Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II]]> Body]]> Performance]]> Identity]]> Institutional Critique]]> Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II reviews the performative format that marked NTU CCA Singapore’s inauguration in 2013. Free Jazz 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, Stagings. Soundings. Readings. employs an open, multidisciplinary structure that challenges traditional modes of presentation and re-presentation through a range of artistic practices and formats.

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.

Can we learn from what we see as opposed to being merely seduced by images, becoming active participants instead of only passive observers? Stagings. Soundings. Readings. 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.

Located outside the Centre, Maria Loboda‘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, Tyler Coburn 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 Heman Chong analyses motifs of exchange and its boundaries, embracing the space of inter-human connections.

Unfolding in the exhibition space, Cally Spooner 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. Alexandra Pirici’s choreography explores the possibility of collectively assembling memories of human and non-human presence on the planet. Carlos Casas 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 Phill Niblock, they will create an audio-visual experience, traversing landscape, soundscape, and contemporary music that changes with every iteration.

In response to the five-year anniversary and by taking the topic of its celebration Free Jazz literally, Ming Wong will stage an improvisational performance. Similarly, Boris Nieslony (Germany), Co-founder of the artist collective Black Market International, will engage with pioneering Singaporean artist Lee Wen with a discussion and performance.

Further probing conventional formats, the accompanying programmes include readings by curator Anca Rujoiu (Romania/Singapore) and poets Peter Sipeli and 1angrynative (both Fiji), as well as Behind the Scenes conversations with contributing artists. In The Single Screen, works by Anton Ginzburg (Russia/United States), Mariana Silva (Portugal/United States), Luke Fowler (United Kingdom), Justin Shoulder and Bhenji Ra (both Philippines/Australia), and others, will add a filmic perspective to the dialogue.

This multitude of celebratory events instigates an active engagement with the now, following a conscious desire to become truly present.

Curated by Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, and Magdalena Magiera, Curator, Outreach and Education, NTU CCA Singapore.]]>
Heman Chong]]> Maria Loboda]]> Cally Spooner]]> Maggie Segale]]> Jesper List Thomsen]]> Tyler Coburn]]> Richard Roe]]> Carlos Casas]]> Phill Niblock]]> Ming Wong]]> Alexandra Pirici]]> Ying Cai]]> Weixin Chong]]> Chloe Chotrani]]> Nina Djekic]]> Farid Fairuz]]> Adam Lau]]> Je Leung]]> Loo Zihan]]> Yue Ru Ma]]> Hanna Mikosch]]> Yulin Ng]]> Rachel Nip]]> Isabel Phua]]> Jamil Schulze]]> Performance]]> Sound]]> Installation]]> Asia]]>
Body]]> Performance]]> Identity]]> Institutional Critique]]> Carlos Casas]]> Asia]]> Nature]]> Coexistence]]> Carlos Casas]]> Film]]> Sound]]> Southeast Asia]]> Performance]]> 1 Feb 2018, Thu 07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
Studio #01-05, Block 38 Malan Road

The sonic emanations of the natural world play an important role in the artistic practice of both Carlos Casas and Florian Dombois. Capturing elephant infrasounds and seismic recordings of the Pacific Ocean, the artists push the boundaries of our sensorium, delving into sonic phenomena that go beyond the range of human hearing. Opening up alternative ways of listening to the planet, the conversation addresses several instances of “sonifying the invisible.” It will be followed by a Listening Session during which mysterious bird calls and the magnetic sound fields of the ionosphere will take us on an aural journey from the deep underwater trenches of the Ring of Fire to a remote elephant sanctuary.]]>
Carlos Casas]]> Florian Dombois]]> Vivian Wang]]> Asia]]> Oceania]]>
Ecology]]> Cultural Heritage]]> 20 Oct 2018, Sat 12:00 PM - 07:00 PM
The Exhibition Hall, Block 43 Malan Road

Avalanche
is an audio-visual environment and installation that documents the life in Hichigh, one of the highest inhabited villages in the Pamirs, a region in Central Asia known as the “roof of the world.” Working from the starting point of the local cosmogony, traditions, and its music, Avalanche is a multiformat work and expanded ethnographic research based on the human ecology and richness of the region. One of the most remote regions of the planet, the Pamirs are as mysterious as fascinating, home of some of the most rich and archaic traditions, considered the nest and origin of most of the monotheistic beliefs, and the perfect site for understanding our spiritual journey as humans. Avalanche is also a study on cinematic time and the human ecology of isolated communities. A meditation about the unstoppable “avalanche” of civilisation, about the elusiveness of time and the dusk of a village and endurance and resilience of its inhabitants and traditions.

Avalanche is a long-term commitment and Singapore’s iteration is developed site-specifically for the Centre and presented as a live-editing and live-soundtrack environment, featuring special collaborations with Phill Niblockand musicians from Singapore.

A public programme of Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II.]]>
Carlos Casas]]> Phill Niblock]]> Brian O’Reilly]]> Asia]]>
Nature]]> Performance]]> 23 Oct 2018, Tue 07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Artist Carlos Casas together with eminent composer and filmmaker Phill Niblock will discuss their approaches to film, video, and soundscapes. Sharing their experience of collaborating on Avalanche—the project on view in Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II—Casas and Niblock will expand on notions of improvisation and site-specificity.

