Sustainability]]> Environmental Crisis]]> NTU CCA IdeasFest is a platform to catalyse critical exchange of ideas and encourage thinking “out of the box”. It links the artistic and academic communities with grassroots and self-organised initiatives and small-scale entrepreneurship. Following the global call for an ecological turn in art, architecture, and design, NTU CCA IdeasFest 2023 FOOD Eat. Secure. Sustain. presents projects that engage, investigate, and aim to ensure food security on a healthy planet. The vitality of food poses a wide-ranging set of questions and problems when confronted with nature’s diminishing capacity to nourish life as a result of harmful anthropocentric activity. Such challenges demand that we rethink our modes of production and consumption.

This third edition of IdeasFest draws relational links to improve the understanding of sustainable food systems and their urgencies, opening a pathway towards actionable steps to ensure food security. Current food practices are threatening both people and planet; more nourishing and sustainable ways of eating and producing need to be developed. This need to transform our societies towards socio-ecological sustainability is clear, but many proposals lack the concrete economic and political scaffolding necessary to make their implementation feasible.

The global food system encompasses all economic sectors, and understanding its components is essential for developing and executing effective measures to strengthen its sustainability. IdeasFest 2023 FOOD Eat. Secure. Sustain. looks into how various technologies affect (traditional) food practices and culinary techniques, and which of these are valued. Food security hinges on sustainable food systems which are based on subsystems, including farming, waste management, and supply infrastructures, which in turn interact with trade, energy, and health systems.

Focusing on social interactions that connect academic research with artistic and cultural fields as well as with architecture and design applications, this edition draws a direct relation between human societies and their impact on the environment. It presents environmentally friendly ways of living, exploring regional crafts, reusing, repairing und upcycling. While scientific evidence on climate change and food scarcity is widely discussed, to materialise future-proof food communities, it requires socially robust and impactful proposals that create a relay between local perspectives and knowledge generated in academia. To address food related issues and the climate crisis in a continued dialogue is necessary, as there is a risk that the gravity and urgency of this crisis will not be fully comprehended.

As a platform to feature new initiatives, NTU CCA Ideas Fest FOOD Eat. Secure. Sustain. is an invitation to share and engage in cooperative projects and collective experiences through workshops, site visits, screenings, performances, public installations, participatory projects, and a summit. This diverse programme will be enriched by presentations of start-up initiatives and public dialogues on how to support Singapore’s aspiration to meet 30% of its nutritional requirements domestically by 2030 collectively and individually. A two-day Ideas Conference will bring together a prominent group of architects, theorists, researchers, curators, designers, and community groups to discuss further ideas on sustainability, circular economy, food security, creative learning, and the potential of cultural heritage such as crafts and sustainable urbanism to envision a responsible future city.

Ideas Fest 2023 FOOD Eat. Secure. Sustain., conceived in partnership with Singapore-ETH Centre Future Cities Laboratory Global, contemplates on sustainable food systems, climate awareness and solutions for a more sustainable future. Curated by Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (NTU CCA and NTU ADM), Magdalena Magiera (NTU CCA), Assoc. Prof. Laura Miotto (NTU ADM), Prof. Thomas Schroepfer (ETH FCL and SUTD), Dr. Tanvi Maheshwari (Associate Director for Research, Future Cities Laboratory Global)

Registration and tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite.

SUMMIT

Free registration for Conference Days through https://bit.ly/ntuccaideasfest2023_events

Thursday, 16 February 2023
5.15pm – 8.00pm
Venue: CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, 138602
Theatrette, Level 2

5.15 pm Registration and Coffee

5.45pm Opening addresses by 
Guest of Honor Dr. Alvin Yeo (Singapore), Senior Director, Joint Policy and Planning Division, Singapore Food Agency
Prof. Subodh Mhaisalkar (Singapore), Executive Director for Academic Research, National Research Foundation Singapore, President’s Chair in Energy and Professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Prof. Tim White (Australia/ Singapore), Vice President (International Engagement); President’s Chair in Materials Science and Engineering; Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Prof. Sacha Menz (Switzerland), Director of Future Cities Lab (FCL) Global and Professor of Architecture and Building Process, ETH Zürich
Prof. Thomas Schroepfer (Germany/Singapore), Co-Director, Future Cities Lab (FCL) Global, Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) and Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore and Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), NTU 

