, <b>Boris Nieslony</b> (Germany), Co-founder of the artist collective Black Market International, will engage with pioneering Singaporean artist <b>Lee Wen</b> with a discussion and performance. <br /><br />Further probing conventional formats, the accompanying programmes include readings by curator <b>Anca Rujoiu</b> (Romania/Singapore) and poets <b>Peter Sipeli</b> and <b>1angrynative</b> (both Fiji), as well as Behind the Scenes conversations with contributing artists. In The Single Screen, works by <b>Anton Ginzburg</b> (Russia/United States), <b>Mariana Silva</b> (Portugal/United States), <b>Luke Fowler</b> (United Kingdom), <b><b><b>Justin Shoulder </b></b></b>and <b><b><b>Bhenji Ra </b></b></b>(both Philippines/Australia), and others, will add a filmic perspective to the dialogue. <br /><br />This multitude of celebratory events instigates an active engagement with the now, following a conscious desire to become truly present. <br /><br />Curated by <strong>Ute Meta Bauer</strong>, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, and <strong>Magdalena Magiera</strong>, Curator, Outreach and Education, NTU CCA Singapore.
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<i>The Oceanic</i>
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NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is pleased to present <i>The Oceanic</i>, an exhibition focusing on large-scale human interventions in oceanic ecospheres with contributions by 12 artists, filmmakers, composers, and researchers who engage with both the long cultural histories of Pacific Ocean archipelagos and their current conditions. As part of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary–Academy’s (TBA21–Academy) The Current, an ongoing research initiative into pressing environmental, economic, and socio-political concerns, NTU CCA Singapore’s Founding Director <b>Professor Ute Meta Bauer</b> was invited to lead the project’s first cycle of expeditions from 2015–17. The featured contributors in <i>The Oceanic</i> are The Current Fellows who joined the expeditions on TBA21–Academy’s vessel <i>Dardanella</i> to Papua New Guinea (2015), French Polynesia (2016), and Fiji (2017). <br /><br />The expedition to Papua New Guinea, with <b>Laura Anderson Barbata</b> (Mexico/United States), <b>Tue Greenfort</b> (Denmark/Germany), <b>Newell Harry</b> (Australia), and Jegan Vincent de Paul (Sri Lanka/Canada), took as a starting point the concept of the Kula Ring, a ceremonial exchange system practiced in the Trobriand Islands. The second excursion, to French Polynesia, titled Tuamotus, the Tahitian name for distant islands, included <b>Nabil Ahmed</b> (Bangladesh/United Kingdom), <b>Atif Akin</b> (Turkey/United States), <b>PerMagnus Lindborg</b> (Sweden/Singapore), and <b>Filipa Ramos</b> (Portugal/United Kingdom). The atolls Mururoa and Fangataufa were the sites for 193 nuclear tests between 1966 and 1996, despite being declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1977. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first atomic weapons test on Mururoa, then considered a French colony in Polynesia, this expedition discussed the still neglected long-term impact of nuclear experiments in the Pacific on the populations and the environment. On the third and last expedition of this cycle, the Fijian practice of the <i>Tabu/Tapu</i>, where a community chief demarcates something as “sacred,” or “forbidden,” continued the enquiry on the Polynesian <i>Rahui</i>—a traditional rule system that in recent times became significant for marine conservation and resource management. This journey to the Fijian Lau Islands was joined by The Current Fellows <b>Guigone Camus</b> (France), <b>Lisa Rave</b> (United Kingdom/Germany), and <b>Kristy H. A. Kang</b> (United States/Singapore). Participating in all three expeditions was <b>Armin Linke</b> (Italy/Germany), who not only documented these journeys with his camera, but also questioned the role of image production in such unique yet loaded encounters. <br /><br />Stemming from this cycle of expeditions, the exhibition addresses various ecological urgencies affecting the ocean and its littorals as a habitat for humans, fauna, and flora, as well as particular aspects of sea governance. Questions addressed in the show include: Who are the regulators of global oceans? Why should communities who only contribute one per cent of the global carbon footprint be among the first ones to be fatally affected by the rise of sea levels caused by global warming? Is the economic benefit of land- and seabed mining evenly shared with the impacted communities? What are the long-term effects of such industries? Who owns the ocean? <br /><br />The interest in exposing the technology behind the human infrastructures is present in Armin Linke’s video installation <i>OCEANS – Dialogues between ocean floor and water column</i> (2017) while Tue Greenfort explores complex ecosystems and scientific production practices, challenging human understanding of and relationship with nature and culture. <br /><br />Inspired by the materials used for gift exchanges such as the <i>Kula Ring</i>, Newell Harry documents this practice in his black-and-white photo series <i>(Untitled) Nimoa and Me: Kiriwina Notes</i> (2015–16), and also creates <i>(Untitled) Anagrams and Objects for RU & RU</i> (2015) with text on tapa, a cloth made from softened bark. Likewise incorporating items by artisans from Milne Bay Province, Laura Anderson Barbata produced striking costumes for the performative piece <i>Ocean Calling</i> (2017), created as part of TBA21–Academy’s intervention on World Ocean Day 2017 at the plaza in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. <br /><br />Addressing the exploitation of finite resources, Nabil Ahmed collaborates with other researchers to call for an <i>Inter-Pacific Ring Tribunal</i> (INTERPRT) (2016–ongoing), a long-term investigation into environmental justice in the Pacific region. Lisa Rave’s film <i>Europium</i> (2014) investigates this rare eponymous mineral that has become one of the allures of deep-sea mining—the new gold rush spreading across the global oceans. In <i>Europium</i>, Rave also draws the often-invisible connections between colonialism, ecology, and currencies. <br /><br />The exhibition will also include a sound component by PerMagnus Lindborg who recorded the land and underwater soundscapes of the Tuamotus in French Polynesia, as well as a film programme selected by Filipa Ramos and other The Current Fellows. Jegan Vincent de Paul will expand his research on socio-economic networks into the Pacific region. In The Lab, the Centre’s project space, anthropologist Guigone Camus will display documentation from the Fiji expedition, as well as diverse materials from her extensive research in Kiribati, while Kristy H. A. Kang will reflect on her experience in Fiji through an iterative installation and research process that will explore vernacular forms of mapping cultural memory and spatial narrative. <br /><br /><i>The Oceanic</i> marks the start of NTU CCA Singapore’s new overarching research topic Climates.Habitats.Environments., which will inform and connect the Centre’s various activities—ranging from research to residencies and exhibitions—for the next three years. This is the third exhibition by the Centre, following Allan Sekula’s <i>Fish Story, to be continued</i> (2015) and Charles Lim Yi Yong’s <i>SEA STATE</i> (2016), to feature long-term, critical enquiries by artists about the radical changes for communities whose livelihoods are inseparable from the sea, the precarious labour at sea, and the irreversible impact of technologically driven human interventions on one of the Earth’s most precious resources, the oceans. <br /><br />This opportunity has led to a Memorandum of Understanding between TBA21 and the Nanyang Technological University in developing academic and scientific relationships. <br /><br />From 25 – 27 January 2018, on the occasion of the exhibition and coinciding with Singapore Art Week 2018, <i>The Current Convening #3</i>, conceived by Professor Bauer, <b>Markus Reymann</b>, Director of TBA21–Academy, and <b>Stefanie Hessler</b>, Curator of TBA21–Academy, will take place at the Centre, featuring conversations, roundtables, workshops, performances, and screenings. The event will focus on modalities of exchange and shared responsibilities, while addressing the rights of nature and cultures.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Laura+Anderson+Barbata">Laura Anderson Barbata</a>
