Symposium: Ghosts and Spectres – Shadows of History 
Closing Keynote Lecture by Professor Kenneth Dean, Head, Department of Chinese, NUS

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Supernatural]]> Mythology]]> 28 Oct 2017, Sat 04.30 - 05.30 pm
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Professor Dean will reflect on the day's discussions from the perspective of local and historical research, and expand on the topics by referencing folkloric and vernacular practices.
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Kenneth Dean]]> Asia]]>
Climate Crisis]]> Cultural Production]]> Edited by Ute Meta Bauer
Design by mono.studio
Printed by DZA Druckerei zu Altenburg GmbH
© 2022 the artists, the authors, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Nanyang Technological University 
ISBN: 978-0-262-04681-7 
Distributed by The MIT Press 
Copies are available for sale at NTU CCA Singapore and through MIT Press S$80/US$60

Modeling the curatorial as a method for uniting cultural production and science, Climates. Habitats. Environments. weaves together image and text to address the global climate crisis. Through exhibitions, artworks, and essays, artists and writers transcend disciplinary boundaries and linear histories to bring their knowledge and experience to bear on the fight for environmental justice. In doing so, they draw on the rich cultural heritage of the Asia-Pacific, in conversation with international discourse, to demonstrate transdisciplinary solution-seeking.

Experimental in form as well as in method, Climates. Habitats. Environments. features an inventive book design by mono.studio that puts word and image on equal footing, offering a multiplicity of media, interpretations, and manifestations of interdisciplinary research. For example, botanist Matthew Hall draws on Ovid's Metamorphoses to discuss human-plant interpenetration; curator and writer Venus Lau considers how spectrality consumes—and is consumed—in animation and film, literature, music, and cuisine; and critical theorist and filmmaker Elizabeth Povinelli proposes “Water Sense” as a geontological approach to “the question of our connected and differentiated existence,” informed by the “ancestral catastrophe of colonialism.” Artists excavate the natural and cultural DNA of indigo, lacquer, rattan, and mulberry; works at the intersection of art, design, and architecture explore “The Posthuman City”; an ongoing research project investigates the ecological urgencies of Pacific archipelagos. The works of art, the projects, and the majority of the texts featured in the book were commissioned by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore.

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Ute Meta Bauer]]> Anna Lovecchio]]> Michael Marder]]> Kong Yin Ying]]> Marian Pastor Roces]]> Ravi Agarwal]]> Donna J. Haraway]]> Matthew Hall]]> Nikos Papastergiadis]]> Donna J. Haraway]]> David Pledger]]> Dan Koh]]> Tan Zi Hao]]> May Adadol Ingawanij]]> Michael M. J. Fischer]]> Venus Lau]]> Elizabeth A. Povinelli]]> Cynthia Chou]]> Nina Oeghoede]]> Philippe Pirotte]]> Epeli Hau'ofa]]> Nabil Ahmed]]> Édouard Glissant]]> Tania Roy]]> Alfian Sa'at]]> Jake Atienza]]> Kenneth Dean]]> Faizah Zakaria]]> Stefanie Hessler]]> Huang Jui-mao]]> Anna Källén]]> Philippa Lovatt]]> Laura Miotto]]> Rob Nixon]]> Khim Ong]]> Markus Reymann]]> Dirk Snauwaert]]> Matariki Williams]]> Irene Agrivina]]> Nabil Ahmed]]> Irwan Ahmett]]> Tita Salina]]> Atif Akin]]> Animali Domestici]]> Apichatpong Weerasethakul]]> Martha Atienza]]> Tarek Atoui]]> Laura Anderson Barbata]]> Rosella Biscotti]]> Guigone Camus]]> Choy Ka Fai]]> Roko Josefa Cinavilakeba]]> Sean Connelly]]> Ade Darmawan]]> Lucy Davis]]> Ines Doujak]]> Jef Geys]]> Tue Greenfort]]> Newell Harry]]> Ho Tzu Nyen]]> Chia-Wei Hsu]]> Pierre Huyghe]]> ila]]> inhabitants]]> The Institute of Critical Zoologists]]> Kristy H. A. Kang]]> Susanne Kriemann]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Jae Rhim Lee]]> Liang Shaoji]]> PerMagnus Lindborg]]> Armin Linke]]> Nicholas Mangan]]> Alice Miceli]]> Manish Nai]]> Nguyễn Trinh Thi]]> Phi Phi Oanh]]> Lucy + Jorge Orta]]> Park Chan-kyong]]> Sophia Pich]]> Marjetica Potrč]]> Shubigi Rao]]> Lisa Rave]]> Lucy Raven]]> Bridget Reweti]]> Hito Steyerl]]> Melati Suryodarmo]]> Tanatchai Bandasak]]> Sung Tieu]]> Jegan Vincent de Paul]]> Wu Mali]]> Vivian Xu]]> Yeo Siew Hua]]> Zarina Muhammad]]> Edouard Glissant]]> Anna Kallen]]> Nguyen Trinh Thi]]> Marjetica Potrc]]> mono.studio]]> Publication]]> Southeast Asia]]> Asia]]>
Supernatural]]> Ritual]]> Indigenous Knowledge]]>

Kenneth Dean will confront questions like “What happens in the afterlife?” “Do ghosts get bored and lonely?” and “Can we plan what happens to our spirits when we die?” In the course of the (de)Tour, Dean will elaborate on how Chinese religion deals with ghosts through rituals and traditions.