6.30pm Keynote Lecture CLOSING THE LOOP: The Role of Circular Economy in the Food Sector
by Paula Huerta (Spain/Indonesia), Circular Economy Consultant and Director Bambook Studio and GUASL

Followed by a conversation with Assoc. Prof. Laura Miotto (Italy/Singapore), at the School of Art, Design, and Media (ADM), NTU
8.00pm RECEPTION

Friday, 17 February 2023
8.30am – 7.30pm

CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, 138602
Theatrette, Level 2

8.30am Registration and Coffee

Food Ecosystems

9.00am Welcome by Co-Curators
Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director, NTU CCA and Professor at NTU ADM, Assoc. Prof. Laura Miotto(Italy/Singapore), NTU ADM, Prof. Thomas Schroepfer (Germany/Singapore), Co-Director, FCL-G, SEC, and Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design, SUTD

9.10am Food Connects
Lecture by Raine Melissa Riman (Malaysia), Co-Curator, E.A.T Borneo Conference, media strategist and social media lead, What About Kuching Festival

9.40am Hello! I am a Black Soldier Fly and I am Transforming the Global Food System
Flash Lecture by Niraly Mangal (India/Singapore), Doctoral Researcher at SEC

10.00am Clinically Relevant Materials & Applications Inspired by Food Technologies
Flash Lecture by Prof. Wiliam Chen (Singapore), Michael Fam Endowed Professor and Director, Food Science and Technology, NTU 

10.20am Human Created Food Crisis
Flash Lecture by Britto Arts Trust / Mahbubur Rahman(Bangladesh), Artist, Co-Founder and Trustee, Britto Arts Trust

10.40am BREAK

11.00am Discussion with Prof. William Chen (Singapore), Michael Fam Endowed Professor, Director Food Science and Technology, NTU, Niraly Mangal (India/Singapore), Doctoral Researcher, SEC, Britto Arts Trust / Mahbubur Rahman (Bangladesh), Artist, Co-Founder and Trustee, Britto Arts Trust, and Raine Melissa Riman (Malaysia), Co-Curator, E.A.T Borneo Conference, media strategist and social media lead, What About Kuching Festival, Moderated by Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore and Professor, NTU ADM

12.00pm LUNCH BREAK

Urban Food Alternatives

1.30pm Architecture of Urban Agriculture for Building Sustainable Cities,
by Prof. Thomas Schroepfer (Germany/Singapore), Co-Director, FCL-G, SEC Global, Assoc. Prof. Carlos Banon (Spain/ Singapore), SUTD and Director and Co-Founder, AIRLAB Singapore 

2.00pm How Singapore is Addressing Global Food and Environmental Challenges through Alternative Proteins,
Flash Lecture by Valerie Pang (Singapore), Innovation Associate, The Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC

2.20pm Healing Remedies & Roadside Beauties,
Flash Lecture by Adeline Kueh (Singapore), Artist, Senior Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts 

2.40pm Consumer Acceptance of Alternative Proteins: Enduring and Emerging Issues,
Flash Lecture by Bianca Wassmann (Germany/Philippines), Doctoral Researcher, SEC

3.00pm  BREAK

3.20pm Discussion with Assoc. Prof. Carlos Banon (Spain/Singapore), SUTD, Director and Co-Founder, AIRLAB Singapore, Valerie Pang (Singapore), Innovation Associate, GFI APAC, Adeline Kueh (Singapore), Artist, Senior Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, and Bianca Wassmann (Germany/Philippines), Doctoral Researcher, SEC, Moderated by Prof. Thomas Schroepfer(Germany/Singapore), Co-Director, FCL-G, SEC

4.20pm BREAK

Non Conventional Food Sources

4.40pm Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Our Food – How To Make More Sustainable Choices
Flash Lecture by Dr. Iris Haberkorn (Germany/Singapore) Senior Researcher and Project Lead, SEC

5.10pm Urban Food Production in a Circular Bioeconomy with Microalgae as Case Study
Flash Lecture by Byron Perez (Ecuador/Singapore) Doctoral Researcher, SEC