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<i>Tarek Atoui The Ground: From the Land to the Sea</i>
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NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore) is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Southeast Asia by sound artist and composer <b>Tarek Atoui</b>, conceived as a composition that unfolds in space with its unique sound library and instruments. It is the first large-scale exhibition that Atoui has created through interweaving objects, instruments, and recordings, some borrowed from pre-existing projects, others newly collected and produced. <br /><br /><i>The Ground: From the Land to the Sea</i> comprises two layers of auditory experiences that interact with each other as well as with the spatial and sonic qualities of NTU CCA Singapore’s exhibition hall, merging them into a single composition. Enveloping the main exhibition space are a set of speakers that play the sounds of underwater environments as well as human and industrial activities in the harbours of Athens and Abu Dhabi, recorded for the project <i>I/E</i> (2015–ongoing). Building upon the sound collection, Atoui has, as part of this presentation in Singapore, recorded at local harbours and waterfronts, together with composer and sound artist <b>Éric La Casa</b>. <br /><br />The recording process in Singapore took Atoui and La Casa to a range of waterfront sites and islands including the Jurong Fishery Port, Pulau Sebarok (an oil storage facility and refuelling port off the Southern coastline), on an oil tanker, and along the Singapore shores. During these trips, the duo picked out acoustic features of these environs, both underwater and on land, and captured them in their diverse forms—as vibrations, audible noise, and inaudible audio waves, etc.— using devices such as a recorder, a hydrophone, contact microphones, and selfmade omnidirectional microphones. Drawing reference to the emergence of acoustic ecology, which attempts to understand and analyse characteristics of sonic environments such as geological formations, organisms, and human interactions, Atoui’s auditory library is an artistic interpretation of the ecology of our times. Set within a “white cube,” the audience is transposed into an immersive audio-visual topography, becoming part of the installation. <br /><br />Most of the instruments shown are part of <i>The Ground</i> project, the result of the artist’s five-year-long investigation of natural cycles in the Pearl River Delta, first presented at Mirrored Gardens, a project space in Guangzhou, China, in 2017. Also presented are instruments created for previous projects, such as <i>The Reverse Collection</i> (2014–16) and <i>WITHIN</i> (2012–13). This ensemble of unusual instruments is enriched with new additions, including a set of porcelain and ceramic discs, on which traditional Arabic rhythms are engraved, and a customised record player that rotates at irregular speeds, never reading a disc the same way twice. <br /><br />At the core of Atoui’s practice lies an ongoing process of inviting composers, musicians, and artists to collaborate on his pieces in search of new ideas, gestures, and experiences. For the current exhibition, Atoui will engage with local and international musicians who will be invited to appropriate his composition and intervene in the exhibition space. He will work with acclaimed sound artists and musicians <b>Vivian Wang</b> and <b>Yuen Chee Wai</b>, as well as music curator <b>Mark Wong</b>, who in turn will invite other musicians and sound artists to inhabit the installation throughout the course of the exhibition. <br /><br />The exhibition is curated by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, and <b>Khim Ong</b>, Deputy Director, Curatorial Programmes, NTU CCA Singapore. Supported by Institut français, with the additional support of the Embassy of France in Singapore and Institut français Singapour. <br /><br /><b>Tarek Atoui</b> has invited local and international musicians to engage with his exhibition and appropriate the installation for given periods of time. He worked with acclaimed sound artists and musicians <b>Vivian Wang</b> and <b>Yuen Chee Wai</b>, as well as music curator <b>Mark Wong</b>, who each will host three other musicians and sound artists. The guests will inhabit the exhibition and freely experiment with Atoui’s instruments throughout the course of the exhibition. <br /><br />Schedule for upcoming Guest Musicians in the Exhibition Hall: <br /><br /><b>Vivian Wang</b> (Singapore): 26 – 30 March <br /><b>Yuen Chee Wai</b> (Singapore): 31 March – 3 April <br /><b>Darren Ng</b> (Singapore): 7 – 10 April <br /><b>Uriel Barthélémi</b> (France): 13 – 17 April <br /><b>Tini Aliman</b> (Singapore): 28 April – 1 May <br /><b>Wu Junhan</b> (Singapore): 2 – 5 May <br /><b>The Analog Girl</b> (Singapore): 10 – 13 May <br /><b>Cheryl Ong</b> (Singapore): 19 – 22 May <br /><b>Zai Tang</b> (Singapore): 31 May – 3 June <br /><b>Bani Haykal</b> (Singapore): 4 – 7 June <br /><b>Dharma</b> (Singapore): 13 – 16 June <br /><b>Sudarshan Chandra Kumar</b> (Malaysia): 19 – 22 June
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Tarek+Atoui">Tarek Atoui</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Yuen+Chee+Wai">Yuen Chee Wai</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Mark+Wong">Mark Wong</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vivian+Wang">Vivian Wang</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Darren+Ng">Darren Ng</a>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Tini+Aliman">Tini Aliman</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Wu+Junhan">Wu Junhan</a>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Cheryl+Ong">Cheryl Ong</a>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Dharma">Dharma</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Sudarshan+Chandra+Kumar">Sudarshan Chandra Kumar</a>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Southeast+Asia">Southeast Asia</a>
<i>Trees of Life — Knowledge in Material</i>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Materiality">Materiality</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Biodiversity">Biodiversity</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Geopolitics">Geopolitics</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Botany">Botany</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Indigenous+Knowledge">Indigenous Knowledge</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ecosystems">Ecosystems</a>
