Curatorial Practice Archives - NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

The Max Planck–NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding (CBCW) is seeking to appoint one Research Fellow (Curatorial Research and Practice) for a two-year term (renewable), based at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore. The fellow will be embedded in an interdisciplinary environment, hybrid in nature, with the Centre jointly operating across Singapore and Germany. As the CBCW functions as a research centre where curatorial and artistic research methods, legal inquiry, and diverse knowledge traditions converge to explore new forms of collaboration and stewardship of biocultural worlds, applications from candidates whose research interests align with CBCW’s concerns are welcomed. The focus is on biological, cultural, and epistemic diversity, with an approach that works relationally with, alongside, and across situated, grounded initiatives of novel research, experimentation in the fields of curatorial and artistic practices, and local and indigenous knowledge traditions.

Key Responsibilities:
The fellow will conduct independent and collaborative curatorial and artistic research on relevant biocultural worlding topics and forge mutual connections with other CBCW projects. From within the CBCW to public platforms, institutional partnerships, and interventions beyond academic boundaries and museological frameworks, the fellow will advance curatorial and artistic research methods of inquiry to expand epistemic (and material) possibilities, developing new protocols and toolkits for conducting research.

Job Requirements:
– PhD degree in fields of curatorial, art and cultural studies, museum studies, visual anthropology, or other related humanities fields.
– Knowledge of and practice in curatorial studies, contemporary art, visual culture and cultural anthropology, art history, or other relevant research methods.
– Outstanding publication achievements in relevant artistic journals, publications, exhibitions and proven visibility in creative projects, whether of international scope or locally specific.
– Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines. Proven ability to work independently and collaboratively in an international, interdisciplinary team.
– Excellent academic writing skills with high literacy of artistic and scientific vocabularies that extends beyond text-based forms of knowledge.
– Critically attuned to current curatorial and museological discourse and landscape.
– Familiarity with how injustices result from imbalances among biological, cultural, and epistemic diversity.
– Familiarity with, and research experience in Singapore and/or the Asia-Pacific region would be an asset.

Please submit your application on Workday, accompanied by the following supporting documents:
– Cover letter (one-page) and curriculum vitae, including list of publications, conference presentations, creative projects and exhibitions curated or participated in (in a single PDF).
– A two-page curatorial research proposal (excluding references and annexes) outlining:
– Proposed topic of the biocultural research.
– Methodology (specifying key collaborators and knowledge-holding communities)
– Description of activities and outcomes of the project.
– Elaboration on how the proposed research will augment the CBCW’s mission and vision.
– Scanned copies of qualifications (in a single PDF).
– Two letters of recommendation.

For any inquiries about the position, contact us at CBCW@ntu.edu.sg.

The deadline for the call has been extended to 15 October 2026.

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Hiring Institution: NTU

PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

Centering plural, accountable, and historically grounded forms of inquiry is a core commitment of the Max Planck–NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding. We invite proposals for collaborative activities that advance this commitment in concrete and innovative ways.

CBCW seeks projects that demonstrate:

– collaborative efforts that bring biocultural worlding into practice;
– biocultural thought and practice that make itself publicly relevant through interactive, multimodal, and participatory formats;
– research approaches that integrate ecological, historical, legal, artistic, and ancestral or intergenerational community perspectives;
– rigorous, plural collaboration across expertise domains that generate substantive and transformative insights into changing social and natural ecosystems;
– diverse formats exploring interdependence, relationality, ancestral or intergenerational modes of being, knowing, and doing, and plural temporalities to move beyond problem identification and to engage directly with grounded forms of knowledge production and practice.

Budget: 10,000 € maximum

WHO CAN APPLY:

– Knowledge-holders, curators, artists, legal scholars, scientists, and researchers of age 21 or older by the deadline.
– Individuals may apply independently or in collaboration; partnerships with organizations are permitted, but organizations cannot apply or serve as the lead applicant.
– Applicants must not be enrolled in a degree-seeking program of any kind during the grant period (July 2026 to December 2026).
– Applicants are encouraged to consult with a member of the CBCW Board of Advisors or Leadership Team in advance of submission.
– Applicants must not be a member of the CBCW Board of Advisors, the MPIWG Board of Advisors, NTU Board of Trustees, and/or an immediate family member of any of the above.

CRITERIA:

The evaluation process will review proposals that clearly demonstrate:

– Alignment with CBCW’s mission and vision.
– Brings together artistic practice, legal inquiry, and/or ecological, historical, and situated forms of knowledge production to conduct integrative collaborative research.
– Meaningful engagement with knowledge-holding communities, demonstrating co-creative roles rather than consultative inclusion.
– A clearly defined thematic and conceptual focus in questions of interdependence, relationality, or intergenerational knowledge.
– Contextual grounding, specifying the empirical, historical, or conceptual contexts of the project.
– Innovative or experimental multimodal formats that develop and share analytical biocultural thinking beyond academia.
– Originality, demonstrating that the project described in the application is newly conceived and requires cross-disciplinary and community collaboration.
– Ethics and data protection protocols, where applicable.
– Inclusion of at least one collaborator from NTU College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and one from the MPI for the History of Science or MPI for Innovation and Competition in the team.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES:

Applications must be submitted in English, using the form provided below. Each application should be compiled as a single file (Word document or PDF) and named according to the following format: 2026_Smith_Sally.doc (e.g., if your family name is Smith and given name is Sally)

What to submit (space provided in form):
– Title (max. 25 words)
– Abstract/Summary (max. 500 words)
– Keywords (4-6)
– Project Location
– Project Timeline
– Lead Applicant Contact Details
– Artist/Collaborator Information (including roles of core team members)
– Qualifications of project lead and core team members (max. 500 words)
– Budget (max. 10,000 Euros)
– Impact/Target Audience (max. 250 words)
– Additional Forms of Community Support (e.g., in-kind contributions)
– Supplementary Materials (optional): letters of commitment or interest, permits for public spaces.
– Checklist of Criteria (as outlined above)

Click HERE to download the submission form.

Upload submission to this folder: https://wg-cloud.gnz.mpg.de/s/zcTPcbomJRL6nrx

For questions, please contact: msaidul@ntu.edu.sg or lonaga@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.

