Performance]]> Technology]]> A Passage to Dreamworld  
20 January 2024, 4.00 – 5.30pm
Blk 38 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks
Singapore 109441

This public programme will start punctually at 4.00pm. Please arrive at least 10min before time to secure a space. Admittance will be on a first-come-first-served basis.  

A Passage to Dreamworld is a public programme held in conjunction with Passages, an exhibition of the second cycle of SEA AiR – Studio Residencies for Southeast Asian artists in the European Union. Featuring artists Priyageetha Dia (Singapore), Ngoc Nau (Vietnam) and Saroot Supasuthivech (Thailand) and their artworks Sap SonicVirtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia and Spirit-forward in G Major, the exhibition is a culmination of their residencies in Europe.

As an extension of the exhibition, A Passage to Dreamworld takes audiences through a performative journey into a liminal realm where reality and imagination intertwine. In creating a space where creative impulses take place, fresh perceptions can be formed to give way to new possibilities.   

Priyageetha Dia will perform a reading from her work Sonified Vision, which looks into the sonification of visual material, accompanied with a live-mixing of sound samples from Sap Sonic. Ngoc Nau presents a two-channel projection drawn from additional footage alongside Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, and a sound performance on traditional Vietnamese instruments against a mix of soundtracks by her collaborator Dustin Ngo, a Vietnamese sound producer and instrumentalist. Saroot Supasuthivech’s video The Ritual of Life and Music shows the process of a Thai Buddhist monk making holy water and chanting the prayer Ratana Sutta, a sacred verse addressing the contemplation of the Triple Gem: Buddha, Dharma (the teachings), and Sangha (the monastic Buddhist community); followed by a live performance of Sai Samon, a Thai song featured in Spirit-forward in G Major, on the khlui (a Thai flute), by Thai musician Udom Kiattivikrai.  

In view of the public programme that is held within the exhibition spaces, Passages will not be on view while the programme is ongoing.

Singapore Art Week 2024 Late Night programme: SPIRIT WORLD 
From 7.00pm till late 
Blk 38 Malan Road, #01-05, Singapore 109441

Responding to sounds from artist Priyageetha Dia’s Sap Sonic, DJs DIA.HRD (the artist herself), FATIMAH, C2AC and ALEEZON will perform a live mix evolving into free play as an activation of the exhibition space.

19:00 DIA.HRD
20:00 FATIMAH
21:00 ALEEZON
22:00 C2AC

SPIRIT WORLD is a space for everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or background. This includes respecting personal space and boundaries. Discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated.

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Priyageetha Dia]]> Ngoc Nau]]> Nguyen Hong Ngoc]]> Saroot Supasuthivech]]> Sound]]> Southeast Asia]]> Europe]]>
Artistic Research]]> History]]> Experiential]]> Cultural Heritage]]> Residencies OPEN reveals the rich diversity of contemporary art practices by offering a rare insight into the creative processes that unfold inside the artist’s studios. Discover how the space of the studio constitutes a springboard for artistic experimentation, innovation, and research.

This session of Residencies OPEN offers a unique opportunity for the public to meet our Artists-in-Residence Anthony Chin, Irfan Kasban, and Shahmen Suku (all Singapore)! Come visit the NTU CCA Singapore Residencies Studios to encounter their works-in-progress and explore the processes and research interests developed during their residencies.

The 10th Cycle of the Residencies Programme by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is supported by National Arts Council. This cycle hosts six Singapore Artists-in-Residence: Yanyun Chen, Anthony Chin, Irfan Kasban, Ben Loong, Shahmen Suku, and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee.

Anthony Chin

Saturdays, 20 January & 27 January, 2:00 – 9:00pm
Sundays, 21 January & 28 January, 2:00 – 7:00pm
Block 37 Malan Road, #01-03

Anthony Chin dedicated the past five months researching Singapore’s colonial past through sites such as Gillman Barracks and its surrounding locations. The artist is interested in the historic relationship between Singapore and Japan, and during his residency he looked into OKA 9420, a biological laboratory established by the Imperial Japanese Army soon after the Fall of Singapore in 1942. Anthony seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the history of bio-chemical warfare while unpacking current ethical concerns surrounding the rapid advancements in science and technology. Presented during Residencies Open is OKA-9420, a new work developed during the artists stay at Gillman Barracks. This work is accompanied by three existing works: Air Doa Selamat (2020), TROPHY (2020), and Rinann Steel Mill – INGOT (2021).

The artist will be conducting tours throughout the two weekends. Each tour lasts approximately 35 minutes.
Saturdays, 20 & 27 January: 3pm, 5pm, 7pm
Sundays, 21 & 28 January: 3pm, 5pm

Irfan Kasban

Saturdays, 20 January & 27 January, 2:00 – 9:00pm
Sundays, 21 January & 28 January, 2:00 – 7:00pm
Block 37 Malan Road, #01-01

Irfan Kasban has spent his residency expanding his long-term research project Port of Reciprocity, also the namesake for his studio these past five months which has been opened up as a site for visitors from all walks of life. Hosting a series of activities including cooking, screenings, and sharing sessions, this convivial get together is born out of the artists own experience of burn out. For Residencies Open, visitors will encounter objects created by the artist which can all be activated to make sound. Facilitated activations will be conducted by invited collaborators over the two weekends with hopes of creating a song that comforts the collective consciousness.