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is embarking on an inquiry into natural materials, exploring the knowledge they embody as biological forms as well as within social, geopolitical, and historical contexts.<i>Trees of Life – Knowledge in Material</i> is part of the Centre’s long-term research cluster Climates.Habitats.Environments. <br /><br />This exhibition focuses on materials from four plants deeply rooted in Asia: <b>indigo</b> (<i>Indigofera tinctoria</i>), <b>lacquer</b> (<i>Rhus succedanea and Melanorrhoea usitata</i>), <b>rattan</b> (<i>Calamoideae</i>), and <b>mulberry</b> (<i>Morus</i>). The works trace the ongoing involvement with these plants in the artistic practices of <b>Manish Nai</b> (India) with indigo, <b>Phi Phi Oanh</b> (United States/Vietnam) with lacquer, <b>Sopheap Pich</b> (Cambodia) with rattan, and <b>Liang Shaoji</b> (China) and <b>Vivian Xu</b> (China) with mulberry silk. While the featured installations serve as a starting point to uncover the materiality of the chosen plants, the study of their natural and cultural DNA allows further exploration into their biological processes and diverse usages at their locale. <br /><br />The artworks intertwine with selected research documents that address the complex histories and circulation, as well as the effects of human intervention on these natural resources. Starting from the properties and characteristics of the materials themselves, the project expands into their cultural representation and significance for communities and their crafts. <br /><br />The longstanding social and cultural practices associated with indigo, lacquer, rattan, and mulberry silk have accumulated a vast repository of knowledge, whether formal or tacit. Beyond the format of the exhibition, topical seminars will be dedicated to each of the four materials, further investigating their social applications over centuries in terms of their materiality, cultural references, or expanded ecology, and as arising from technological advancements. The lectures, panels, talks, and workshops feature the participating artists, as well as craftsmen, scientists, ethnobotanists, anthropologists, scholars, and designers who are working with these materials and researching innovative applications. From the diverse perspectives offered by the contributors, the public programme excavates layers of meanings and reiterates the deeper role art and craft traditions have in supporting local communities and their ecosystems. <br /><br />Topical seminars take place between <b>21 July and 8 September 2018.</b> <br /><br /><b>On Lacquer</b>: 21, 22 July <br /><br /><b>On Rattan</b>: 25, 26 August <br /><br /><b>On Indigo</b>: 4, 19 August, and 1 September <br /><br /><b>On Mulberry</b>: 8 September <br /><br />The project <i>Trees of Life – Knowledge in Material</i> is led by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore and Professor, NTU School of Art, Design and Media (ADM); <b>Laura Miotto</b>, Associate Professor and Co-director, MA Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, NTU ADM; and <b>Khim Ong</b>, Deputy Director, Curatorial Programmes, NTU CCA Singapore.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Manish+Nai">Manish Nai</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Phi+Phi+Oanh">Phi Phi Oanh</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Sopheap+Pich">Sopheap Pich</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Liang+Shaoji">Liang Shaoji</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Vivian+Xu">Vivian Xu</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Laura+Miotto">Laura Miotto</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ute+Meta+Bauer">Ute Meta Bauer</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Khim+Ong+">Khim Ong </a>
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<i>Jef Geys Quadra Medicinale Singapore</i>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Urbanism">Urbanism</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ecosystems">Ecosystems</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Archival+Practice">Archival Practice</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Pedagogy">Pedagogy</a>
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore presents <i>Quadra Medicinale Singapore</i>, the late Belgian artist <b>Jef Geys</b>’s first institutional exhibition in Asia. Geys’s conceptual practice adopted an interdisciplinary and collaborative process of research and knowledge-formation, and was driven by his belief that art should be intertwined with the everyday. <br /><br />For <i>Quadra Medicinale</i> (2009), Geys invited residents of Villeurbanne, New York, Moscow, and Brussels to demarcate a geometrical quadrant, with their home or workplace at the centre, and document 12 unassuming street plants, or “weeds.” From this collection, the collaborators uncovered the productive, and often times medicinal, properties of these plants. <br /><br /><i>Quadra Medicinale</i> is structured as a universal manual capable of being replicated anywhere and has, since its first presentation at the Pavilion of Belgium during the 53rd Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition in 2009, been realised and shown in various cities including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2010). The exhibition was followed by similar methods of botanical and medicinal plant studies as documented in the accompanying publication <i>Kempens Informatieblad</i>. This alternative model set up by Geys for collective knowledge production, sharing, and documentation has, underlying its process, a socially-active role: Geys asked questions such as, “What can a homeless person who has a toothache, for example, chew-on to ease the pain, and to eventually cure the problem?” <br /><br />On view will be four chapters of the project, including a newly-created Singapore chapter following Geys’s instructions with contributions by local collaborators, Louise Neo and Teo Siyang. Each chapter includes framed plant specimens with their characteristics labelled, photographs of the site where the plants were originally found, as well as maps of the geographical quadrant explored. Through inciting a collaborative process, Geys created a unique model for knowledge production and sharing. <br /><br />Questioning mainstream and organised systems of urban planning and information dissemination, Geys casted doubt on the fundaments of language and visual representation, interrogating art’s relation to meaning-making. He produced a text explaining the <i>Quadra Medicinale</i> project that has been translated into 10 languages, with annotations by the artist himself on the translations. Their display as large-format scrolls, further probes systems of interpretation, communication, and accessibility. A selection of these text scrolls and a Malay translation, produced for this exhibition, will be shown. <br /><br /><i>Quadra Medicinale Singapore</i> introduces an artistic practice that questions the hierarchies and adaptability of nature and society, provoking reflections on both their communicable and imperceptible structures. It also poses the question of whether conceptual artworks can be continued after an artist’s passing. <br /><br />In addition to the elements from <i>Quadra Medicinale</i>, the exhibition includes two paintings from Geys’s <i>Seed-bags</i> series (1963–2018), a long-term project the artist started when, during