Symposium: Ghosts and Spectres – Shadows of HistorySession 1: Shadows of HistoryLecture: “In the Interest of Time” by Dr June Yap, Director of Curatorial Programmes, Singapore Art Museum

The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

The incidences and treatment of history within the works of contemporary artists raise a few questions. What are the purposes and reasons for undertaking such aesthetic meditations? How efficacious have these undertakings been? With a focus on works of this nature, the lecture considers the notions of subjectivity and subjectivation as key ideas in the examination of these works. In the notion of subjectivity, the historical act is apprasied as self-regarding activity that emerges from a sense of historicity. Following from this, it is considred if subjectivity might lead to subjectivation.