WHO ARE WE

Co-Directors
Professor Ute Meta Bauer, Acting Director, NTU CCA Singapore and Professor, NTU College of Humanities Arts & Social Sciences
Professor Dagmar Schäfer, Director, Department Artifacts, Action, Knowledge, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Co-Deputy Directors
Dr Md Saidul Islam, Associate Professor, NTU School of Social Sciences
Dr Lisa Onaga, Senior Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Scientific Coordinators
Mei Jia Ng
Suelyn Tarris

International Advisory Board
Professor Nabil Ahmed, Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Emeritus Professor Chua Beng Huat, School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Professor Susy Frankel, Lead Director, New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law, Te Herenga Waka · Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Han Song Hiltmann, Programme Director, Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, Germany
Professor Gabriela Soto-Laveaga, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, United States
Marian Pastor Roces, Independent curator, cultural critic, policy analyst, and founder, TAOINC, Philippines
Professor Daniel Robinson, School of Humanities & Language, University of New South Wales, Australia
Dr Julia Voss, Art historian, art critic, and curator, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Germany
 

The conference Instruct & Being Instructed seeks to explore the multifaceted role of instructions within the domain of art, from historical and contemporary perspectives. Central to this inquiry is the interrogation of how instructions—whether textual, verbal, or performative—mediate the multifaceted relationships between artists, artworks, audiences, collections or institutions in a wider global context. The conference will critically examine instructions as a tool of artistic authority, a frame to manifest crafts for art-making practices, a form of artistic experimentation and resistance, and it will also reflect on the educational dimension of instructions within the historical and contemporary curricula of art academies. By drawing on theories from curatorial practices, art history, pedagogy, cultural studies, and critical theory, the conference will investigate the ways in which instructions operate as a site of tension between prescriptive frameworks and the creative autonomy of the artist. Through a varied lineup of presentations and panel discussions, Instruct & Being Instructed aims to scrutinise the historical evolution of instructional paradigms in art, the impact of instructions on the materiality of artworks, and the socio-political implications of instructional art creating a critical and inclusive platform to rethink the function and implications of instructions in contemporary art practices, institutional frameworks, and broader socio-cultural contexts.

The conference programme is structured around three thematic panels: “Art and Power,” “Art and Technology,” and “Art and Embodiment.” These themes will be explored through a range of formats—including keynote lectures, artistic performances, presentations, and panel discussions—designed to encourage active dialogue, cross-disciplinary insight, and critical reflection among participants.

The conference is convened by Dr Marc Glöde, Associate Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), in collaboration with Dr. Agnieszka Chalas, Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education, NTU, and Dr. Sushma Griffin, Lecturer at the School of Humanities, NTU. Collectively, their diverse expertise across curatorial studies, education, art history, and cultural theory informs a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach to the theme of instruction in art.

The conference Instruct & Being Instructed has a hybrid format. The online presentations will be live-streamed at The Hall, NTU CCA Singapore, to welcome in-person participation.

Free upon registration.

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Friday, 5 September 2025, 6:30 – 8.00 pm (SGT)
Register: Online / On-site

6:30 – 7:00 pm
Opening remarks by organisers

7:00 – 8:00 pm
[online] Keynote Lecture: Ever Prompt – From “Do It” to Protocol Art
by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London

8:00 – 9:00 pm
Reception with complimentary refreshments

Saturday, 06 September 2025, 10:00 am – 2:30 pm (SGT)
Register: Online / On-site

Panel 1: ART AND POWER
Moderated by Dr Sushma Griffin, Lecturer in the Department of Art History, School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University

This panel examines the nuanced operations of instructions in their interplay between authority and negotiation within artistic, curatorial, and pedagogical contexts. It considers how certain overlooked elements of arts programming that might seem unwarranted and redundant actually provide value and access relating to the discursive realms of curatorial, artistic, and design practices. It looks beyond received narratives to speculate on the influence and implications of instructions in art and design pedagogies on the longer histories of contemporary art and art institutions.

10:00 – 10:15 am
[online] Constellations of the Paracurricular and Paracuratorialby Dr Karin G. Oen-Lee, Assistant Professor, Art History and Museum Studies, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Centring concepts of the curatorial, the paracuratorial, and the constellation, this presentation situates Nanyang Technological University Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore), a unique research-oriented contemporary art centre, as a “paracurricular” resource for and of the university while also serving as a bridge for non-university publics and collaborators. The Centre’s diverse modes of conducting and sharing research, including but not limited to exhibitions and other curatorial projects, suggest that while exhibition facilities are helpful in convening community around artistic knowledge production, there are multiple and various formats that can contribute to a robust paracurricular environment. Artists’ residencies, publications, and discursive programmes each offer a way to encourage lively transdisciplinary connections to the realm of contemporary art and other fields in ways that tangibly benefit and enrich the experiences of both students and faculty through formal and informal connections. As a brief coda, the Centre’s mode of distributing power and interrogating power structures in higher education through non-curricular and atypical knowledge production can be read differently when compared to another constellation– the student-led extra-curricular explorations of philosophy and theory in mainland Chinese art academies in the 1980s in the context of “high culture fever.”

10:15 – 10:30 am
[online] Framework and Principles of Asian American Critical Pedagogy in Art Education by Dr Ryan Shin, Professor, School of Art, University of Arizona

The Asian American Critical Pedagogy Framework (AACP) addresses and challenges the systemic marginalisation of Asian art and culture within art education curricula and teaching practices. It proposes a new critical approach centered on the lived experiences of Asian American artists and communities. The framework was developed to address the curricular neglect and othering of Asian art and the underrepresentation of Asian artists in art education. The framework consists of four key principles: Asian American critical consciousness, counternarratives and reclamation, heterogeneity and intersectionality, and joy and wellness. The first principle, Asian American critical consciousness, confronts white supremacy and Orientalism by urging educators and students to recognize and critique existing power structures. Counternarratives and reclamation focus on centering Asian American voices, reclaiming their stories, histories, and identities. Heterogeneity and intersectionality recognise the diverse and complex nature of Asian American identities, acknowledging how experiences of oppression and power differ based on factors such as class, gender, age, and ability. Lastly, joy and wellness emphasize the importance of healing and empowerment for Asian American students and educators, fostering psychologically safe spaces for collective mourning, celebration, and exploration. The AACP framework can serve as a foundation for developing culturally relevant curricula that promote equity, inclusivity, and diversity within art education. It challenges the marginalization and cultural erasure of Asian art and culture to dismantle narrow representations that inhibit a full recognition of Asian artistic contributions. Ultimately, this framework aims to disrupt Eurocentric narratives and empower Asian American students and educators to thrive within the field of art education.