his own gardening process, he discovered that the image of the vegetables or flowers pictured on the bag did not match the actual plant. With these paintings, which Geys would create every year, he challenged the accuracy and truth of commercial photography. The medium, however, played a significant role in the artist’s practice enabling him to accumulate an extensive archive of his own projects and interests. <br /><br />In The Single Screen, <i>Day and Night and Day</i>… (2002), his 36-hour-long film produced for Documenta 11 (Kassel, Germany), will be screened in parallel to the exhibition. This film is a mesmeric sequence composed of thousands of black-and-white photographs Geys took from the mid-1950s to 1998. <br /><br />The exhibition is made possible by generous loans from the Jef Geys Estate and Air de Paris. <br /><br /><i>Quadra Medicinale Singapore</i> is curated by <b>Dirk Snauwaert</b>, Artistic Director at WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, in collaboration with <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b> and <b>Khim Ong</b>, NTU CCA Singapore. Snauwaert was the Curator of <i>Jef Geys: Quadra Medicinale</i> in Venice 2009, commissioned for the National Pavilion of Belgiumby the Flemish Community. Snauwaert was an NTU CCA Singapore Curator-in-Residence in 2015.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Louise+Neo">Louise Neo</a>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Dirk+Snauwaert">Dirk Snauwaert</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ute+Meta+Bauer">Ute Meta Bauer</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Khim+Ong+">Khim Ong </a>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Europe">Europe</a>
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<i>Arus Balik: From below the wind to above the wind and back again</i>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Ecology">Ecology</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=The+Anthropocene">The Anthropocene</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Politics">Politics</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Geopolitics">Geopolitics</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Archipelagic+State">Archipelagic State</a>
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is pleased to present <i>Arus Balik – From below the wind to above the wind and back again</i>, an exhibition project that initiated from a conversation between Belgian curator <b>Philippe Pirotte</b> and Jakarta-based artist <b>Ade Darmawan</b>. Reconsidering Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s epic book <i>Arus Balik</i> (1995), which could be translated into English as a “turning of the tide,” the eponymous exhibition takes the novel as a starting point to reflect on perspectival shifts in geopolitical, cultural, social, religious, and natural spheres. <br /><br />In his fictional account, Pramoedya elaborates on the weakening of the maritime culture of Javanese kingdoms in the early 16th century, the progressive Islamisation, and the beginning of Portuguese occupation on parts of the now Malay and Indonesian peninsula and archipelago. Important is that Pramoeda’s reversal of perspective as a meta-geographical impulse is comparable to the notion of the “inverted telescope” Benedict Anderson advances in his seminal book <i>Spectre of Comparisons</i> (1998): as a non-Eurocentric method of comparison in which for example Portugal is viewed from the standpoint of Southeast Asia, as through an inverted telescope, which causes a kind of vertigo. Pramoedya suggests that the final decline of the Majapahit empire, and the “change from traditional independence to colonial possession,” was largely caused by the different Javanese kingdoms having gradually turned their backs to the sea. <br /><br />The participating artists expand on this prompt through installations, sculptures, films, performances, and texts, both existing works as well as new commissions. <b>Ade Darmawan</b> re-read <i>Arus Balik</i> with a special focus on how protagonists use natural resources, and will create a distilling dispositive with alkaline water from the straits, recalling that all the scrambling for the control of the archipelago was about the extraction of ore and goods. <b>ila</b> questions what it means to be Boyanese, Buginese, Minangkabau, or Javanese through encounters with Singapore residents now conflated as Malay. Their testimonies will be written on her body and wither, while exposed to salty water and weather on reclaimed areas of Singapore island. <i>Paradise Blueprint</i> (2017), a wallpaper designed by <b>Zac Langdon-Pole</b>, based on a cyanotype photogram of the removed legs of a so-called “Bird of Paradise,” addresses the history of cultural exchange and mythology surrounding the birds native to Papua New Guinea. <b>Lucy Raven</b> creates silk paintings or monoprints, made by imprint of sedimentation in erosion tables, as scrim backdrops she uses for a forthcoming film-production, called <i>Kongkreto</i>, inspired by the 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines that finally chased off the Americans from Clark Airbase. Book-aficionado, artist, and writer <b>Shubigi Rao</b> delves into the stories related to the difficult conditions, but also extraordinary examples of solidarity Pramoedya faced on prison island Buru while writing <i>Arus Balik</i>. A new video-installation by <b>Melati Suryodarmo</b>, <i>Dancing under the Black Sky</i> (2019), traces the history behind Reog performances, an art form of resistance and criticism of Ponorogo people of East Java towards Bhre Kertabhumi, a Majapahit king who slowly lost his authority in the 15th century, before Islam became a major force in Demak and controlled the coastal region of Java. <br /><br />The exhibition <i>Arus Balik</i> aims to imagine the implication of histories and politics in processes of transition, such as colonisation and decolonisation, or shifts in maritime power for people and ports below (the straits of Malacca, South China Sea, Java Sea, and further east) and above (the Indian Ocean and further West) the wind. Have the multiple colonisations in Southeast Asia alienated the people from the sea coast? Is it possible to attempt a return? The reversal of the colonial fact, the promise of reversal of a geo-political, -cultural, and social systems, initially embodied by the Bandung conference in 1955, caused Afro-American author Richard Wright to write that “it smacked of tidal waves, of natural forces.” <br /><br />The accompanying public programmes further investigate the topics raised, including a conversation on <b>Saturday, March 23</b>, around the book <i>Arus Balik</i> and the reception of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s oeuvre. On <b>Saturday, May 25</b>, another conversation will focus on living with the sea and the history of the straits. <br /><br /><i>Arus Balik – From below the wind to above the wind and back again</i> is NTU CCA Singapore’s response and contribution to this year’s nation-wide bicentennial commemorations that reflect on Singapore’s history since the arrival of the British statesman Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819, considered the founder of modern Singapore. <br /><br />Guest curated by <b>Philippe Pirotte</b>, Rector, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule, and Director, Portikus, Frankfurt, and Visiting Professor (2018/19), MA Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU.