Shahmen Suku

Saturdays, 20 January & 27 January, 2:00 – 9:00pm
Sundays, 21 January & 28 January, 2:00 – 7:00pm
Block 37 Malan Road, #01-02

Shahmen Suku explores his own Tamil culture through his family history, cultural ceremony, and food. Having previously addressed different aspects of the rich Tamil cultural traditions of his maternal lineage via the alter ego Radha, the artist has spent his residency letting go of this persona and directly confronting the conflicting and multipolar narratives of his family history which include economic struggles, heated arguments, health issues, and prolonged disagreements. Presented in his studio is documentation of a recent trip to India, alongside research conducted in Singapore that evidence the artist’s attempt to further uncover the story of his maternal grandfather. Documentation on display includes photographs, films, government documents, recipes, and the artist’s family tree that traces back three generations to his grandfather who first migrated to Singapore.

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Anthony Chin]]> Irfan Kasban]]> Shahmen Suku]]> Southeast Asia]]> Asia]]>
Decolonialism]]> Postcolonialism]]> ZULKHAIRI ZULKIFLEE
WORLD

Lecture performance

Saturday, 12 August, 2.00 – 2.30pm
Sunday, 13 August, 2.00 – 2.30pm
Block 37 Malan Road, #01-03

In this lecture performance, Zulkhairi Zulkiflee unpacks the nuances of Singaporean-Malay slang ‘world’. The colloquial use of ‘world,’ as employed in the Singaporean context, mainly refers to insubstantial claims that tend towards self-aggrandizement. By subjecting this colloquial parlance to creative examination, the artistic navigates the semantic scope of the term and traces out a multiplicity of obscured knowledge trajectories. Employing primary sources, social media, and insights from postcolonial theories, the lecture performance acts as a creative intellectual endeavour that glides through disciplinary boundaries, different structures of signification, the particular and the universal to connect local contexts with broader global frameworks.

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Zulkhairi Zulkiflee]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Artistic Research]]> Botany]]> Displacement]]> Materiality]]> Decolonialism]]> Residencies OPEN offers the chance to experience diverse contemporary art practices and the heterogenous ways in which artists conceive an artwork with the studio as a springboard for experimentation and innovation.

Residencies OPEN offers a rare insight into the artists’ creative process making their studios accessible to the public. Through research displays and presentations of works-in-progress, Residencies OPEN showcases the diversity of contemporary art practices and the multiplicity of ways in which artists develop their work with the studio as a springboard for experimentation and research.

Do not miss this special opportunity to meet our Artists-in-Residence Yanyun Chen, Ben Loong, and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee, and gain an insight into the research projects they have been developing over the past five months. A range of sketches, research materials, prototypes, experimental installations as well as the artists themselves await you!

YANYUN CHEN

Saturday, 12 August – Sunday, 13 August 2023
2:00 ­– 7:00 pm
Block 38 Malan Road, #01-07

Capturing two lines of artistic inquiry that have been unfolding in parallel during her residency, this presentation features the main strands of Yanyun Chen’s practice: the pictorial experiments with botanical forms and her engagement with the intergenerational transmission of pain, shame, and trauma inspired by her own family’s stories. In the past months, the artist has been working on her largest drawings to date. Made with charcoal on aluminium, the two drawings are at different stages of development. Both feature complex floral arrangements devoid of colour and the painstakingly realistic rendition of these botanical forms is complicated by the introduction of unnatural distortions, almost akin to digital glitches, that instill a sense of movement into the tradition of still-life painting. 

The other research thread explores techniques of physical discipline employed in the family context, their long-lasting effects on individuals as well as the tools of their enforcement. Visitors are invited to browse a variety of research materials, from articles and books addressing physical punishment to surveys conducted by the Singapore’s Children Society and findings drawn from personal conversations with relatives and friends. Alongside the text-based materials are the artist’s manipulations of the instruments of domestic discipline themselves, specifically rattan canes and feather dusters. Breaking down the fibers of rattan canes, Yanyun is experimenting with the act of weaving to explore both the materials and the craftsmanship objects of discipline are made of.  They are accompanied by a video work the artist is developing in collaboration with animator Dave Lim. Inspired by the notion of imprinting in relation to both film-making processes (the latent image) and the consequences of caning on a person’s mind and body, the video is composed by a series of flickering closeups that animate the texture of cane.

BEN LOONG

Saturday, 12 August – Sunday, 13 August 2023
2:00 – 7:00pm
Blk 37 Malan Road, #01-02

Bringing together a long-standing interest in the materiality of urban structures, the conceptual frictions between fine arts and craftsmanship, and his professional ceramic practice, Ben Loong has spent his residency looking at the history of brick production in Singapore. Now a defunct trade, the art of masonry used to be a burgeoning industry during the colonial era. Reflecting upon the different forms of labour involved in the material production and usages of bricks, the presentation for Residencies OPEN includes the artist’s current explorations around these subjects and two previous works, EB and SB (both 2018), made of resinated gypsum plaster on wood, which were also inspired by brick bond patterns.