10:30 – 10:45 am
[online] Learning what can’t be taught: reflections on Zhang Peili and artistic ‘genealogy’ in narratives of contemporary (Asian) art by Dr Olivier Krischer, Lecturer, School of Art & Design, University of New South Wales

“Can artistic attitude be taught or passed down from one generation to another?” This simple question was at the heart of the interesting curatorial project Learning What Can’t Be Taught, organised at Asia Art Archive in 2021. Focusing on six artists from the China Art Academy, the first national art school in China, established in 1928, the project looked beyond the familiar avant-garde narrative of rupture, to consider similarities and influences across three pedagogical ‘generations’ of artists to emerge in contemporary China—in a period marked by radical material transformation. This paper, originally pitched for that project, draws on unpublished research taking the form of a somewhat speculative genealogy for Zhang Peili, in order to highlight early influences or parallels in the formation of his notably conceptual practice, initially through painting. It considers the curiously experimental nature of his peers at CAA’s No.1 Studio, under the tutelage of painter Jin Yide, who had received experimental training under visiting Romanian artists in 1960s Hangzhou, for example. I speculate on Zhang’s early assertion of conceptual, post-studio art practice might be rooted, or ‘seeded’, in the genealogy of his art education and experiences? Since Zhang was invited to establish the first course on new media art in China, at CAA in the early 2000s, these questions have broader implications for how we understand histories of art and institutions, and not just in the Chinese context.

10:45 – 11:15 am Joint discussion and Q&A

11:15 – 11:30 am Short break

Panel 2: ARTAND TECHNOLOGY
Moderated by Paul Lincoln, Head of the Visual and Performing Arts at National Institute of Education and the Director of the NTU Museum at Nanyang Technological University

Focusing on the entanglement of instructions and technological mediation, this panel explores how tools, codes, and digital systems reconfigure art-making, its reception and teaching. From historical craft practices to contemporary algorithmic and AI-driven approaches, it asks how instructions function as both enabling structures and constraints. The discussion will bridge art, design, and media perspectives with pedagogical concerns about how technology shapes artistic learning and experimentation.

11:30 – 11:45 am
[online] Aesthetic Illegitimacy in the Corpocene by Dr Katherine Guinness, Assistant Professor, Critical Studies in the Department of Art, University of Maryland, College Park and Dr Grant Bollmer, Associate Research Professor, University of Maryland, College Park

This talk describes a central contradiction in aesthetic theory today. On one hand there exists a range of seemingly insignificant, temporary trends linked with the political economy of identity and visibility on the internet; “aesthetics” online are a way of distinguishing oneself, linked with the desire to commodify oneself as an object of attention and, therefore, value. On the other hand are academic discussions that often defer to “art” in an institutionally legitimate sense, using the traditional object of aesthetic contemplation as a route to theorize technology, the body, emotion, and beyond. “Art” has become a way for cultural theorists to signify the legitimacy of their arguments, even though “aesthetics” more broadly, today, point to a range of phenomena that are seemingly illegitimate because of their imbrication with, and thus “corruption” by, capital and value. As we will develop in this talk, the foundations of aesthetic theory and philosophy emerge from a crisis of capital. This talk will return to the earliest development of aesthetic theory, the German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten. In responding to an emerging market for art called into being by a new wealth class, Baumgarten was the writer who transformed the meaning of “aesthetic” from one that merely referred to a kind of sensation or sensibility to its explicit linkage with questions of taste, of good and bad, of value and evaluation. In returning to Baumgarten, we seek to draw out parallels between our present and the context in which aesthetics, taste, and judgment initially appeared as problems for philosophy. If art and aesthetics are ultimately linked with the accumulation of capital and problems of value, then, we ask, what are the possibilities for a “political” art? If it is impossible to escape the link between art and market, then what might it look like to parasite capital today?

11:45 am – 12:00 pm
What Happens When AI Joins the Art Room? Insights from Students and Educators by Dr Joo Hong Low, Senior Teaching Fellow, the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

This presentation explores the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in secondary art education in Singapore, drawing on classroom-based case studies from selected secondary schools. It investigates how AI tools—particularly generative image models—are being used by students to support ideation, enhance creative expression, and bridge the gap between conceptual thinking and visual realisation. Students responded positively to AI’s immediacy and versatility, noting how it helped them explore multiple possibilities, visualise abstract ideas, and personalise their creative process. At the same time, the presentation critically examines the challenges and limitations of AI in art classrooms. Some students voiced concerns about over-reliance on AI, expressing that it could diminish the tactile, imaginative, and experimental aspects of traditional artmaking. Others noted frustrations with inconsistent or inaccurate outputs, and a perceived risk of homogenisation—where artworks began to resemble one another due to similar prompt-based results. Beyond creative concerns, the talk will highlight key ethical considerations, including copyright, authorship, misinformation, and the need to uphold academic integrity. These issues point to the growing importance of AI literacy in the art curriculum—not just in terms of technical skills, but also in fostering critical awareness, aesthetic judgment, and ethical responsibility. Ultimately, this session advocates for a nuanced and transformative pedagogical approach, where AI is positioned as a co-creative partner rather than a replacement for artistic agency. It proposes that when used intentionally, AI can enrich the learning experience and empower students—if balanced with hands-on practice, teacher guidance, and thoughtful curricular design.

12:00 – 12:30 pm Joint discussion and Q&A

12:30 – 1:00 pm Lunch break

Panel 3: ART AND EMBODIMENT
Moderated by Dr Marc Glöde, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices at ADM, Nanyang Technological University

This panel turns to the corporeal and experiential dimensions of instructions, asking how bodies—of artists, audiences, and students—become sites of inscription, transmission, and enactment. By considering performance, pedagogy, and material engagement, the panel explores how instructions shape artistic knowledge not only through words and images but also through embodied practices. The emphasis here connects art history and education with lived, sensorial, and affective registers of artistic instruction.

1:00 – 1:15 pm
Learning through procession: ritual, embodiment, and shared knowledge in Thaipusam by Laura Miotto, Associate Professor and Co-Director of MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, Nanyang Technological University

This talk examines how knowledge is transmitted through embodied ritual practices, focusing on the Thaipusam procession in Singapore. As an ephemeral event, the procession becomes a site where learning takes place collectively—through bodily and sensory experiences in ritual acts—revealing how Thaipusam generates shared knowledge across religious, cultural, and artistic contexts.