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<i>Siah Armajani. Spaces for the Public Spaces for Democracy</i>
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Considered a leading figure in public art, Iranian-born artist <b>Siah Armajani</b> merges architecture and conceptual art in his sculptures, drawings, and public installations. Informed by democratic ideologies and inspired by American vernacular architecture, his works include gathering spaces for communality, emphasizing the “nobility of usefulness.” His highly acclaimed public art and architectural projects have included bridges, gardens, and outdoor structures, that have been commissioned and presented worldwide. A retrospective featuring his artistic career spanning over more than five decades was recently on view at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and inaugurates in March at The MET Breuer, New York. <br /><br />Taking centre stage in the exhibition, the large-scale installation <i>Sacco & Vanzetti Reading Room #3</i> (1988) will unfold along its several comprising elements, such as two rooms, tables, chairs, and racks with books, magazines, and pencils noticeably arranged like spikes. <i>The Reading Room</i> is designed as a functional and inviting space for the visitors of the exhibition to use. The books populating the space are by or about the poets, philosophers, and political activists Armajani has dedicated different works to, many from his <i>Tomb</i> series. Initiated by Armajani in 1972, the <i>Tomb</i> series include drawings and models, of which seven are also on view in the exhibition. <br /><br />The list of authors includes: Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, John Berryman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Dewey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Luigi Galleani, Emma Goldman, Hafez, Martin Heidegger, Thomas Jefferson, Frank O’Hara, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Rimbaud, Richard Rorty, Sacco and Vanzetti, Ahmad Shamlou, Henry David Thoreau, Alfred North Whitehead, Walt Whitman, and Nima Yooshij. <br /><br /><strong>READING GROUPS</strong> <br /><br />NTU CCA Singapore has selected books by and about the philosophers, poets, and political activists that Siah Armajani has dedicated works to, as part of the installation, which is designed for use by the visiting public as a functional and inviting space. Throughout the exhibition period, the installation will host reading groups or other events that respond to the displayed books. <br /><br /><strong>OPEN CALL</strong> <br /><br />In addition, NTU CCA Singapore is seeking interested individuals, groups, or organisations to engage with the artist’s works. The Sacco and Vanzetti Reading Room #3 is available to be used for readings, gatherings, discussions, workshops, or other events. Interested parties can appropriate the installation and exhibition space, including the books accompanying the installation, and respond to the exhibition and its title, the artist and the work, or related topics. <br /><br /><br /><i>Siah Armajani: Spaces for the Public. Spaces for Democracy. </i>is curated by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Founding Director of the NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. <br /><br />The exhibition is made possible by generous loans from the <b>MMK Museum for Modern Art</b>, Frankfurt, and <b>Rossi & Rossi</b>, Hong Kong. <br /><br />Special thank you to <b>Susanne Pfeffer</b>, Director, and <b>Mario Kramer</b>, Head of Collection, MMK, as well as <b>Fabio Rossi</b> and <strong>Josie Browne</strong>, project liaison. <br /><br />With gratitude to <b>Siah Armajani</b> and <b>Barbara Armajani</b>.
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<i>The Posthuman City. Climates. Habitats. Environments</i>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Climate+Crisis">Climate Crisis</a>
Currently, more than half of the world’s human population lives in urban areas. Urban growth poses challenges to the various city dwellers, and creates material demands that cause lasting damage to the wider environment. The climate crisis is already announcing threatening scenarios particularly for coastal regions and megacities located at coastlines. Global urbanisation and the exploitation of resources happen on the expense of human and other species alike. <i>The Posthuman City</i> features artists who propose a shift in perspective. <br /><br />Taking NTU CCA Singapore’s overarching research topic <i>Climates.Habitats.Environments.</i> as point of departure, the exhibition <i>The Posthuman City</i> considers the possibilities of a conscious sharing of resources, and a respectful and mindful coexistence between humans and other species. Through imaginative propositions at the intersection of art, design, and architecture, the selected artists engage questions addressing issues of sustainability, water scarcity, invisible communities, nature as a form of culture, and suggest the implementation of lived indigenous knowledges. Examining the urban fabric in its condition as a habitat for a diversity of life forms, the featured works range from installations to time-based media. <br /><br />Stressing the vital importance of clean water and the challenges of its scarcity around the world, the artist and design duo Lucy + Jorge Orta have developed a long-term project on water collection, purification, and distribution. <i>OrtaWater</i> focuses on the general issues surrounding clean water and the privatisation and corporate control effecting access to it. Starting from a rigorous analysis of this crucial resource through visual and textual research and collaborative workshops with engineers, Lucy + Jorge Orta create sculptures, large-scale installations, and public artworks, that are both artefacts and functional design. One angle of their research—low-cost water purification devices enabling filthy water to be pumped and filtered directly from local sources—is translated into <i>Portable Water Fountain</i> (2005) and <i>Mobile Intervention Unit</i> (2007). These devices have been used to purify and distribute water from the Venice’s Canal Grande (2005) and the Huang Pu River in Shanghai (2012), among others, and now from the creek that runs through Gillman Barracks. <br /><br />Similarly combating water pollution, Irene Agrivina’s <i>Soya C(o)u(l)ture</i> is a mixed media installation that demonstrates how to transform wastewater from tofu and tempeh production into usable biomaterials, such as fuel, fertiliser, and leather-like fabrics. <i>Soya C(o)u(l)ture</i> was developed in collaboration with XXLab, an all-female transdisciplinary collective that Agrivina co-founded. Usually, large amounts of wastewater pollute the water in the rivers surrounding the plants, which in turn causes cholera and skin and bowel diseases in humans. <i>Soya C(o)u(l)ture</i> intends to divert this wastewater from tofu factories and put it in a homegrown starter culture medium to create useful products. A biological process using various bacteria and cell cultures, for instance <i>Acetobacter xylinum</i>, generates alternative energy sources, foodstuffs, and biological material. This process creates cellulose sheets that can either be used for consumption—<i>nata de coco</i>, a variant made of coconut water, is a popular snack food—or further processed (pressed, dried, enhanced with colouring and coating) to make clothing and craft materials. This biological procedure can be reproduced in any household using normal kitchen utensils in combination with open-source software and simple hardware. In this way, the project could provide women in poverty-stricken regions with opportunities to increase their income. <br /><br />Indigenous peoples of various territories around the world, with deep historical and cultural ties to their land, have preserved sustainable ways of living that respect the limits of the