5.30pm I Have Never Seen a Swimming Salmon in My Life
Flash Lecture by Hoo Fan Chon (Malaysia), Artist 

5.50pm Reporting on Singapore’s Innovations of Cultivated Meat
Flash Lecture Dr. Keri Matwick (USA/Singapore) Lecturer, School of Humanities NTU and Dr. Kelsi Matwick (USA/Singapore) Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Florida

6.10pm BREAK

6.30pm Discussion with Dr. Iris Haberkorn (Germany/Singapore), Senior Researcher and Project Lead, SEC, Byron Perez (Ecuador/Singapore), Doctoral Researcher, SEC, Hoo Fan Chon (Malaysia), Artist, and Dr. Keri Matwick, Lecturer, School of Humanities NTU, and Dr. Kelsi Matwick (USA/Singapore), Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Moderated by Dr. Tanvi Maheshwari (India/Singapore), Associate Director (Research), FCL-G, SEC

Saturday, 18 February 2023
09.00am – 1.00pm

CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, 138602
Theatrette, Level 2

9.00am Registration and Coffee

Food Industries

9.30am Welcome by Co-Curators
Magdalena Magiera (Germany/Singapore), Curator and Research Associate NTU CCA Singapore, Dr. Tanvi Maheshwari (India/Singapore), Assoc. Director (Research), FCL-G, SEC

9.40am Sarawak Rice: From Traditional Significance to Modern Sustainability,
Lecture by Karen Shepherd (Malaysia) writer, content creator, and Strategic Director for UCCN Kuching Creative City

10.40am On Palms, Weevils, and Owls: Tracing more-than-human labour in the oil palm territories of Johor, Malaysia,
Flash Lecture by Hans Hortig (Austria/Singapore), Doctoral Researcher, FCL-G, SEC

11.00am Collective Making and Domestic Hacking,
Flash Lecture by Irene Agrivina (Indonesia), Artist, Co-Founder HONF and XXLAB

11.20am Microbial Fuel Cells: Mud, Microbes, and Midichlorians (of The Force),
Flash Lecture by Saad Chinoy (Singapore) Co-Founder, SpudnikLab, Storytellers’ Kitchen, and EdibleMakerspace

11.40am BREAK

12.00pm Discussion with Karen Shepherd (Malaysia), writer, content creator, and Strategic Director for UCCN Kuching Creative City, Hans Hortig (Austria/Singapore), Doctoral Researcher, FCL-G, SEC, Irene Agrivina (Indonesia), Artist, Co-Founder HONF and XXLAB, and Saad Chinoy (Singapore), Co-Founder, SpudnikLab, Storytellers’ Kitchen, and EdibleMakerspace, Moderated by Magdalena Magiera (Germany/Singapore), Curator and Research Associate NTU CCA Singapore

Saturday, 18 February 2023
04.00 – 6.00pm

National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road, Singapore 188969
Auditorium

4.00pm Circularity and 3D-printing for Addressing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Future Cities,
A Talk by Assoc. Prof. Carlos Banon, SUTD, Director and Co-Founder, AIRLAB Singapore 
5.00pm   Guided Exhibition Tour of Circular Futures: Next Gen (following the lecture)

Sunday, 19 February 2023
04.00 – 6.00pm

National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road, Singapore 188969
Auditorium

4.00pm The Potential for Digital Models in Urban Agriculture
A Sharing Session by Alba Lombardia (Spain/Singapore) PhD Researcher SUTD, with introductions by Prof. Thomas Schroepfer(Germany/Singapore), Co-Director, FCL-G, SEC, and Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design, SUTD, and Assoc. Prof. Carlos Banon, SUTD, Director and Co-Founder, AIRLAB Singapore 
5.00pm Guided Exhibition Tour of Circular Futures: Next Gen (following the sharing session)

WORKSHOPS

Saturday, 18 February 2023
Tickets for workshops can be purchased or registered for at https://bit.ly/ntuccaideasfest2023_events

10am – 1pm To Gathering: Food Flows
with Alecia Neo (Singapore) artist, Ground-Up Initiative (Singapore), and Madhumitha Ardhanari (Singapore), Principal Sustainability Strategist, Forum for the Future
Venue: Kampung Kampus, 91 Lorong Chencharu, Singapore 769201