1:15 – 1:30 pm
Memories and other instructional works by Heman Chong, Artist

In his ongoing project Memories, artist and writer Heman Chong explores the act of publishing through performance. Each work begins with a short story of around 500 words, written with a very specific form of transmission in mind. Participants are invited through an open call to memorise one story word for word with the help of a personal trainer. The performance ends only when the participant can flawlessly recite the entire text back to the trainer. These stories are never published — not in print, nor online. The only way to “receive” them is by memorising them, investing significant time and effort. Yet this gift is ephemeral: without constant rehearsal, the words quickly fade. Chong first devised this method of “publishing as performance” in 2009 during Ong Keng Sen’s Flying Circus Project at T:>Works in Singapore, which also featured Boris Charmatz’s expo zero, a performance exhibition using only the bodies of artists. As curator Anca Rujoiu notes, Chong’s practice is “a quest for writing, an exploration of its desires and disenchantments as well as the conditions that constitute it.” His works interweave writing, publishing, performing, and collaboration, creating a fluid and dynamic space where instructions shape both the artwork and its audience. In this presentation, Chong reflects on the role of instructions in his practice and how they reconfigure the boundaries between art, memory, and participation.

1:30 – 1:45 pm
Investigating Artistic Authority and Participation through Performative Instruction in Contemporary Southeast Asian Art by Yi Yinzi, PhD candidate at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University

This presentation explores how performative instruction in contemporary Southeast Asian art mediates the complex dynamics between artistic authority and audience participation. On the one hand, artistic instruction can shape, enable, and at times restrict audience participation to the point of compromising participatory agency or even causing discomfort. On the other hand, there are moments in performance art when participants retain the choice to engage or not, based on their interest in the project, their informed knowledge of what may unfold, and their assessment of their own capabilities. This presentation considers Vietnamese artist Pham Ha Hai’s performance at the Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival II in Bangkok in 1999, in which he blindfolded participants and instructed them to smear black ink on their faces without disclosing what was in their hands, alongside Singaporean artist Heman Chong’s Memories, where an instructor reads a roughly 500-word story written by Chong to a participant, who is then required to memorize and recite the story word for word. In these examples, artistic and participatory choices both operate within the aesthetic realm and are shaped by the social realities that contextualize the practice. This raises questions about whether the aesthetic realm can serve as an exception to everyday social practices of acceptance and refusal, the different temporal phases of a project in which participants may initiate or revisit their judgment, and the modern notion of a contract based on mutual consent, where each party is assumed to be capable of making rational choices.

1:45 – 2:15 pm Joint discussion and Q&A

2:15 – 2:30 pm Final Remarks and Closing of Event

Instruct & Being Instructed is supported by CoHASS Interdisciplinary Conference, Symposium, and Workshop Scheme.

This research is an inquiry into curatorial, artistic, and academic networks of exchange that foster a pluriversal understanding of Southeast Asia. It will highlight the potential of open-ended curatorial, artistic and textual endeavours that formulate their own modus operandi. Analysing motivations, methods, and audiences of three distinct art initiatives by local practitioners will provide valuable insights for the writing of future cultural policies and alternative metrics to evaluate the impact of nonconforming approaches within regional studies. This will reshape and expand policies and programmes that seek to internationalise or regionalise Singapore art scenes. Acknowledging the long-term impact of such critical thinking and the creation of alternative knowledges and transnational networks would advance traditional perspectives in Southeast Asian scholarship and its funding mechanisms.

Research Outputs

Understanding Southeast Asia as a “Geocultural Formation”: Three Case Studies of Artistic Initiatives from the Region Closed-Door Forum

Programme

Welcome by Ahmad Mashadi, Introduction by Ute Meta Bauer and David Teh

ROUND-ROBIN: INTRODUCING THE CASE STUDIES, response by John Tain

The Flying Circus Project, Introduction by SEON, Presentation by Ong Keng Sen

Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary Art and Modern Art in Asia, Introduction by Ho Tzu Nyen, Presentation by Thanavi Chotrapdit, Vera Mey and Roger Nelson

The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, Introduction by Ong Keng Sen, Presentation by Ho Tzu Nyen

CONVERSATION: PATRICK FLORES & HSU FANG-TZE, moderated by Siddhartha Perez

CONVERSATION: GRIDTHIYA GAWEEWONG & MELATI SURYODARMO, moderated by Ute Meta Bauer

PANEL: HEIDI ARBUCKLE & KATHLEEN DITZIG, moderated by David Teh

Granted by

Course Details

Date: 18 – 20 May 2022
Time: 9am – 5pm
Location:NTU CCA Singapore, The Seminar Room, Block 37 Malan Road, Singapore 109452
Standard Course Fees: $2247 (full fee), $674.10 (Cat-A SSG Funded Courses), $254.10 (ETSS and MCES)

Register here.
For enquiries, please email ntuccaeducation@ntu.edu.sg

About this course

Developing projects in the cultural sector comes with distinctive considerations unique to challenges in the field. Some examples of cultural sector projects include exhibitions, performances, festivals and other public presentations.

In this 3-day programme designed for cultural practitioners and arts administrators, participants will develop the competencies and skills for planning and controlling art projects from ideation to completion. The course will examine the project management life cycle and address issues that drive or derail successful project outcomes. Participants will learn to define project parameters, identify and enrol stakeholders and use effective project management tools to plan, organise and track progress.

Cultural sector projects often involve multiple, complex sources of funding. The processes involved in receiving the funds may not follow a regular schedule and subsidies sometimes are received after an event is over. These issues can create uncertainty in the financial management of cultural sector projects. Project managers need to be agile in the both areas of budgeting and financial management in order to enhance project outcomes.

This programme will also cover grant writing, an important aspect of project development and management. With the understanding that every grant application is evaluated at various stages, participants will learn how to tackle the different aspects of a grant application. Through hands-on writing practice, participants will navigate grant procedures, regulations and evaluation criteria and most importantly, favourably position their projects and increase their chances of receiving funding.

Who Should Sign Up

Arts Managers, Artists, Art Administrators, Curators, Researchers, Arts Educators, Production Managers, Cultural Workers, Arts Enthusiasts

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify key issues in project development life cycles specific to the arts.
2. Write a basic project proposal, timeline, and budget.
3. Identify potential funding sources including grants
4. Present and discuss proposals in a clear and persuasive manner.
5. Understand the current landscape of project development in the Arts in Singapore.
6. Navigate project development in times of crisis and force majeure.

NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is proud to present Open College, a new educational initiative for everyone who is passionate about personal and professional growth and development in the arts sector.

Open College programmes are offered on 2 tracks; Discovery and Immersive Series. Discovery Series programmes are short exploratory courses that allow participants to explore topics outside their usual fields of interest, and acquire basic knowledge and skillsets that may be transferrable to other areas of study and work. By contrast, Immersive Series programmes are more in-depth and led by professional educators, researchers and critical thinkers in their fields of expertise. Through a blend of practical projects and discussions to stimulate critical thinking and dialogue, participants will deep dive into a subject matter and gain new perspectives.