planet’s resources. The artist and architect Marjetica Potrč’s <i>Earth Drawings</i> refer to these unique indigenous cosmogonies and their essential knowledges, based on research done over the past 15 years, centred on indigenous communities, such as the Asháninkas (in the Brazilian state of Acre in Amazonia), the Aboriginal (in Australian), and the Sami (in northern Norway), The <i>Earth Drawings</i>, a series on paper, point to the growing alliances between indigenous groups and bottom-up initiatives in the effort to ensure a more resilient future, beyond the social and economic agreement of the neoliberal order. Potrč stresses that the world’s diverse societies, taken together, form an intelligent organism: when necessary, they self-generate new models of existence and coexistence—a precondition for human resilience on Earth. Sharing life experiences is, after all, a basic human condition. Coexistence on Earth requires new foundations that foreground collective ownership of the land and a socially-conscious individualism. <br /><br />Planetary coexistence of species acknowledges the presence and agency of diverse forms of intelligence. The artist Nicholas Mangan is inspired by termites and their capacity to build sophisticated and dynamic architectures that provide a model for decentralised social and economic organisation. The starting point of <i>Termite Economies (Phase 1)</i> was the anecdote that Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) researched termite behaviour in the hope that the insects might one day lead humans to gold deposits; a proposal to exploit the natural activity of termite colonies for economic gain. Mangan, on the contrary, proposes that the termites’ way of living in colonies might suggest other complex and global-scale systems for people to live and work together, better regulating and metabolising human consumption, production, and digestion. <i>Termite Economies</i> combines footage Mangan filmed on locations in Western Australia, alongside archival video and table-mounted sculptures, to speculate on the use of termites as miners and ruminating on how capitalism puts nature to work. The 3D-printed models reference existing infrastructures, for instance an underground tunnelling system for Tindals Mining Centre, a gold mine in Western Australia. The idea was to produce a 1:100 scale model to train termites. <br /><br />In <i>Bangkok Opportunistic Ecologies</i>, the design practice Animali Domestici studied the urbanity of Bangkok from a non-anthropocentric perspective, focusing on the presence of pythons. Mapping the city through a snake’s experience, the resulting tapestry puts multiple beings of different species at the centre, displacing the human from its exceptionalism. The graphic realisation is freely inspired by the representation techniques, colour palettes, and composition of Thai traditional mural paintings. Their work process translates research and statistics on the Thai capital into multiple encapsulated narratives, including such elements as sewerage, canals, water swamps, and rain water “cracked” pipes—typical spots used by snakes, according to fire department experts—, as well as folkloric cultural practices like the numerology and superstitions connected to the shape and location of the animals. <br /><br />In <i>Untitled (Human Mask)</i>, the artist Pierre Huyghe films a monkey, Fuku-chan, who in real life has a work permit as a “waitress” in a traditional sake house in Tokyo. In the film, the animal is wearing a dress and a wig, as well as a white, human-like mask created by Huyghe. Made of resin, the mask is inspired by traditional Japanese Noh theatre masks, where only the main actor wears a mask, meant to show the essential traits of the character. The film’s first images are drone shots of a devastated landscape, that of Fukushima in 2011, after the earthquake-triggered tsunami caused the meltdown of three nuclear plant reactors. It then shifts to an empty restaurant and house, where we follow Fuku-chan moving around in the dark. Fuku-chan is seen acting, and seems to be waiting, shaking her leg, looking at her nails, playing with her hair. A cat appears, and we see close-ups of insects and cockroaches. Raising questions about the essence of human nature and of non-human forms of intelligence and communication, the work points at the prevailing relationship of domination between humans and other species. <br /><br /><i>Ghostpopulations</i>, a series of collages by the artist Ines Doujak, combines ill human bodies with flora and fauna, transforming drawings from 19th-century medical textbooks into provocative assemblages that investigate desperation as an economic force. Doujak points out that entire populations uproot and flee in the direction of the faintest glimmer of hope, only to find themselves in the worst of predicaments: abandoned and deported, sold, abused or stigmatised forever, circulating as extremely cheap and disposable commodities. While she is giving visibility to such marginalised, abused, and displaced populations, these collages draw a dystopian mirage, reminding us of the pending threat of pandemic illnesses. <br /><br />Death, from a post-humanist perspective, is not only inevitable and part of life, but is an event that is already in our past. The artist and entrepreneur Jae Rhim Lee developed a burial suit as an environmentally-conscious alternative to conventional funerary processes, shifting the negative narratives around death. The presented <em>Infinity Burial Suit</em>, a handcrafted garment that is worn by the deceased, is completely biodegradable, and co-created with zero waste fashion designer Daniel Silverstein. In addition, the Forever Spot Pet Shroud is featured, also consisting of a built in biomix of mushrooms and other microorganisms that together do three things: aid in decomposition, work to neutralise toxins found in dead bodies, and transfer nutrients to plant life, enriching the earth and fostering new life. Highlighting the importance of decompiculture—the cultivation of waste-decomposing organisms—, this project also suggests a strong link between human resistance to mortality and climate change denial. She advocates for a post-mortem responsibility towards the natural world and a direct engagement with our own mortality, making funerals new beginnings instead of endpoints, becoming more emotionally and socially accessible. <br /><br />A parable on economic crashes, financial trading, mixed martial arts, and general contemporary culture, artist and writer Hito Steyerl’s large-scale architectural environment features <em>Liquidity Inc.</em>, a single-screen projection that uses water and liquidity as guiding tropes. Opening with the quote “be water, my friend” by martial arts legend and actor Bruce Lee, the film comments on the circulation of digital images, big data, information, financial assets, labour, and weather systems. The installation consists of a double-sided projection screen in front of a blue, wave-like ramp, where the viewers find themselves in “troubled water.” Steyerl merges CGI and green screen scenes with an assortment of embedded videos, swipes, clips, scrolls, and pop-up windows, that include the story of Jacob Wood, a former financial analyst who lost his job during the 2008 economic recession and decided to turn his mixed martial arts hobby into a new career. The intricate mesh of late capitalism structures needs to be hijacked in order to allow space for new ecological and sustainable policies that value people and life over profit. <br /><br /><em>The Posthuman City</em>, through artistic propositions, intends to open a discussion about the imbalanced relationship between an anthropocentric thinking that puts the human at the centre, and the fact that the urban environment is a habitat for many life forms. In her book <em>The Posthuman </em>(2013), Rosi Braidotti calls for resilience, stating that “sustainability does assume faith in a future, and also a sense of responsibility for ‘passing on’ to future generations a world that is liveable and worth living in. A present that endures is a sustainable model of the future.” <br /><br />Curated by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Professor, NTU ADM, and Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and <b>Laura Miotto</b>, Associate Professor, NTU ADM <br /><br />The accompanying public programmes include seminars addressing techno-optimism and eco-hacktivism on <b>23 November 2019</b>, and biodiver-city and urban futurism on <b>18 January 2020</b>, deepening the discussion around posthumanism and the urban condition. <br /><br />From <b>15 – 23 February 2020</b>, the second edition of <b>NTU CCA Ideas Fest</b> takes place, guest curated by <b>IdeasCity</b>, New Museum, New York.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=37&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Irene+Agrivina">Irene Agrivina</a>