2.30 – 5.30pm Grow Your Own Microgreens with PVs
with Dr. Christoph Waibel (Germany/Singapore), Module Coordinator, Powering the City, FCL-G, Dr. Shi Zhongming (China/Singapore), Principal Investigator, Building Integrated Agriculture, FCL-G, Dr. Zhang Qianning (China/Singapore), Principal Investigator, Building Integrated Agriculture, NUS, Dr. Huang Zhaolu (China/Singapore), Research fellow, Building Integrated Agriculture, NUS

Venue: Future Cities Laboratory, Value Lab, Level 6, CREATE Tower, 1 Create Way, Singapore 138602 

3.00–5.30pm Novel Materials
with Irene Agrivina (Indonesia) Artist, Co-Founder HONF and XXLAB, and Saad Chinoy (Singapore), Co-Founder, SpudnikLab, Storytellers’ Kitchen, EdibleMakerspace
Venue: NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-04, Singapore 109452

4.00 – 6.00pm An Afternoon with “Salmon” Tea Sandwich
with Hoo Fan Chon (Malaysia) Artist
Venue: NTU CCA Singapore, Block 38 Malan Road, #01-06, Singapore 109441

Sunday, 19 February 2023

Tickets for workshops can be purchased or registered for at https://bit.ly/ntuccaideasfest2023_events

10.00am – 12.00pm Stories & Food of Semakau
with Firdaus Sani (Singapore), Founder Oranglaut.sg and The Black Sampan
Venue: West Coast Park

10.00 – 11.30am Elevating the Ordinary: Crafting a Creative Exploration of an Everyday Staple
with Karen Shepherd (Malaysia) writer, content creator, and Strategic Director, UCCN Kuching Creative City, Raine Melissa Riman(Malaysia), Co-Curator, E.A.T Borneo Conference, media strategist and social media lead, What About Kuching Festival, and Dr. Franca Cole (UK/Malaysia), Consultant in Conservation and Archaeology, Sarawak Museum, Lecturer, NTU ADM

Venue: NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-04, Singapore 109452

10.00 – 12pm Healing Remedies & Roadside Beauties
with Adeline Kueh (Singapore), Artist, Senior Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts 
Venue: NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-02, Singapore 109452

10am – 12.30pm Edible Wild
with Native’s Joy Chee, Resident Bartender, Gardener at Native Bar
Venue:  NTU CCA Singapore, Block 6 Lock Road, Research Office, Singapore 108934

11.30am – 1.30pm Human Created Food Crisis
with Mahbubur Rahman (Bangladesh), Artist, Co-Founder and Trustee, Britto Arts Trust and Shimul Saha (Bangladesh), Artist, both members of Britto Arts Trust. 
Venue: Intermission Bar, The Projector, 6001 Beach Rd, #05-00 GOLDEN MILE TOWER, Singapore 199589

2.30 – 5.30pm DIY Self-Watering Plant Robot!
with Dr. Christoph Waibel (Germany/Singapore), Module Coordinator, Powering the City, FCL-G, Dr. Shi Zhongming (China/Singapore), Principal Investigator, Building Integrated Agriculture, FCL-G, Dr. Zhang Qianning (China/Singapore), Principal Investigator, Building Integrated Agriculture, NUS, Dr. Huang Zhaolu (China/Singapore), Research Fellow, Building Integrated Agriculture, NUS
Venue: NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-02, Singapore 109452

3.00 – 5.00pm How Food Media Affect What We Eat
with Dr. Keri Matwick (USA /Singapore) Lecturer, School of Humanities NTU and Dr. Kelsi Matwick (USA /Singapore) Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Florida
Venue: NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-04, Singapore 109452

EXHIBITIONS

NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 & 38 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks,  Singapore
Exhibition Hours
Thursday, 16 – Sunday, 19 February 2023,   12.00 – 7.00pm 
Free admission to all exhibitions