Making it Happen!
Developing Projects for the Cultural Sector

Course Details

Date: 27-29 September 2021
Time: 9am-5:30pm
Location:NTU CCA Singapore, The Seminar Room, Block 37 Malan Road, Singapore 109452
Standard Course Fees: $2247 (full fee) $674.10 (Cat-A SSG Funded Courses) $254.10 (ETSS and MCES)
Registration for this course has closed.

For enquiries please email ntuccaeducation@ntu.edu.sg

About this course

If you are a…

Arts Manager
Administrator
Artist
Curator
Researcher
Arts Educator
Production Manager
Cultural Worker
Arts enthusiast

Interested in…

Project development life cycles specific to the arts

Available project management tools and communication.

Identifying and enrolling stakeholders.

Identifying potential funding sources including grants.

Project development in times of crisis and force majeure.

You will learn how to…

Identify key issues in project development in the arts.

Write a basic project proposal, timeline, and budget.

Present and discuss proposals in a clear and persuasive manner.

Understand the current landscape of project development in the Arts in Singapore.

After a very successful first iteration of Climate Futures #1: Cultures, Climate Crisis and Disappearing Ecologies its second convening wants to build on its discussions and expand its understanding of the decline in cultural and ecological diversity in the region. It became very clear that such conversations require space and time to process complex issues, if we do not want to simplify and allow more than one way to process how people feel about their situations and want to be heard. Our futures require us to go beyond the status quo of current modes of operating. To not lose cultural knowledge and biodiversity Climate Futures #2: Belonging & Shared Responsibilities will share various narratives and practices that are already in place. It wants to further provide access to communities outside state and institutional structures to further nurture understanding of change in responsibilities and accountability.

The summit intents to further map how the climate crisis informs our contemporary world, and how diverse cultures can adjust or adapt without losing a sense of purpose. It comprises of discussions into alternative approaches to regional studies focusing on urgencies such as rising sea-levels and temperatures and the impact on natural resources of the region. A particular focus will be on areas such as the Mekong River and Delta (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) and its water street to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines including the Straits that plays an essential role in the regions shared history.

The holistic approach of Climate Futures #1: Cultures, Climate Crisis and Disappearing Ecologies showed already how it can successfully stimulate a debate between artists, designers, and architects, scientists, environmentalists, as well as local voices and policy makers. We seek to reach out to an even wider public including younger scholars and practitioners, as well as community leaders and policy makers from the ASEAN region.

The future of our shared prosperity relies on our collective ability to create an inclusive and sustainable foundation for growth.

Read the programme brochure here.

Thursday, 26 October – Saturday 28 October 2023

Sokhalay Angkor Villa Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Thursday, 26 October
Join the livestream here with the passcode 668981.

9:30am Registration & Coffee

10:00am Opening Addresses

Dr Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director, ASEAN Foundation

H.E. Min Chandynavuth, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Cambodia

Prof. Tim White, Vice President (International Engagement); President’s Chair in Materials Science and Engineering; Professor, School of Materials Science & Engineering.

Welcome and Introduction by co-curators Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, and Professor School of Art, Design, and Media, NTU Singapore and Magdalena Magiera (Germany/Singapore), Curator Residencies and Programms, NTU Centre of Contemporary Art, Singapore

10:30am The Art of Living Lightly, Keynote Lecture by Rachaporn Choochuey (Thailand), Architect, Co-founder, Design Director, all(zone) ltd

11:40am Between Bots and the Biosphere: Machine Philosophy, Media Ecologies, and Digital Hieroglyphs for Climate Adaptation, Case Study by Nashin Mahtani (Indonesia), Director, PetaBencana.id

12:00pm An Uncommon History of The Common Fence: A Prologue (To the Coast), Case Study by Jason Wee (Singapore), Artist, Writer, Curator

12:20pm Sharing Climate Futures: Developing tools for climate care and action, Case Study by Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, and Professor School of Art, Design, and Media, NTU Singapore

1:00pm Discussion with Rachaporn Choochuey (Thailand), Nashin Mahtani (Indonesia), and Jason Wee (Singapore). Moderated by Prof. Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore)

3:30pm Belonging & Sharing Responsibilities, Closed Workshop by Claudia Lasimbang a.k.a Yoggie, Technical Coordinator Watersheds and Communities, Forever Sabah, Philip Chin a.k.a. Linggit, Technical Coordinator Certified Sustainable Palm Oil, Forever Sabah, and Yee I-Lan (all Malaysia), artist

Friday, 27 October
Join the livestream here with the passcode 400242.

8:45am Registration & Coffee

9:00am Welcome & Introduction

9:10am Creative Digital Lab: how artists, cultural and creative professionals and technologists work together to explore the potentials of XR technology in protecting heritage, safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and contributing to climate action. Lecture by Kamonrat Mali Chayamarit (Thailand), Culture Programme Officer, Lao PDR alternate Focal Point, UNESCO Culture related Conventions Advocate

9:40am Ecology for Non-Futures, Case Study by Binna Choi (South-Korea), Artists, part of Unmake Lab

10:20am Climate impact on social process and social structure, Case study by Daovone Phonemanichane (Laos), Strengthening Climate Resilience Project Manager, Oxfam Mekong Regional Water Governance Program

10:40am When Nature has Economic Value, Case Study by Som Supaprinya (Thailand), Artist

11:20am Discussion with Kamonrat Mali Chayamarit (Thailand), Binna Choi (South-Korea), Daovone Phonemanichane (Laos), and Som Supaprinya (Thailand). Moderated by Bejamin Hampe (Australia), Project Director, KONNECT ASEAN

1:00pm Glimpse of Life on the Water, Closed Workshop Sessions by Sovann Ke (Cambodia), Project Manager, OSMOSE

Saturday, 28 October
Join the livestream here with the passcode 353177.