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<i>Non-Aligned</i>
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Regionalism">Regionalism</a>
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<i>Non-Aligned</i> in the press! Read Stephanie Bailey’s article in <u>Ocula</u> and <u>Object Lessons Space</u>‘s interview with Dr Karin Oen, the Centre’s Deputy Director of Curatorial Programmes. <br /><br /><b><i>The Unfinished Conversation</i></b> (2012), <b>John Akomfrah</b> (United Kingdom), <b><i>Two Meetings and a Funeral</i></b> (2017), <b>Naeem Mohaiemen</b> (Bangladesh/United States), <b><i>Nucleus of the Great Union</i></b> (2017), <b>The Otolith Group</b> (United Kingdom) <br /><br />The British Empire spanned from Asia to Australia to Africa to America to the Caribbean. The various colonial territories gained their sovereignty and independence at different times, in processes of decolonization that played out in the histories of nations, but also determined the lives of individuals. <i>Non-Aligned</i> brings together three moving-image works by artists, filmmakers, and writers that inquire into the challenging transition periods from colonial rule to the independence of nations. <br /><br />The presented works apply archival material in different ways. The focus spans from the work and personal histories of intellectuals who experienced these unprecedented circumstances first-hand, including Jamaican-born British theorist Stuart Hall (1932-2014) and African American novelist Richard Wright (1908-1960), to the history of political organization around the Non-Aligned Movement. This process of examining the interconnected stories of place, identity, and the conscious assertion of difference from established Western narratives, is also embedded in the personal histories of the artists. <br /><br />The Non-Aligned Movement was formally established in 1961 on principles such as world peace and cooperation, human rights, anti-racism, respect, disarmament, non-aggression, and justice. At the height of the Cold War, a large group of African, Asian, and Latin American countries navigating post-colonial constellations attempted a diversion from the two major powers—the United States and the Soviet Union—forming what is to date the largest grouping of states worldwide, after the United Nations. The non-aligned nations, which Singapore joined in 1970, wished to secure independence and territorial sovereignty, and fight against imperialism, domination, and foreign interference. <br /><br />This history is at the core of <b><i>Two Meetings and a Funeral</i></b> (2017), a feature-length three-channel video installation by <b>Naeem Mohaiemen</b>. It explores Bangladesh’s historical pivot from the socialist perspective of the 1973 Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Algeria to the emergence of a petrodollar-funded Islamic perspective at the 1974 Organisation of Islamic Countries meeting in Lahore. Recounted by Algerian publisher Samia Zennadi, Bangladeshi politician Zonayed Saki, and Indian historian Vijay Prashad, Mohaiemen’s film considers the erosion of the idea of “Third World” as a political space that was to open the potential for decoloniality and socialism, while articulating the internal contradictions behind its unfortunate failure. <br /><br />In the video essay <b><i>Nucleus of the Great Union</i></b> (2017), <b>The Otolith Group</b> traces Richard Wright on his first trip to Africa in 1953. Travelling the Gold Coast for 10 weeks, he witnessed political campaigns for independence in West Africa, yet feeling alienation at his first encounter with the continent. For this film, The Otolith Group reconciled excerpts from Wright’s book <i>Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos</i> (1954) with a selection of the over 1,500 previously unpublished photographs the writer took on his journey. Wright’s initially intended book including both text and photos was inadequately published without images. Through this work, The Otolith Group finally honors Wright’s initial aim of seeing image and text as one single narration. <br /><br /><b><i>The Unfinished Conversation</i></b> (2012) is an in-depth inquiry by filmmaker <b>John Akomfrah</b> into the personal archive of audio interviews and television recordings of the influential theorist and educator Stuart Hall. The multi-screen film installation unfolds as a layered journey through the paradigm-changing work of the late intellectual, regarded as a key founder of cultural studies, who triangulated gender, race, and class. Hall was particularly invested in black identity linked to the history of colonialism and slavery. <br /><br />Amplifying and celebrating defining voices and intertwining personal lives with political movements, the featured works in <i>Non-Aligned</i> examine not only the new possibilities for progressive social and independence movements but also the inherent struggles that define the post-WWII period. <br /><br /><i>Non-Aligned</i> is curated by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU. <br /><br /><b>FILM PROGRAMME: THIRD WAY / AFTER BANDUNG</b> <br />This programme features films that engage post-colonial processes covering different moments and geopolitical contexts. The Asian-African Conference in 1955, known as the Bandung Conference, amidst the complex processes of decolonization, established self-determination, non-aggression, and equality as part of the core values that then formed the Non-Aligned Movement. This history is unpacked and contextualised through this series of screenings. <br /><br />Co-curated by writer and curator <b>Mark Nash</b> and film researcher <b>Vladimir Seput</b>. <br /><br /><b>READING CORNER</b> <br />Accompanying this exhibition is a library of over 50 books on postcolonialism, decoloniality, the history of the Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement, archiving, as well as theory of the moving image and publications on and by John Akomfrah, Naeem Mohaiemen, and The Otolith Group. Authors include Frantz Fanon, Stuart Hall, and Richard Wright, as well as Kodwo Eshun, Rosalind C. Morris, Bojana Piškur and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, among many others. <br /><br />In light of COVID-19, we have removed the reading corner for the safety of our visitors. <br /><br />We have selected texts on, or in conversation with, some of them to be used for online reading groups. These additional texts including articles by Vijay Prashad and Elspeth Probyn, and book chapters by Adil Johan and S.R. Joey Long. <br /><br /><b>ACTIVITY CARDS</b> <br />Designed for young audiences aged 13 and above, the <i>Non-Aligned</i> activity cards explore several core themes of the exhibition through thoughtful reflection questions and engaging activities. While the Centre strongly encourages audiences to experience the artworks in person, the cards may also be used independently at home or in the classroom.
