Arus Balik: From below the wind to above the wind and back again]]> Oceans & Seas]]> Ecology]]> The Anthropocene]]> Politics]]> Geopolitics]]> Archipelagic State]]> Arus Balik – From below the wind to above the wind and back again, an exhibition project that initiated from a conversation between Belgian curator Philippe Pirotte and Jakarta-based artist Ade Darmawan. Reconsidering Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s epic book Arus Balik (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.

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 Spectre of Comparisons (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.

The participating artists expand on this prompt through installations, sculptures, films, performances, and texts, both existing works as well as new commissions. Ade Darmawan re-read Arus Balik 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. ila 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. Paradise Blueprint (2017), a wallpaper designed by Zac Langdon-Pole, 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. Lucy Raven creates silk paintings or monoprints, made by imprint of sedimentation in erosion tables, as scrim backdrops she uses for a forthcoming film-production, called Kongkreto, 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 Shubigi Rao delves into the stories related to the difficult conditions, but also extraordinary examples of solidarity Pramoedya faced on prison island Buru while writing Arus Balik. A new video-installation by Melati Suryodarmo, Dancing under the Black Sky (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.

The exhibition Arus Balik 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.”

The accompanying public programmes further investigate the topics raised, including a conversation on Saturday, March 23, around the book Arus Balik and the reception of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s oeuvre. On Saturday, May 25, another conversation will focus on living with the sea and the history of the straits.

Arus Balik – From below the wind to above the wind and back again 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.

Guest curated by Philippe Pirotte, 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.]]>
Ade Darmawan]]> ila]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Lucy Raven]]> Shubigi Rao]]> Melati Surydarmo]]> Philippe Pirotte]]> Video]]> Film]]> Multimedia Installation]]> Drawing]]> Photography]]> Mixed Media]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Four Practices: Artist Resource Platform]]> Artistic Research]]> Regionalism]]> Geopolitics]]> Four Practices, a display of resource material of current Artists-in-Residence. Showcasing publications, audio and visual documentation, Four Practices provides an entry point in understanding the artists’ diverse body of works and the complexity of their practices.

Four Practices complements and expands on NTU CCA Singapore’s Artist Resource Platform, a growing collection of resource materials from more than 80 local and international artists, independent art spaces and NTU CCA Singapore’s Artists-in-Residence.]]>
Haegue Yang]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Zul Mahmod]]> Dennis Tan]]> Print]]> Video]]> Photography]]> Sculpture]]> Southeast Asia]]> Oceania]]> Asia]]>
Speakers' Corner]]> Politics]]> Activism]]> Archival Practice]]> Ready, Steady, Go (2 — 8 August 2017)
Incidental Scripts (10 — 15 August 2017)
Proximities and Encounters (16 — 22 August 2017)
Islanded (23 — 31 August 2017)

Speakers’ Corner is a selection of video documentations of former public events and related research materials from its archives. Here, the term “Speakers’ Corner” stands as a metaphor for public discourses created through the various programmes of NTU CCA Singapore. Outreach not only means to create discussions but also to find different languages, or to question under what premises we create our knowledge. Altogether this is what creates a public discourse or a “speakers’ corner” within an institution, which can be academic, literary, or performative. It opens up the possibility for encounters with the known and unknown, the expected and unexpected, as a form of its lively activities.

NTU CCA Singapore’s public programmes reflect on our present world through culture and art. Unfolding over two months will be four chapters: Islanded, Incidental Scripts, Proximities and Encounters, and Ready, Steady, Go. Each chapter is related to an exhibition held at NTU CCA Singapore such as Incidental Scripts by Yang Fudong (2014) or SEA STATE by Charles Lim Yi Yong (2016), or to invited local and international Artists-in-Residence and their artistic research and practices like Heman Chong (2017) or Zac Langdon-Pole (2014). On a broader scheme, the events offer an expanded reading and understanding of the complexity and diversity of the contemporary art production of today and how it intersects with current developments in culture, society, and politics.]]>
Yang Fudong]]> Charles Lim Yi Yong]]> Heman Chong]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Video]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Ecology]]> Mythology]]> History]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Southeast Asia]]> Oceania]]> Mythology]]> History]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Installation]]> Object]]> Southeast Asia]]> Arus Balik: From below the wind to above the wind and back again Exhibition Brochure]]> Arus Balik: From below the wind to above the wind and back again Exhibition Brochure]]> Ade Darmawan]]> ila]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Lucy Raven]]> Shubigi Rao]]> Melati Surydarmo]]> Philippe Pirotte]]> Brochure]]> 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]]>
Residencie Studio Sessions: A reading by Artist-in-Residence, Zac Langdon-Pole (New Zealand)

]]>
Animals]]> Mythology]]> Materiality]]> 15 Apr 2016, Fri 7:30pm - 9:00pm
The Lab, Block 43 Malan Road

Zac Langdon-Pole’s projects often take their point of departure in social structures of representation and organisation in order to question how and for whom such structures are posed. His current research relates specifically to the regions of Southeast Asia and the South West Pacific, and is centered on the mythology and historical cultural exchange of the so-called ‘birds of paradise’ from Papua New Guinea. His interest lies in how within procedures of cultural exchange the loss of, or transposing and translating of information can itself be a process of formation. Two ideas that are currently helping to inform his research are Walter Benjamin’s notion of ‘the wish image’ that stands at the intersection of materialism and mythology and Peter Mason’s explanation of the process of ‘exotification’, in his book Infelicities. This is the idea that the exotic is not something that exists prior to its ‘discovery’ but rather is formed in the very act of discovery itself.]]>
Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Southeast Asia]]> Oceania]]>
Oceans & Seas]]> 25 May 2019, Sat 03:30 PM - 05:30 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

The second session of a two-part conversation, this panel discussion will focus on the history of the straits, historical maps, and the geography of maritime Southeast Asia. This involves an approach to Southeast Asia through underlying indigenous patterns, which will necessarily stretch the limits of ingrained westernised cultural visions and mental habits. The participants will discuss complexities of heritage, notions of belonging, and strategies of mapping. Rather than a static given, the Straits will be considered as an environment with an incipient psychology, invoking a transpiring age-old knowledge of the region, but also as a habitat that continues to profoundly influence our existence.

A public programme of Arus Balik – From below the wind to above the wind and back again.]]>
ila]]> Mirwan Andan]]> Nirwan Ahmad Arsuka]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Imran bin Tajudeen]]> Juria Toramae]]> Philippe Pirotte]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Geopolitics]]> History]]> Politics]]> Postcolonialism]]>
The second session of a two-part conversation, this panel discussion will focus on the history of the straits, historical maps, and the geography of maritime Southeast Asia. This involves an approach to Southeast Asia through underlying indigenous patterns, which will necessarily stretch the limits of ingrained westernised cultural visions and mental habits. The participants will discuss complexities of heritage, notions of belonging, and strategies of mapping. Rather than a static given, the Straits will be considered as an environment with an incipient psychology, invoking a transpiring age-old knowledge of the region, but also as a habitat that continues to profoundly influence our existence.]]>
Mirwan Andan]]> Nirkan Arsuka]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> ila]]> Juria Toromae]]> Philippe Pirotte]]> Video]]> Southeast Asia]]>