8:45am Registration & Coffee

9:00am Introduction & Welcome

9:15am Every (de)Force Evolves into A (de)Form, Lecture by Gahee Park (South-Korea), Curator, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul

10:00am Pedagogy, Community, Art: Bottom-up Urbanism at Phnom Penh’s Wat Chen Dam Daek, Case Study by Lyno Vuth (Cambodia), Artist, and Eva Lloyd (Australia), Lecturer, University of New South Wales (UNSW)

10:20am Luang Prabang: From Cultural Landscape into Practice, Case Study by Phonepaseth Keosomsak (Laos), Architect, Artist

11:00am Snare for Birds: Rebelling Against an Order of Things, Case Study by Kiri Dalena (Philipines), Artist

11:20am Travelling through time, Case Study by Malin Yim (Cambodia), Artist

11:40am The New Word for World is Archipelago, Case Study by Nice Buenaventura (Philippines), Artist

12:00pm Discussion with Nice Buenaventura (Philippines), Kiri Dalena (Philipines), Phonepaseth Keosomsak (Laos), Gahee Park (South-Korea), Lyno Vuth (Cambodia), and Malin Yim (Cambodia). Moderated by Magdalena Magiera (Germany/Singapore)

2:30pm Visit of Blue Art Centre. Welcome by Sareth Svay (Cambodia), Artists, Director, Blue Art Centre

3:00pm Closing workshop by Cynthia Ong (Malaysia), Chief Executive Facilitator Forever Sabah Institute, LEAP

Curated by NTU CCA Singapore

Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director and Magdalena Magiera, Curator, Residencies and Programmes

Supported by

ASEAN Secretariat

ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund

Mission of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN

ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting for Culture and Arts

Programme support by Ministry of Culture and Fine Art, Cambodia

PROJECT PARTNERS

ASEAN FOUNDATION

Since the formation of ASEAN in 1967, ASEAN has embarked on a journey to accelerate economic growth, social progress, and cultural development in the region. After three decades, ASEAN leaders recognised there remained inadequate shared prosperity, ASEAN awareness, and contact amongst the people of ASEAN. As a result, ASEAN leaders established the ASEAN Foundation during the ASEAN 30th Anniversary Commemorative Summit in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 15 December 1997.

KONNECT ASEAN

As the post-Cold War reality of a new world has taken shape and formed new directions and conversations, ASEAN has re-entered the contemporary art space via collaborative efforts between various ASEAN bodies. The Republic of Korea celebrated 30 years of diplomatic relations with ASEAN in 2019 and in the same year established KONNECT ASEAN, an ASEAN-Korea arts programme. Supported by the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund and administered by the ASEAN Foundation, KONNECT ASEAN signals both an eagerness by ASEAN to revitalise its once integral role in contemporary visual arts and Korea’s sincerity in establishing closer ties with ASEAN.

The programme celebrates Southeast Asian and Korean arts using different platforms (exhibitions, education and conferences, public programmes, residencies, and publications and archives) to explore and discuss social, political, economic, and environmental issues in the region. The artists’ works and activities engages and strengthen the public’s understanding of ASEAN’s role in facilitating cultural diplomacy. Furthermore, the programme intends to connect with the three major stakeholder groups of government, business, and civil society to achieve the vision of an ASEAN Community. Outcomes provide permanent resources recording why ASEAN matters and its ongoing contribution to the region’s growth, prosperity, and stability.

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Engineering, Business, Science, Medicine, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and Graduate colleges. NTU is also home to world-renowned autonomous institutes—the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering—and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

Under the NTU Smart Campus vision, the University harnesses the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources. Ranked amongst the world’s top universities, the University’s main campus is also frequently listed among the world’s most beautiful. Known for its sustainability, over 95% of its building projects are certified Green Mark Platinum. Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a medical campus in Novena, Singapore’s healthcare district. For more information, visit ntu.edu.sg.

NTU CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART SINGAPORE

Situated within Singapore’s premier art precinct Gillman Barracks, NTU CCA Singapore is a pioneering institution that has been instrumental in shaping the contemporary art landscape in Singapore and beyond. With a focus on fostering creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, the Centre’s programmes have consistently challenged the status quo, encouraging artists to explore new realms of artistic expression. For more information, visit ntu.ccasingapore.org.

Image: Climate Futures #1, Jakarta (Indonesia), 2022. Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore, Konnect ASEAN & ASEAN Foundation.

The purpose of the award is to encourage recent graduates of NTU ADM’s research-oriented MA and PhD programmes and the MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices (MSCP, co-chaired by NTU CCA Singapore) to engage in practical projects utilising the SGD$5000 award to investigate the topic of Spaces of the Curatorial as an extension of their research and coursework. Now in its third year, the 2022 award goes to Thomas Ragnar, a 2021 graduate of the MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, for Endless Return Pack v.1, a compilation album featuring artists working within expanded and experimental dance music genres from Singapore and Southeast Asia. The project is co-curated with Sher Chew (aka XUE), founder of the series Endless Return.

The selection committee included Prof Ute Meta Bauer and two invited jurors: Ms Siddharta Perez, Curator at NUS Museum, and Dr Adele Tan, Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore.

The album will be released in 2022. Ragnar describes Endless Return as “a regenerative rave experiment.” Upon the announcement of the award, he commented: “Since August 2020, Endless Return have hosted several online events programmed with music, dance, and video projects by artists across Southeast Asia who work with rave culture, energy, history and aesthetics. The Platform Projects Curatorial Award will support the migration offline of Endless Return in 2022 through publishing initiatives, music and video releases, and live events developed by XUE and myself together with Endless Return‘s larger artistic community.”

“The Platform Projects Curatorial Award is a rare opportunity for emerging curators to realise a project and is a necessary initiative especially during a time when arts funding is contracting globally” says Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, NTU School of Art, Design and Media.

Ragnar adds that: “The MA programme offered jointly by ADM and NTU CCA Singapore boldly champions curatorial approaches and positions that make a conscious effort to take risks and depart from the often delimiting contexts of contemporary art, and of its hyper-specialised conditions. I am honoured to realise these positions and approaches with my collaborator XUE with the support of the Platform Projects grant. Both XUE and I are grateful to be enabled to support and advance the forward-thinking underground and regenerative spirit of Endless Return‘s artistic communities.”

The Award’s Pilot Programme supported <!DOCTYPE work>, a collaborative curatorial effort conceived by 2019 MA MSCP graduates Tian Lim, Shireen Marican, and Leon Tan, presented in The Lab at NTU CCA Singapore from 22 August – 18 October 2020. The next edition of the award went to Of Limits Collective, a group of five 2020 MA MSCP alumni comprising: Sneha Chaudhury, Weiqin Chay, Ace Lê, Jason Leung, and Beatrice Morel. They realized their exhibition Of Limits in March 2021 at the Stamford Arts Centre, featuring work by six artists from Southeast Asia, with most artworks having been produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the occasion of the Pilot Programme, launched in 2020, Savita Apte from Platform Projects commented on behalf of her former co-directors Shareen Khattar and Christine Pilsbury: “We are all of one mind and delighted that Platform Projects can still be significant for a younger generation of curators.”