The multiplicity of brick structures and laying patterns is at the core of the artist’s research. Over the past months, a collection was formed made of bricks found in different parts of Singapore—from sidewalks and construction sites to the forested area around the studio. The bricks are displayed to illustrate a wide variety of structural morphologies. Alongside the found objects are the artist’s own sketches and prototypes: a series of watercolours realised with powder obtained by grinding bricks; experimentations with brick ‘seals’ and Chinese ink on paper; and an industrial brick that was subjected to firing and glazing. Also available is an interactive map of still-existing brick buildings in Singapore which visitors are invited to explore and contribute to.

ZULKHAIRI ZULKIFLEE

Saturday, 12 August – Sunday, 13 August 2023
2:00 ­– 7:00 pm
Block 37 Malan Road, #01­-03
 
In the past five months of his residency, Zulkhairi Zulkiflee has been developing World as Method, a project that riffs off the Singaporean-Malay slang “world” in relation to the postcolonial notion of “worlding”. As theorised by literary scholar and feminist critic Gayatri Spivak, “worlding” refers to one’s conceptualisation of the world devised through colonial attachments. On the other hand, in colloquial Singaporean-Malay “world” is used to signal boastful aspirations towards a social status higher than one’s own, often conveyed through self-aggrandising story-telling. The creative outcomes of Zulkhairi’s conceptual engagement with different concepts and practices of  “world-ing” are presented in the studio. 
 
Through a series of interviews with friends, academics, and fellow creatives, the artist developed a word-associative map which led him to ‘pondok’ (Malay for shelter, or pavilion). Similar pavilions are a common fixture in Singapore’s public housing estates where, as the artist himself experienced, they are used by Singaporean-Malay youth as a place to gather and hang out. The floating installation created for Residencies OPEN evokes the pondok as a space for communality and suspension from the hyper-productive and utilitarian mechanics of contemporary society. Furthermore this studio presentation also includes a selection of the artist’s research materials and prototypes that attempt to articulate concepts of ‘world’ through the language of sculpture and monument. 
 
Part of this Residencies OPEN session is also a lecture performance titled World which will take place on Saturday, 12 August and Sunday, 13 August from 2.00 – 2.30pm. 

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Yanyun Chen]]> Ben Loong]]> Zulkhairi Zulkiflee]]> Southeast Asia]]>
History]]> Artistic Research]]> Decolonialism]]>
Contributors: Anthony Chin, Hsu Fang-Tze
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan ]]>
Anthony Chin]]> Hsu Fang-Tze]]> Magdalena Magiera]]> Nadia Amalina]]> Ashwin Menon]]> Zachary Chan]]> Arabelle Zhuang]]> Kristine Tan]]> Podcast]]> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/14605729-aircast-18-anthony-chin]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Performance]]>
Contributors: Irfan Kasban, Syaheedah Iskandar
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan ]]>
Irfan Kasban]]> Syaheedah Iskandar]]> Magdalena Magiera]]> Nadia Amalina]]> Ashwin Menon]]> Zachary Chan]]> Arabelle Zhuang]]> Kristine Tan]]> Podcast]]> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/14463494-aircast-17-irfan-kasban]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Performance]]> Race]]>
Contributors: Shahmen Suku, Moses Tan
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan ]]>
Shahmen Suku]]> Moses Tan]]> Magdalena Magiera]]> Nadia Amalina]]> Ashwin Menon]]> Zachary Chan]]> Arabelle Zhuang]]> Kristine Tan]]> Podcast]]> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/14418127-aircast-16-shahmen-suku]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Materiality]]> Spaces of the Curatorial]]>
Contributors: Yanyun Chen, Karin Oen
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan]]>
Yanyun Chen]]> Karin Oen]]> Magdalena Magiera]]> Nadia Amalina]]> Ashwin Menon]]> Zachary Chan]]> Arabelle Zhuang]]> Kristine Tan]]> Podcast]]> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/13841518-aircast-15-yanyun-chen]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Materiality]]> Cultural Production]]>
Contributors: Ben Loong, Syed Muhammad Hafiz
Editor: Anna Lovecchio
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan]]>
Ben Loong]]> Syed Muhammad Hafiz ]]> Anna Lovecchio]]> Nadia Amalina]]> Ashwin Menon]]> Zachary Chan]]> Arabelle Zhuang]]> Kristine Tan]]> Podcast]]> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/13720085-aircast-14-ben-loong]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Identity]]> Cultural Heritage]]> Knowledge Production]]>
Contributors: Zulkhairi Zulkiflee, Alfian Sa'at
Editor: Anna Lovecchio
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan]]>
Zulkhairi Zulkiflee]]> Alfian Sa'at]]> Anna Lovecchio]]> Nadia Amalina]]> Ashwin Menon]]> Zachary Chan]]> Podcast]]> https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/13341645-aircast-13-zulkhairi-zulkiflee]]> Southeast Asia]]>