The work Avalanche documents Hichigh, a village in Tajikistan and one of the highest located villages in the world. With each iteration and presentation, the work will change according to the context and space it’s being presented.

A public programme of Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II.]]>
Carlos Casas]]> Phill Niblock]]> Asia]]>
Performance]]>
For this special occasion, Carlos Casas invited musicians George Chua and Cheryl Ong to respond to his site-specific installation through a live-editing and sound situation.

A public programme of Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II.]]>
Carlos Casas]]> George Chua]]> Cheryl Ong]]> Video]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Nature]]> Cultural Heritage]]>
The sonic emanations of the natural world play an important role in the artistic practice of both Carlos Casas and Florian Dombois. Capturing elephant infrasounds and seismic recordings of the Pacific Ocean, the artists push the boundaries of our sensorium, delving into sonic phenomena that go beyond the range of human hearing. Opening up alternative ways of listening to the planet, the conversation addresses several instances of “sonifying the invisible.” It will be followed by a Listening Session during which mysterious bird calls and the magnetic sound fields of the ionosphere will take us on an aural journey from the deep underwater trenches of the Ring of Fire to a remote elephant sanctuary.]]>
Carlos Casas]]> Florian Dombois]]> Vivian Wang]]> Video]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Cultural Production]]> Nature]]>

Artist Carlos Casas together with eminent composer and filmmaker Phill Niblock will discuss their approaches to film, video, and soundscapes. Sharing their experience of collaborating on Avalanche—the project on view in Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II—Casas and Niblock will expand on notions of improvisation and site-specificity.

The work Avalanche documents Hichigh, a village in Tajikistan and one of the highest located villages in the world. With each iteration and presentation, the work will change according to the context and space it’s being presented.

BIOGRAPHIES

Carlos Casas (Spain/France) works with film and the sonic. His last three films have been awarded in festivals around the world including Torino, Madrid, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City. He has recently concluded a trilogy of films, END, dedicated to the most extreme environments on the planet: Patagonia, Aral Sea, and Siberia. Avalanche is a lifelong project and site-specific film based on one of the highest inhabited villages in the Pamirs, a mountain range in Central Asia. His films have been shown in festivals such as the Venice Film Festival; Rotterdam Film Festival; FID Marseille; BAFICI Buenos Aires; Jeonju International Film Festival, South Korea; Documenta Madrid; FICCO Mexico; and others. His works have been presented at institutions including Tate Modern, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Hangar Bicocca, Milan; Bozar Bruxelles; Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro; MIS São Paulo; Centre Pompidou and Fondation Cartier, Paris; Centre Cultura Contemporanea, Barcelona; MALBA, Buenos Aires; and GAM, Torino. He was Creative Director of Colors Music and Films from 2005–08 where he developed audio-visual projects and music research in various regions around the world. He is Co-founder of Map Productions and the visual sound label Von Archives. Casas is Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College, United States, and ECAM, the Madrid film school. He was an NTU CCA Singapore Artist-in-Residence from December 2017 to February 2018.

Phill Niblock (United States) is an intermedia artist using music, film, photography, video, and computers. Since the mid-60s he has been making music and intermedia performances shown at numerous venues around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Wadsworth Atheneum, Connecticut; the Kitchen, New York; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge; World Music Institute, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris and Metz; and the Maerzmusik Festival, Berlin. Since 1985, he is the Director of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation (EI) in New York, which he joined as member in 1968. He is the Producer of Music and Intermedia presentations at EI since 1973 (about 1,000 performances) and the curator of EI’s XI Records label. In 1993, he was part of the formation of an EI organisation in Gent, which supports artists-in-residence. Niblock’s music is available on the XI, Moikai, Mode, VonArchive, Touch, and Extreme labels. In 2014, he was the recipient of the John Cage Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York. Recently, he presented films and photographs from 1970 and ’71 at Tate Modern, London, with music from the past three years.

A public programme of Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II.]]>
Carlos Casas]]> Phil Niblock]]> Video]]> Asia]]>
Performance]]> Block 43 Malan Road

NTU CCA SINGAPORE 5th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
 
10.00 – 11.00pm
Improvisation by artist Ming Wong (Singapore/Germany)
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road
 
Taking the theme of the celebration, Free Jazz, literally, Ming Wong will create an improvised performance during the five-year anniversary party of NTU CCA Singapore. Highly influenced by cinema, Wong’s work unravels ideas of “authenticity,” “originality,” and the “other,” with reference to the act of human performativity. He explores how culture, gender, and identity are constructed, reproduced, and circulated, forming politics of representation.

11.00pm – 12.00am
Avalanche XIV (2009–ongoing) by artist Carlos Casas (Spain/France) and guests George Chua and Cheryl Ong (both Singapore)
The Exhibition Hall, Block 43 Malan Road
 
For this special occasion, Carlos Casas invited musicians George Chua and Cheryl Ong to respond to his site-specific installation through a live-editing and sound situation.
 
Part of Stagings. Soundings. Readings. Free Jazz II
]]>
Ming Wong]]> Carlos Casas]]> George Chua]]> Cheryl Ong]]> Southeast Asia]]>