Hendrik Folkerts (b. 1984, Netherlands) is one of the curators of documenta 14. He studied Art History at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in contemporary art and theory, feminist practices and contemporary curatorial practices. From 2010 until 2015, he was Curator of Performance, Film & Discursive Programmes at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Folkerts curated the Public Programme of The Temporary Stedelijk at the Stedelijk Museum, a special interim program that was presented from August 2010 until October 2011, as well as Temporary Stedelijk 3: Stedelijk @ (TS3) from October 2011 until September 2012. Prior to his position at the Stedelijk Museum, Folkerts was co-ordinator of the Curatorial Programme at De Appel arts centre in Amsterdam from 2009 until 2011. He frequently publishes in journals and on platforms such as Artforum, The Exhibitionist, Metropolis M and for the Stedelijk Museum (Bureau) Amsterdam. Folkerts is (co)editor of Shadowfiles: Curatorial Education (Amsterdam: de Appel arts centre, 2013, ed. with Ann Demeester) and Facing Forward: Art & Theory from a Future Perspective (Amsterdam: AUP, 2015, ed. with Christoph Lindner and Margriet Schavemaker).

Dirk Snauwaert is Artist Director of WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and was involved in its creation since July 2004. At WIELS, Snauwaert has curated exhibitions of Tauba Auerbach (2013) and Mike Kelley (2008). Prior, Snauwaert was Co-Director of the Institut d’art contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alps where he was in charge of the exhibition programme and the development of the FRAC Rhône-Alpes collection. He was Director of the Kunstverein Munich from 1996 to 2001, where he curated solo shows by Rita McBride (1999), William Kentridge (1998), David Lamelas (1997), and Fareed Armaly (1997). He was also the curator of Jef Geys at the Pavilion of Belgium, 53rd Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition. Snauwaert was an NTU CCA Singapore Curator-in-Residence in 2015.

During the residency, Anthony Huberman will connect with local artists and institutions in Singapore. He will deliver a lecture that addresses concepts of tools, devices, and machines in relation to the exhibition MECHANISMS, he recently curated at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, United States. Furthering his connection with the region, Huberman will also travel to the Philippines to participate in the Public Lecture Series 2018 at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila.

Through his research on the theory and practice of “the hyperimage”, Alfredo Cramerotti aims to research and meet artists, curators, and writers working at the cusp of visual information and networked imaging, in order to scope future collaborations. During his residency, Cramerotti will also present a lecture titled The Curator as Meta Artist. Modes of Curation in the Age of [Aesthetic] Uncertainty, discussing three different modes in which curatorial practice can function.

Tara McDowell (United States) is Associate Professor and Director of Curatorial Practice at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She is Editor-at-Large of The Exhibitionist, a journal on curatorial practice and exhibition making now published and distributed by the MIT press for which she served as Founding Senior Editor. She has held curatorial appointments at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, where she mounted over two dozen group and solo exhibitions. In addition to her contemporary curatorial work, McDowell has organized group shows on Minimalism, Fluxus, assemblage, and avant-garde cinema, and worked on retrospectives of Philip Guston, Gerhard Richter, and Richard Tuttle. She publishes and lectures frequently, and writes criticism for art-agenda and artforum.com. McDowell holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of California, Berkeley.

During the residency, Krist Gruijthuijsen will connect with local artists and institutions in Singapore. He will present a talk titled The Ouroboros Effect featuring a selection of projects initiated over the past decade that reflect upon the importance in his curatorial practice of the artist’s voice and of the material and social conditions of artistic production.

Ruth Noack (b. 1964, Germany) trained as a visual artist and art historian, held numerous lectureships, and works as curator, critic and author. She was curator of documenta 12. Recent shows include Notes on Crisis, Currency and Consumption and Vienna and Ines Doujak‚ first solo show in London. Noack headed the Curating Contemporary Art programme at the RCA, London, United Kingdom (2012-2013). She was Šaloun Professor atAcademy of Fine Art (AVU), Prague and led the Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course (2014). Currently, she is curator-tutor of a Dutch Art Institute’s Roaming Academy trajectory. She has published widely, including a book on Sanja Ivekovic’s Triangle for Afterall.

Damp: study of an artist at 21, an unconventional survey on the Australian artist group Damp which unfolded through a series of presentations within the context of the university art school in 2016. During her residency, Rosemary aims to expand her research focus investigating several university art galleries in Singapore.

Rosemary Forde’s research looks at “curating as pedagogy” and explores the role of galleries within universities and art schools. For her doctoral dissertation in Curatorial Practice at Monash University, she developed Art holds a high place in my life

Robin Peckham is the deputy editor of LEAP magazine. His residency coincided with Art Stage 2015. His residency coincides with Art Stage 2015 and he will conduct extensive studio visits with various Singapore artists. Peckham will facilitate the Q&A session for NTU CCA Singapore Artist-in-Residence Matthew Mazzotta where he will draw upon his experiences of working in China to question public art practices.

Over the course of the residency, iLiana Fokianaki will connect with local institutions and artists. She will present a talk on the ethics of curatorial practice through the institutional trajectory of State of Concept, an independent institution in Athens she founded in 2013. In addition, she will conduct a workshop for postgraduate students at NTU School of Art, Design and Media.

During the residency, Nathalie Johnston will connect with local artists and institutions to build connections between Singapore and Myanmar. She will present a talk entitled It’s Complicated to reflect on the contemporary art ecosystem in Myanmar and discuss the attitudes of the artists in light of the country’s current socio-political situation.

During the residency, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez will connect with local artists and institutions in Singapore. She will deliver a talk to discuss the necessity to engage various art institutional constituencies through curatorial practice in relation to her latest project: Contour Biennale 9: Coltan as Cotton (11 January – 20 October 2019, Mechelen, Belgium). This recently opened exhibition explores the possibility of opening up institutional borders and render them more palpable, audible, sentient, soft, porous and, most of all, decolonial and anti-patriarchal.

During the residency, Miya Yoshida will connect with local artists and institutions in Singapore. She will deliver a lecture Re-framing “Measuring the World” that reconsiders the hype of social engineering and the wide adoption of algorithm through conceptual and post-conceptual practices. Contemplating the equation of art and life as well as “statactivism” (i.e. the mobilization of statistics), Yoshida will draw lines of connections between imagination, affect, and current transformations in technologies of quantification.

Martin Germann will connect with local artists and institutions during his residency. He will also give a talk focusing on S.M.A.K’s unique politics in developing solo exhibition in close collaboration with artists placing them at the centre of her activities.