Hello! I am a Black Soldier Fly and I am Transforming the Global Food System
Primary Contributor: Niraly Mangal, Doctoral Researcher, SEC
Other Contributors: Adrian Fuhrmann, PhD Researcher, SEC, Vartika Goenka, Research Assistant, SEC, Heng Chin Wee, Research Assistant SEC, Shaktheeshwari Silvaraju, PhD Student, SEC, Chloe Tan, Research Assistant, SEC, Tan Yong Jen, Research Assistant, SEC, Yanyun Yan, Research Associate, Zhang Qihui, PhD student 
NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-03, Singapore 109452

Sustainable Food Systems with Microalgae-based Proteins
Dr. Iris Haberkorn, Senior Researcher and Project Lead, SEC, Byron Perez, Doctoral Researcher, SEC, Helena Schmitt, PhD Researcher, SEC, Carole Zermatten, Student SEC
NTU CCA Singapore, Block 37 Malan Road, #01-03, Singapore 109452

Hoo Fan Chon
NTU CCA Singapore, Block 38 Malan Road, #01-06, Singapore 109441

The Journey of Food
Primary Contributors: Yuhao Lu, Postdoc. Researcher, FCL-G, Helen Lei Fan, Research Assistants, FCL-G
Other Contributors: Kaiyu Lu, Research Assistants, FCL-G, Muhammad Is’Maill Bin Azman, Research Assistants, FCL-G, Isabella Meo, Research Assistants, FCL-G, Jasper Phang Wee Keat, Research Assistants, FCL-G,  Zi Gui Toh, Research Assistants, FCL-G,Loo Yanshan, Research Assistants, FCL-G
NTU CCA Singapore, Block 38 Malan Road, #01-05, Singapore 109441

Potential Agriterritories – Agrarian Questions and Agroecological Design Architecture of Territory
Assoc. Prof. Milica Topalovic, Architecture and Territorial Planning, Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich, Alice Clarke, Teaching Assistant, Architecture of Territory, ETH Zurich, Hans Hortig, Doctoral Researcher, FCL-G, SEC, Karoline Kostka, Senior Researcher, New Urban Agendas for Agrarian Territories, FCL-G, SEC, and Students of the joint Master of Advanced Studies at the ETH Zürich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (ETH EPFL MAS UTD)
NTU CCA Singapore, Block 38 Malan Road, #01-07, Singapore 109441 

]]>
Ute Meta Bauer]]> Magdalena Magiera]]> Laura Miotto]]> Thomas Schroepfer]]> Tanvi Maheshwari]]> Irene Agrivina]]> Carlos Banon]]> Mahbubur Rahman]]> Shimul Saha]]> Joy Chee]]> Alice Clarke]]> William Chen]]> Saad Chinoy]]> Hoo Fan Chon]]> Franca Cole]]> Helen Lei Fan]]> Adrian Fuhrmann]]> Vartika Goenka]]> Iris Haberkorn]]> Paula Huerta]]> Hans Hortig]]> Adeline Kueh]]> Yuhao Lu]]> Niraly Mangal]]> Keri Matwick]]> Valerie Pang]]> Byron Perez]]> Zhang Qianning]]> Zhang Qihui]]> Raine Melissa Riman]]> Firdaus Sani]]> Helena Schmitt]]> Karen Shepherd]]> Shaktheeshwari Silvaraju]]> Chloe Tan]]> Milica Topalovic]]> Christoph Waibel]]> Bianca Wassmann]]> Yanyun Yan]]> Carol Zermatten]]> Huang Zhaolu]]> Shi Zhongming]]> Southeast Asia]]> Asia]]> Europe]]> Oceania]]> North America]]> South America]]> Middle East]]>
Mouthful (masked duet)]]> Politics]]> Activism]]> Embodiment]]> Body]]>
Let us return power and agency to the mouth and voice while still protecting ourselves and others. Let us express our emotions freely into the air that we all share. The Mouthful mask is both conceptual and practical. It exposes the breath and gives us an earful and eyeful of air. Mouthful projects a new sound which follows the guidelines of our time while it overcomes and embraces the obstacles we face with poetry and humor.