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<i>Trinh T. Minh-ha. Films</i>
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<i>“The making of each film transforms the way I see myself and the world. Once I start engaging in the process of making a film or in any artistic excursion, I am also embarking upon a journey whose point of arrival is unknown to me.”—Trinh T. Minh-ha</i> <br /><br />Trinh T. Minh-ha. Films. is the first institutional exhibition of filmmaker, music composer, writer, anthropologist, feminist and postcolonial theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha in Asia, presented in an exhibition format. Five of her films—<b>Forgetting Vietnam</b> (2015), <b>Night Passage</b> (2004), <b><i>The Fourth Dimension</i></b> (2001), <b><i>A Tale of Love</i></b> (1995) and <b><i>Shoot for the Contents</i></b> (1991), filmed over a quarter of a century, in different parts of Asia—are simultaneously on view in five small-scale movie theatres in The Exhibition Hall. As the viewer wanders from one theatre to the next, the proximity of the films enables their narratives to interrelate. This spatial configuration took its point of departure from Trinh’s exhibition at the Secession, Vienna, in 2001. <br /><br /><b><i>Forgetting Vietnam</i></b>, framed by two ancient Vietnamese myths, was made in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, touching on the memory of trauma. <b><i>Night Passage</i></b>, inspired by Miyazawa Kenji’s novel <b><i>Milky Way Railroad</i></b> (1927), narrates the spiritual journey of a young female immigrant and her two companions, into a world of in-between realities. Shot in Japan, <b><i>The Fourth Dimension</i></b> is Trinh’s first digital film. Using special video effects to composite images and sound in multiple layers, this film is an exploration of time through rituals of religion and culture, new technology and everyday reality. <b><i>A Tale of Love</i></b> is a retelling of 19th-century Vietnamese poem <b><i>The Tale of Kiều</i></b> (1820), through a modern-day Vietnamese immigrant in the United States. In this film, Trinh experiments with various cinematic techniques and elements. <b><i>Shoot for the Contents</i></b>, an excursion into allegories, explores cultural and political shifts in China, as refracted by the June Fourth incident in Beijing. <br /><br />Presented in the Centre’s Single Screen from 31 October 2020 is Trinh’s newest cinematic work, <b><i>What about China?</i></b> (Part I of II, 2020–21). Initiated by NTU CCA Singapore, and co-commissioned with Rockbund Art Museum (RAM), Shanghai, the film takes the notion of harmony in China as a site of creative manifestation, and draws from footage shot in 1993 and 1994, in Eastern and Southern China, specifically from provinces Anhui, Hubei, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangxi—linked to the remote origins of Chinese civilisation. <br /><br />Through <b><i>Trinh T. Minh-ha. Writings.</i></b>, a display of Trinh’s books on reading platforms along the passageway connecting the five theatres in The Exhibition Hall, as well as Why are they so afraid of a lotus?, presented in The Lab by CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (Wattis), San Francisco, that showcases its year-long research season on her multifaceted practice, viewers are able to encounter her extensive writing that is core to her practice. <br /><br />Trinh’s early films, <b><i>Surname Viet Given Name Nam</i></b> (1989), <b><i>Naked Spaces—Living is Round</i></b> (1985), and <b><i>Reassemblage</i></b> (1982), are part of an online film programme, <b><i>Speaking / Thinking Nearby</i></b>. Other films selected echo strands of discussions in Trinh’s layered practice, ranging from ethics of representation, to aspects of migration, global socio-politics, and feminism. <br /><br />Besides the film programme Speaking / Thinking Nearby, other public programmes include Mother Always Has a Mother, an online convening presented by the Centre, Wattis, and RAM, and “There is no such thing as documentary”, a conference that brings together filmmakers, film historians, and curators to question the politics embedded in presentation and representation, perception, context, and the spatial. <br /><br />This is NTU CCA Singapore’s final presentation in its current exhibition space, its opening coinciding with the Centre’s seventh anniversary. By the end of this exhibition, the Centre would have hosted 55 exhibitions since its inception in 2013, inaugurated by the show Paradise Lost (2014), featuring works by Trinh T. Minh-ha alongside those of Zarina Bhimji and Fiona Tan. <br /><br />Trinh T. Minh-ha (Vietnam/United States) is Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, and an award-winning artist and filmmaker. She grew up in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and pursued her education at the National Conservatory of Music and Theater in Ho Chi Minh City. In 1970, she migrated to the United States where she continued her studies in music composition, ethnomusicology, and French literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She embarked on a career as an educator and has taught in diverse disciplines which brought her to the National Conservatory of Music in Dakar, Senegal, where she shot her first film, Reassemblage. Trinh’s cinematic oeuvre has been featured in numerous exhibitions and film festivals. She has participated in biennales across the globe including Documenta11, Kassel (2002), and most recently at Manifesta 13, Marseille (2020). A prolific writer, she has authored nine books. <br /><br />Trinh T. Minh-ha. Films. is curated by Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, NTU ADM. <br /><br />This project focuses on the multi-layered practice of Trinh T. Minh-ha as a filmmaker, writer, music composer and educator, generating a multi-year (2019–2022) research and programme partnership between NTU CCA Singapore, RAM, Wattis, and the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart.
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