Martin Germann (b. 1974, Germany) is senior curator at S.M.A.K., the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent, Belgium, since autumn 2012. He has organised solo shows of artists Lee Kit, Michael Buthe, Thomas Ruff, Jordan Wolfson and Rachel Harrison as well as group exhibitions such as Drawing. The Bottom Line, together with Philippe Van Cauteren. Recent curatorial projects at S.M.A.K. include an ongoing series of presentations of works from the collection, as well as a year long exhibition unfolding around a wall piece by Sol LeWitt. He is currently working on a long-term project on the notion of ‘the photographic’ within the contemporary discourse.

Previously, Germann was curator at Kestner Gesellschaft Hanover, Germany and was responsible for the programme “Gagosian Gallery, Berlin” for the 4th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art. He has published numerous exhibition catalogues and monographs and has written for international magazines such as 032cand Frieze. In 2015, he received the AICA award for Belgium’s best exhibition for Lili Dujourie: Folds in time.

During the residency, Michael Birchall will connect with local artists and institutions committed to socially engaged practices. He will give a lecture titled Curatorial Consciousness. Participation between practice and process in the context of Mapletree-NTU CCA Singapore Art Education Programme Series.

Dirk Snauwaert will connect with local artists and explore the Singapore art scene as well as the larger region of Southeast Asia. Snauwaert will also give a public talk presenting ideas related to the exhibition Atopolis, organised by WIELS, Contemporary Art Centre (Brussels) in collaboration with Mons 2015 – European Capital of Culture, which presented a group of artists interested in phenomena of circulation, diaspora and cultural dislocation. Twenty-three artists temporarily installed a proposal for an atopolis, or for an ideal city, connected to everyplace or anyplace. Snauwaert will also provide insight into the institution he directs – WIELS which combines a set of complementary functions: exhibition, production through an international residency programme and a robust education focus.

Maria Lind will connect with local artists and institutions whilst researching the art scene in Singapore for the upcoming Gwangju Biennale 2016. Lind will give a public talk sharing her experience working in and around Tensta Konsthall in Stockholm, Sweden where she currently holds the position as director. Her talk will also address notions of proximity, embeddedness, agility, shared concerns and contact/conflict zones.

Maria Hlavajova (b. 1971, Slovakia) is Artistic Director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands, an institution that advocates for the critical role of art in society through various programmes of education, exhibitions, and publishing. Hlavajova is also initiator and artistic director of FORMER WEST, an eight-year long transnational research, education, exhibition, and publication project organised and coordinated by BAK. Other curatorial projects include Call the Witness, Roma Pavilion, 54th Venice Biennale, Italy (2011); Citizens and Subjects, part of the Dutch presentation at the 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy (2007); and co-curator of Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2000). She regularly contributes to numerous critical readers, catalogues, and magazines internationally. In addition, Hlavajova is co-founder of tranzit, a network established in 2002 that supports contemporary art practices and exchanges in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. She serves on the Advisory Board of Bergen Assembly, Norway.

While in residence, Marco Scotini will connect with local artists and institutions in Singapore. As Biennale artistic director of the 2nd Yinchuan Biennale, opening from June to September 2018, he will present a public lecture on the curatorial concepts and thematics of the Biennale using living systems to produce a new ecological model for conceiving exhibitions.

Binna Choi will research the Singapore art scene and the wider Southeast Asian region as represented in Singapore Biennale 2016 – An Atlas of Mirrors. She will give a public lecture on the relationship between artistic projects and social movements drawing from her recent collaborative projects The Grand Domestic Revolution and Composing the Commons and will share models of collaboration and self-organisation developed at Casco.

Anne Szefer Karlsen will connect to and explore the Singapore art scene, investigating parallels between the Singaporean and Norwegian art environment. She will give a public presentation discussing the Scandinavian art book series Dublett (2012 – 2016). Each edition of Dublett consists of a new artist’s book and an anthology of commissioned texts on the artist or project at hand, written by contributors from a variety of disciplines that aim to cultivate art mediation within a book format. While in residence, Szefer Karlsen also aims to connect with artists, curators, writers and designers in Singapore, focusing on the intersections between editorial and curatorial practices.

While in residence, Erin Gleeson gave a public talk with her nomination for the NTU CCA Singapore Artist-in-Residence, Luke Willis Thompson. She also had introductory visits and curatorial tours to important institutional spaces and made a number of first-contact studio visits, finding synergies with CCA artist-in-residence Koh Nguang How’s research for Shui Tit Sing – 100 Years of an Artist through his Archives as part of his Singapore Art Archive Project @ CCA (SAAP@CCA).

Planting Rice is a curatorial collaboration of Lian Ladia and Sidd Perez. This platform is aimed at fostering the rise of cross-pollination among artistic communities and has been in existence since 2011. Planting Rice’s major component is a web-based platform that generates and circulates an archive of open source republished texts that highlight scholarship on art history and criticism that is at the risk of being inaccessible. The team’s curatorial practice extends off-site and their projects include repotentializing spaces, rehistoricizing narratives of art, and expanding the roles, forms and gestures of curatorial practice.

Aimee Lin, Editor of ArtReview Asia gave a talk during her residency at the Singapore Art Book Fair 2014. Lin met with local artists to understand the art scene in Singapore with research facilitated by Vera Mey NTU CCA Singapore Curator, Residencies.

Paul Ha is currently the Director of the List Visual Arts Center, the contemporary art museum at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Known for presenting experimental and timely exhibitions, the List also oversees the active MIT’s Percent-for-Art program, which has created one the of the outstanding national collections of public art. The collection includes 50 plus site-specific commissions from artists such as Dan Graham, Cai Guo-Qiang, Anish Kapoor, Sol LeWitt and Sarah Sze. The List also oversees more than 3,500 works in the permanent collection as well as 600 works in an innovative student loan art collection program. In 2014 Ha was chosen to be commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion for the La Biennale di Venezia 56th International Art Exhibition. Ha and co-curator Ute Meta Bauer, presented artist Joan Jonas, a pioneer of performance and time based art.

Filipa Ramos will lead an Exhibition (de)Tour of Joan Jonas: They Come to Us Without a Word. Joan Jonas’s work is inhabited by a multitude of human and non-human creatures, which traverse her drawings, videos, and performances in a plurality of gestures and configurations. Assembled in idiosyncratic, non-narrative manners, these animal selves propose new temporal conventions and ways of being in the world. Ramos’ (de)Tour will be a journey across the creatures Jonas summons and collaborates with through her work. Ramos will also connect with artists and writers and explore the Singapore art scene as well as the larger region of Southeast Asia.

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Making it Happen! Developing Projects for the Cultural Sector

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Making it Happen!
Developing Projects for the Cultural Sector