Mouthful is conceived by Ana Prvački, produced and manifested by Galina Mihaleva and activated by Reginald Jalleh and Zerlina Tan with original music by Joyce Bee Tuan Koh. A transdisciplinary, collaborative work, Mouthful is realized with two performative activations and as an installation and sound work in The Vitrine at NTU CCA Singapore, Block 43 Malan Road.]]>
Ana Prvački]]> Ana Prvacki]]> Joyce Bee Tuan Koh]]> Galina Mihaleva]]> Installation]]> Object]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Loose Leaves. Process, materials, sounds from Listen to my words by Dana Awartani]]> Feminism]]> Indigenous Knowledge]]> Tradition]]> Materiality]]> Loose Leaves offers an intimate foray into the process of making Listen to my words (2018). An immersive installation by Dana Awartani, Listen to my words combines hand-embroidered silk panels and recordings of Arabic poems recited by modern-day Saudi women to confront issues of silencing, invisibility, and gendered divisions of space deeply entrenched in the cultural fabric of the Middle East.

Drawn from the significant but scarcely documented tradition of female poets in the Arab world from the pre-Islamic era to the 12th century, the poems selected by the artist express feelings of love, yearning, and pride. They relay modes of awareness, stances of resistance, and acts of empowerment often centred on the female body.

The distinct visual language articulated by the geometric patterns—bearers of sacred values in Islamic culture—references the ornamental motifs found on jali (or mashrabiya), lattice screens used in traditional Islamic architecture to control the circulation of air and light as well as to shield women from the male gaze.

Presented alongside the original audio recording, Loose Leaves layers a selection of preparatory studies in the enclosed space of The Vitrine to provide a glimpse of the subtle negotiations that inform Awartani’s creative journey across different techniques and materials.
]]>
Dana Awartani ]]> Installation]]> Africa]]>
along waves of gravity –a solidar y of holes by Kin Chui]]> Postcolonialism]]> Politics]]> Fiction]]> along waves of gravity –a solidar y of holes was to be a monument to the short-lived Principal Liaison Centre (PLC) established in Singapore in 1926. Pivotal in the international surge of anti-colonial struggles, the PLC was a point of liaison between the 3rd International and the region and it was meant to serve as an organ for the amplification of the voices of the marginalised and the oppressed.

At the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung in 1955, Hussein was entrusted with the task of imagining a monument that encapsulated the spirit of the PLC. One year later, he presented the idea for along waves of gravity –a solidar y of holes: a triangulation of holes strategically placed across the island that would gather and continuously echo the voices uttered into them. Inspired by theories of general relativity and topological properties of continuous deformation, Hussein’s design articulates, spatially as well as acoustically, an anti-monumentalist stance. Rather than asserting an univocal shape, the monument retreats into the ground as a series of interconnected and shapeshifting vessels which reverberate and transform sound waves throughout time. Hussein kept experimenting with these ideas until his death in 1989 but, due to its scale and technical complexity, his visionary project remained unbuilt. The surviving renderings and audio experiments of the unrealised monument are now displayed in The Vitrine.

* Iljas Hussein is a fictional artist conceived by Kin Chui. The name is one of the many aliases used by Tan Malaka (1897 –1949), an influential revolutionary thinker and fighter in the political struggles for Indonesia’s independence. Specifically, this alias was used to pen Malaka’s magnum opus Madilog (1943), the Indonesian acronym for Materialisme Dialektika Logika (Materialism Dialectics Logics).]]>
Kin Chui]]> Multimedia Installation]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Vivarium (wii fl∞w w/ l4if but t4k£ ø forms, ♥) by Fyerool Darma]]> Urbanism]]> Public Sphere]]> Identity]]>
Vivarium (wii fl∞w w/ l4if but t4k£ ø f0rms,♥) is an exercise in four parts. Identified through keywords caches on internet-based community marketplaces and by skimming through nearby shops, the items are representations of the artist’s movements and encounters around Telok Blangah and of the possible future of the area: from its literal meaning of “cooking pot” to the forthcoming “Greater Southern Waterfront” development plan. Three items will be placed in The Vitrine, one at a time, with a monthly cadence and each accession will be captured in the Highlights section of the artist’s Instagram account (@fdarma).