This Exhibition (de)Tour is part of the Education and Public Programme of Joan Jonas: They Come to Us without a Word.]]>
Kenneth Dean ]]> Video]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Ritual]]> Tradition]]> Supernatural]]> 30 Mar 2016, Wed 7:30pm - 9:00pm
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Kenneth Dean will confront questions like “What happens in the afterlife?” “Do ghosts get bored and lonely?” and “Can we plan what happens to our spirits when we die?” In the course of the (de)Tour, Dean will elaborate on how Chinese religion deals with ghosts through rituals and traditions.

This Exhibition (de)Tour is part of the Education and Public Programme of Joan Jonas: They Come to Us without a Word.]]>
Kenneth Dean ]]> Asia]]>
History]]> Politics]]> Geopolitics]]> Ute Meta Bauer]]> May Adadol Ingawanij]]> June Yap]]> Nguyen Trinh Thi]]> Ho Tzu Nyen]]> Roger Nelson]]> Khim Ong]]> Hyunjin Kim]]> Park Chan-kyong]]> Clare Veal]]> David Teh]]> Kenneth Dean]]> Southeast Asia]]> History]]> Mythology]]> Regionalism]]> Supernatural]]> Kenneth Dean]]> Asia]]> Southeast Asia]]> Institutional Critique]]> Geopolitics]]> Urbanism]]>
The title of the book refers to the framework employed at NTU CCA Singapore in its first cycle of activities, from 2013 to March 2017, which took Singapore, the world’s second-largest trading port and the economic epicentre of Southeast Asia, as a point of departure to investigate the notion of place, the intersection between locality and the global, labour, and flows of capital.

Unfolding across four broad sections of “The Making of an Institution,” “The Geopolitical and the Biophysical,” “Incidental Scripts,” and “Incomplete Urbanism,” this publication reads as an exhibition. Drawing connections across disciplines and merging theory with practice, Place.Labour.Capital. weaves together a constellation of different bodies of materials from essays, poetry, and fiction to artworks and documentation of the Centre’s past exhibitions.

Richly illustrated, the publication brings together the voices of more than 80 contributors, from former Research Fellows such as Tony Godfrey (Philippines), Regina (Maria) Möller (Germany), T. K. Sabapathy (Singapore), Yvonne Spielmann (Germany), to former Artists-in-Residence including Tiffany Chung (Vietnam/United States), Amanda Heng (Singapore), Shooshie Sulaiman (Malaysia), Lee Wen (Singapore), and Yee I-Lann (Malaysia). Other contributions include those from the Centre’s exhibitions and public programmes such as artists, academics, and curators including Amar Kanwar (India), Lee Weng Choy (Malaysia), David Teh (Australia/Singapore), and June Yap (Singapore).

This extensive publication “reminds us that institution building remains enormously significant as a means of opening up new spaces, claims, communities, dialogues, publics, and trajectories for critical artistic practice.” (Felicity D. Scott, Associate Professor Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, New York)

“Drawing together stories, voices, and thinking by leading artists and academics, Place.Labour.Capital. traces the invention of a remarkable model of an institution. The publication is an inspiration and a valuable tool to anyone trying to find ways of building releveant arts institutions for the future.” (Sally Tallant, Director, Liverpool Biennial)

Place.Labour.Capital. takes a reflective look the art institution, and serves as a means to review the parameters of its own position in the present globalised art world and knowledge-production economies.

