Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss

Dublin Core

Title

Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss

Description

NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore) presents the two-part research presentation Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss.

First unfolding at TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space in Venice, Italy, the research inquiry later materialises in another configuration at ADM Gallery, a university gallery under the School of Art, Design, and Media (NTU ADM) at Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

This twofold exhibition marks the conclusion of the eponymous research project led by Principal Investigator Ute Meta Bauer at NTU ADM. The inquiry started by asking: how has the slow erosion of diverse, multicultural, and more-than-human ways of living over time impacted the environments in which we live, and what are the longer-term consequences on habitats? Can we begin again with culture, to induce a necessary paradigm shift in the way we think about and respond to the climate crisis? Extending connections and conversations seeded during the inaugural cycle of TBA21–Academy’s The Current fellowship programme led by Bauer from 2015 to 2018, Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss continues to build archipelagic networks across the Alliance of Small Island Developing States, deepening existing collaborations with Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies in Fiji, and developing new ones further in the South Pacific Ocean, through the art and media non-profit organisation Further Arts in Vanuatu.

Bridging conversations from the Pacific to Singapore in the Riau Archipelago, former fellows of TBA21–Academy’s The Current and current research collaborators artist Nabil Ahmed, social anthropologist Guigone Camus, artist Kristy H.A. Kang, legal scholar Hervé Raimana Lallemant-Moe, and artists Armin Linke and Lisa Rave, join Singapore-based researchers Co-Investigator Sang-Ho Yun and Denny Chee of the Earth Observatory of Singapore – Remote Sensing Lab (EOS–RS) and the Asian School of the Environment, NTU ADM research staff Soh Kay Min and Ng Mei Jia, historian Jonathan Galka, and community organiser Firdaus Sani, as they explore the impacts of extreme weather, rising seas, climate displacement, ocean resource extraction, and the disappearance of material cultural traditions, occurring across what the visionary Pacific thinker Epeli Hau’ofa has termed “our sea of islands.” Featuring interviews, data visualisations, documentation, writings, and artisanal crafts made in collaboration with or generously gifted to the research team by knowledge bearers, community leaders, scientists, scholars, and artists, including writer and curator Frances Vaka’uta, masi artist Igatolo Latu,human rights defender Anne Pakoa and anthropologist Cynthia Chou, the exhibitions present the rich, complex, and multi-layered research findings accumulated over three years, since the Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss project first started in 2021.

At TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space, the Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss research inquiry sits adjacent to the exhibition Restor(y)ing Oceania, comprising two new site-specific commissions by Latai Taumoepeau and Elisapeta Hinemoa Heta. Curated by Bougainville-born artist Taloi Havini, whose curatorial vision is guided by an ancestral call-and-response method, the exhibition materialises as a search for solidarity and kinship in uncertain times, in order to slow down the clock on extraction and counter it with reverence for the life of the Ocean.

At ADM Gallery, Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss is presented alongside the companion show Sensing Nature, curated by Gallery Director Michelle Ho. The exhibition showcases artists representing diverse disciplines, each offering their interpretation of the natural world and its intersection with urban life. Through reflection and experimentation, these works invite viewers to reassess our perceptions and behaviors toward the environment and phenomena beyond human influence. They advocate for a renewed understanding of society’s connection to nature and the land.

Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss is supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its Academic Research Fund Tier 2 grant. The research presentation at Ocean Space coincides with the 60th International Art Biennale in Venice, Italy, with public programmes taking place through the exhibition durations in both Venice and Singapore.

Opening Dates
Ocean Space exhibition preview:
March 22, 6pm Ocean Space, Venice, Chiesa di San Lorenzo Castello

Opening hours
March 23 – October 13, 2024: Wednesday to Sunday, 11am–6pm
Ocean Space Chiesa di San Lorenzo Castello 5069, Venice

April 12 – May 24, 2024: Monday to Friday, 10am–5pm ADM Gallery 81 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637458

Date

12 April - 31 May 2024

Exhibition Item Type Metadata

Short Description

A two-part research presentation at Ocean Space, Venice and ADM Gallery Singapore.

Location

Onsite (NTU)
Onsite (Overseas)

Exhibition Start Date

12 April 2024

Exhibition End Date

31 May 2024

Collaboration

Yes

Commissioned Work

Yes

Files

850_9787.jpg
850_0028.jpg
850_9799.jpg
850_9808.jpg
850_9956.jpg
DSC_2403.jpg
DSC_2426.jpg
e0cae45e-e24c-4346-8a5b-64a77eea1522.JPG
f6940f01-bfaa-4468-ae70-c345f7b0f53b.JPG
IMG_9564.JPG

Collection

Citation

“Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss,” NTU CCA Singapore Digital Archive, accessed February 17, 2025, https://ntuccasingapore.omeka.net/items/show/4619.

Item Relations

This Item Is Referenced By Item: Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss: A transdisciplinary research project across Fiji, French Polynesia, Vanuatu, and Singapore
by School of Art, Design, and Media, Nanyang Technological University
This Item Is Part Of Item: Ng Mei Jia
Item: Soh Kay Min Is Part Of This Item
Item: Nabil Ahmed Is Part Of This Item
Item: Guigone Camus Is Part Of This Item
Item: Kristy H.A. Kang Is Part Of This Item
Item: Hervé Raimana Lallemant-Moe Is Part Of This Item
Item: Armin Linke Is Part Of This Item
Item: Lisa Rave Is Part Of This Item
Item: Firdaus Sani Is Part Of This Item
Item: Jonathan Galka Is Part Of This Item
Item: Angela Ricasio Hoten Is Part Of This Item
Item: Eunice Lacaste Is Part Of This Item
Item: Adha Shaleh Is Part Of This Item
Item: Temperature Taking Exercises (2023–24) Is Part Of This Item
Item: Conference: Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss Relation This Item
Item: Yun Sang-Ho Is Part Of This Item