Asking questions such as: What is Telok Blangah? And, more importantly if objects are to be taken as registers of the site: Where exactly is Telok Blangah?, Fyerool’s Vivarium (wii fl∞w w/ l4if but t4k£ ø f0rms,♥) encapsulates an object-based index of the area wherein the items slide like cursors along intricate trajectories and the realms of the physical and digital, the archive and the display, are merged.]]>
Fyerool Darma]]> Installation]]> Mixed Media]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Landscape Series #1, 2013 by Nguyen Trinh Thi]]> Archival Practice]]> Geopolitics]]> Ecosystems]]> Environmental Crisis]]>
The land bearing witness to the volatile transitions in our geo-political, cultural, and social systems questions the extent of which unsustainable and environmentally-taxing practices effect the environment. Does a landscape harbour ill-feelings towards events and circumstances that have caused it harm? And if it were to break its silence, what forgotten stories would it reveal? Rather than disregarding the land, Nguyen’s photographs suggest these environments contain a plethora of unspoken histories.

Nguyen’s works are built upon and are often generative of one another. Parallel to this presentation, two of her films, Vietnam the Movie (2015) and Fifth Cinema (2018), will be on view in The Single Screen from 28 May – 9 June and 11 – 23 June respectively. This screening is part of the Centre’s Film Screening Programme: Faces of Histories, 14 May – 17 July 2019.]]>
Ngyuen Trinh Thi ]]> Installation]]> Photography]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Semangat Kejiranan by Izat Arif]]> Nature]]> Urbanism]]> Botany]]> Izat Arif has conducted experiential and erratic fieldwork in various landscapes in Singapore observing plants, soil, insects, and traces of human presence. This investigation is presented in The Vitrine as a form of a provisional “cabinet of essential items,” which contains a selection of the artist’s notes and drawings, research tools, and findings.]]> Izat Arif ]]> Installation]]> Mixed Media]]> Southeast Asia]]> impasse to verbal by Luca Lum]]> Urbanism]]> Public Sphere]]> Identity]]> impasse to verbal comes out from her continued engagement with the neighbourhood and from her speculations on the slippage between what things are, how they look, and what they do—which the artist defines as the play between description and disposition.

The work is a visual assemblage that merges wall notices, official zoning maps, personal routes, and various extracts sampled from the urban landscape. Through an intricate interplay of stratifications and transparencies, it creates an imploded visual environment where information is simultaneously displayed and withdrawn, revealed and cloaked. Steeped in a pervasive blue glow reminiscent of the light of electronic devices, the signs are left to float and clash into leaky configurations that shatter conventional patterns of readability.]]>
Luca Lum]]> Installation]]> Mixed Media]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Creatif Compleks by Michael Lee]]> Spaces of the Curatorial]]> Labour]]> Fiction]]> Creatif Compleks (2018) is the culmination of Michael Lee’s reflection on the function of the artist’s studio within the arts ecology of a city. The work takes the form of a diagram about a hypothetical property development consisting of various configurations of the artist’s home/studio. The use of LED light strips, a popular fixture in advertising and interior design, alludes to latent apprehensions about the development and promotion of the arts in Singapore which today are, arguably, at a feverish pitch. Informed by myths and fantasies of artists in their studios, the work takes a speculative leap into the utopian and the absurd.]]> Michael Lee ]]> Installation]]> Mixed Media]]> Southeast Asia]]> Speed Reading by Sonya Lacey]]> Artistic Research]]> Politics]]> Sonya Lacey addresses the politics of communication by tampering with the concrete textures of language. Specifically conceived for The Vitrine, Speed Reading combines two bodies of work that put the sheer physicality of language to a test. Headlines from The Straits Times and Solar Print Tests (both 2017) result from a series of experiments, undertaken by the artist during her residency at NTU CCA Singapore, where she exposed newsprint paper to both sunlight and artificial light, while Dilutions, an earlier work from 2016, is a sculptural piece involving a movable metal typeface and the process of corrosion determined by lead oxide. Slowly warping over time, the material components entailed in the production and circulation of the written word, Speed Reading alters the boundaries of legibility and shakes the physical foundations of the transmission of knowledge.]]> Sonya Lacey ]]> Installation]]> Mixed Media]]> Southeast Asia]]>