Exhibition
Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, Vuth Lyno: New Works
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Residencies Studios
Block 38 Malan Road, Singapore 109441
Media and Professional Preview
Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 3.00 – 3.45pm
In attendance:
Artists Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, Vuth Lyno
Professor Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore
Dr Anna Lovecchio, exhibition curator, Assistant Director (Programmes), NTU CCA Singapore
Opening Reception
Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 4.00 – 5.00pm
Speeches:
H.E. lwona Piórko, Ambassador of the European Union to Singapore
Professor Tim White, Vice President (International Engagement), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Professor Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is pleased to announce the exhibition Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, Vuth Lyno: New Works. The exhibition marks the culmination of the first cycle of SEA AiR – Studio Residencies for Southeast Asian Artists in the European Union (SEA AiR), a programme developed by NTU CCA Singapore and funded by the European Union.
As participating artists in the inaugural cycle of SEA AiR, Hoo Fan Chon (Malaysia), Citra Sasmita (Indonesia), and Vuth Lyno (Cambodia) were each awarded a three-month-long residency at an art institution in Europe as well as funding for the creation of artworks. Stemming out of a year-long engagement, Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, Vuth Lyno: New Works is the outcome of a multifaceted process shaped by journeys and institutional collaborations, fieldwork and encounters, research and art making.
In the first half of 2022, amidst surges of the pandemic and Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, the artists took off from their home countries to conduct three-month-long residencies: Hoo Fan Chon at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme (Finland); Citra Sasmita at WIELS (Brussels, Belgium); and Vuth Lyno at Villa Arson (Nice, France). Albeit sited at different latitudes and embedded within different institutional contexts, these residency programmes share a long history in facilitating cultural mobility and a commitment to supporting emerging artists through curatorial mentorship, peer-to peer dialogues, and public programmes.
The artworks featured in the exhibition Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, Vuth Lyno: New Works have been created by the artists in the months following their residencies, a much-needed time for critical reflection and material experimentation that allowed them to develop their research findings and creative inspiration into full-fledged artworks. Ranging from installation and video to sculpture and painting, some of these works also mark these artists’ first attempts at embracing new mediums and materials: 3D animation techniques for Hoo Fan Chon, video for Citra Sasmita, and paper for Vuth Lyno. Most importantly, they bear witness to how the artists’ interests in the cosmetics of food, cultural contaminations, decolonial practices, the empowerment of women, and the resilience of marginalised communities, have evolved over the last year.
Public Programme
Creative Trajectories
Artist talk by Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, and Vuth Lyno
Wednesday 11 January, 6.00 – 7.30pm
The Seminar Room
37 Malan Road, #01-04, Gillman Barracks
Iwona Piórko, Ambassador of the European Union to Singapore: “We have in SEA AiR a made-in-Singapore programme to drive the development of Southeast Asia’s contemporary art and serve as a springboard for dialogue and mutual learning between European art institutions and Southeast Asian artists. SEA AiR celebrates diversity and people-to-people connectivity between the EU and ASEAN. We embarked on this pioneering project in a milestone year as the EU and ASEAN commemorated the 45th anniversary of their relations in 2022. This project embodies this rich spirit of dialogue and exchange that are hallmarks of the partnership between our two regions.”
Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University: “As a Centre we are enthusiastic to continue our support to emerging artists in the region through SEA AiR, a unique partnership between Nanyang Technological University and the European Delegation to Singapore. By weaving together research and production, the unique structure of this programme foregrounds the tremendous importance of cultural mobility to nurture artistic practices and, on a broader level, more open and inclusive societies.
Thanks to three-month long residencies conducted in different European countries in the spring of 2022 with our partner institutions for the first cycle of SEA AiR, artists Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, and Vuth Lyno had the opportunity to pursue their research interests and immerse themselves in different cultural contexts. Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, and Vuth Lyno: New Works features the artworks inspired by the artists’ experiences in Europe and we are delighted to present this exhibition to the audiences in Singapore in our Centre’s Residencies Studios at Gillman Barracks during the Singapore Art Week 2023.”
Hoo Fan Chon, artist: “I have limited experience with artistic residencies. I participated in a month-long research residency in Taiwan in 2017 and a two-week-long research and production residency in Sulawesi, Indonesia, for the Makassar Biennale in 2019. Both were organised by artist-run initiatives. If a well-supported residency like SEA AiR creates an environment that allows artists to focus purely on learning, reflecting, and producing, it is a privilege to take part in it.”
Citra Sasmita, artist: “The SEA AiR residency for me was a stepping stone to regenerate existing thinking methods. Exposed to new situations and experiences, my artistic ideas and processes have been constantly tested through intense discussions and meetings with audiences from different cultures.”
Vuth Lyno, artist: “Being an artist-in-residence in SEA AiR meant that I could immerse myself in a new environment and develop a new research. This structure has been around for a very long time in the history of artistic residencies. However, SEA AiR also has the second component of supporting the materialisation of research ideas into new works for an exhibition. This model drives motivation. It is concrete and realistic because, in the end, as artists we make artworks. To be able to think, and to know from the beginning that there are the material conditions to create an artwork out of the research was very helpful to bring my ideas to fruition.”
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Media contact:
Nadia Amalina, Programmes Manager
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore.
Email: NTUCCAComms@ntu.edu.sg