The visual concept of the book was conceived by renowned Singapore design firm H55.]]>
Mousse Publishing]]> H55]]> Koh Nguang How]]> Paul Tan]]> Eugene Tan]]> T. K. Sabapathy]]> Khim Ong]]> Fareed Armaly]]> Jesko Fezer]]> Julian "Togar" Abraham]]> Post-Museum]]> Kray Chen]]> Vera Mey]]> Amanda Heng]]> Yan Jun]]> Lee Wen]]> Marc Glöde]]> Jeremy Sharma]]> Heman Chong]]> Shooshie Sulaiman]]> Mona Vătămanu]]> Florin Tudor]]> Hilde Van Gelder]]> UuDam Tran Nguyen]]> James Jack]]> Jegan Vincent de Paul]]> Dennis Tan]]> Erika Tan]]> Regina (Maria) Möller]]> Hamra Abbas]]> Mercedes Vicente]]> Bo Wang]]> Ho Rui An]]> Stefano Harney]]> Arjuna Neuman]]> Bani Haykal]]> Tiffany Chung]]> Amar Kanwar]]> Helena Varkkey]]> Nikos Papastergiadis]]> Saleh Husein]]> Sam Durant]]> June Yap]]> Roslisham "Ise" Ismail]]> Shubigi Rao]]> Guo-Liang Tan]]> Tamara Weber]]> Loo Zihan]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Trinh T. Minh-ha]]> Jompet Kuswidananto]]> Otty Widasari]]> Yvonne Spielmann]]> Mark Nash]]> Arin Rungjang]]> Filipa Ramos]]> Yason Banal]]> Kenneth Dean]]> Yee I-Lann]]> Alex Mawimbi]]> anGie seah]]> Alexandra Murray-Leslie]]> Andrew Johnston]]> Zulkifle Mahmod]]> Newell Harry]]> Jason Wee]]> Anocha Suwichakornpong]]> Shirley Surya]]> Sissel Tolaas]]> Tan Pin Pin]]> SHIMURAbros]]> Etienne Turpin]]> Li Ran]]> Gary-Ross Pastrana]]> Yvonne P. Doderer]]> Matthew Mazzotta]]> Art Labor]]> Xu Tan]]> Weixin Chong]]> Pratchaya Phinthong]]> Marc Glode]]> Mona Vatamanu]]> Regina Moller]]> Publication]]> Asia]]>
Mythology]]> Supernatural]]> Ritual]]> History]]>
On the occasion of the exhibition Ghost and Spectres – Shadows of History curated by Professor Ute Meta Bauer and Khim Ong, and the 4th anniversary of NTU CCA Singapore

SESSION II: GHOSTS AND SPECTRES 4.30 – 5.30pm Closing Keynote Lecture by Professor Kenneth Dean, Head, Department of Chinese Studies, NUS

Professor Dean will reflect on the day's discussions from the perspective of local historical research, and expand on them through referencing folkloric and vernancular practices.]]>
Kenneth Dean]]> Ute Meta Bauer]]> Video]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Mythology]]> Supernatural]]> 28 Oct 2017, Sat 09:30 AM - 08:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

On the occasion of the exhibition Ghost and Spectres – Shadows of History curated by Professor Ute Meta Bauer and Khim Ong, and the 4th anniversary of NTU CCA Singapore.

Taking the works in the current show as points of departure, the symposium brings together the artists of the exhibition, as well as curators and scholars researching on the subject matter, to generate a discussion on muted histories and legacies, as they cast light upon past events that still impact society today, particularly in terms of power structures and restriction of social freedom. The role of the moving image—the medium used by the four exhibiting artists—will be analysed to demonstrate how it reveals, as much as it conceals, past traumas that evade representation.

Divided into two sessions, the symposium explores the artists’ working processes and methodological approaches through structured conversations consisting of lectures, presentations, and moderated discussions. The focus will lie on the sources of inspiration as well as on the motivations of the artists’ practices, and on the construction and contestation of official narratives. Ho Tzu NyenNguyen Trinh Thi, and Park Chan-kyong will expand on the historical events and socio-political contexts that feed into their work, and on the different strategies employed to revive collective memory. Scholar Dr Clare Veal will highlight the medium specificity in the works of Apichatpong Weerasethakul to address conflicted histories, whereas the lectures by curators Dr June Yap and Hyunjin Kim, as well as the keynote lectures by Dr May Adadol Ingawanij and Professor Kenneth Dean, aim to articulate the complicated geopolitical relations in contemporary Asia.

11.00am – 1.10pm
Session I: Shadows of History

Chaired by Dr Roger Nelson, curator and art historian, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Art Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and NTU CCA Singapore

Dedicated to the uncovering of neglected histories, this session will look at the construction of historical narratives and their role in reflecting social, political, and cultural conditions. Occluded by the propagation of progress and nation building, what has been left out and rendered unspeakable in the region’s bid to establish national identities and political autonomy? Referencing the works of Ho Tzu Nyen and Nguyen Trinh Thi, this session traces post-war and Cold War legacies in Asia and investigates their lingering spectres.

2.30 – 5.30pm
Session II: Ghosts and Spectres

Chaired by Dr David Teh, researcher and curator, Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore (NUS)

Referencing the works of Park Chan-kyong and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, this session deals with notions of ghosts and spectres as allegories of historical moments and dreamlike realities. Embedded in myths and folklore, what roles do they play in constructing an understanding of the past and in reflecting socio-political circumstances? How do cinematic works engage their medium-specificity in a play of historical phantoms and repressed collective memories, to create a language for portraying trauma, loss, dreams, and nightmares?

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Ute Meta Bauer]]> May Adadol Ingawanij]]> June Yap]]> Nguyen Trinh Thi]]> Ho Tzu Nyen]]> Khim Ong]]> Hyunjin Kim]]> Park Chan-kyong]]> Clare Veal]]> Roger Nelson]]> David Teh]]> Kenneth Dean]]> Southeast Asia]]> Asia]]>