Singapore Arts Club Workbook

THE

WORKBOOK

22 JANUARY 2016 COMPLIMENTARY COPY

www.alexandraalberta.com

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WORKBOOK

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

Art Outreach

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 03. About The SAC Workbook 05. About the Location: Gillman Barracks

PUBLIC ART 06. Making Myths 08. SAC Map Artists

10. Sean Lee “Shauna” & “Two People”

12. “Rooms” by Sean Lee

16. Joo Choon Lin “Abdominal BASS Cavern Of A Stricken HEART”

18. Post-Museum “Extreme Picnic”

20. Mark Thia “The Chinese in America”

22. Jack Tan “Mythologies”

24. Susan Sentler “Mythologies” Collaborator

26. Art Outreach: Does Art Education Matter?

28. National University of Singapore (NUS) Year Two Design Studio: Dwellings At Gillman: Homes For Artists And Researchers

LIFESTYLE & ART INTEREST 33. Art Patrons At Home 37. Contemporary Art Interests - Artist Quynh Dong on “Asian Pop Cliché”

Artist Talks: The Artist Studio in Singapore

40. The Artist Studio In Context: Mike Chang and Ian Woo

43. Urbanization & Space Constraint, Techniques For An Artist’s Studio: Randy Chan, Marcin Dudek, Loke Hong Seng and Merryn Trevethan 46. Matthew Penn’s Sense of Light- ERCO Lighting and Art 48. Life After DRIVE Public Art Project 50. CHI CHI VON TANG on Walking Art Tours 54. Talking Art With Amateurs 56. Old & New - East & West, Culinary Interest in the Vicinity of Gillman Barracks 60. In the Vicinity: Labrador Park, Keppel Bay Towards Vivocity

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ABOUT THE SAC The Singapore Arts Club is a public arts event, which provides exclusive access to the burgeoning art scene in Singapore and the international contemporary art world. Through a month-long public art showcase, talk programmes, and an event culminating during “Art After Dark” at Gillman Barracks on 22 January 2016, The Singapore Arts Club provides a backdrop to the opening exhibitions for 11 contemporary art galleries, the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (NTU-CCA), its artist residencies, and several restaurants. The project offers opportunities for audience interaction with relevant contemporary art interests brought forth by projects by Singaporean artists, a chance to attend artist talks, to meet art professionals and academics, and to enjoy and soak in the atmosphere within the art district and lush green of Gillman Barracks.

The theme explored this year is “Myth Making”.

The projects specially selected are by Sean Lee, Joo Choon Lin, Jack Tan, Mark Thia, Post-Museum and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Architecture Year 2 students. On the evening of Friday, 22 January 2016, the projects create the setting for the event and encompass large scale outdoor photographs on facades of buildings, an outdoor light installation and children’s parade, a live photography session where strangers are invited to get into bed together to have their portraits taken, an extreme picnic situation, voice pieces, and an action performance. In addition, the NUS Year 2 Architecture students who have been spending their weekends on a project to conceive hypothetical artist studios at Gillman Barracks, will showcase their final project as a start of imagining our artist studios of the future. Complementing these artworks are a series of forums, guided tours and visits to the galleries within Gillman Barracks, as well as a free publication on art and lifestyle.

This is the second edition of a Public Arts Project organized by the Arnoldii Arts Club, the first of which was “DRIVE Public Art Festival” in 2014-2015. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the parties who came forth with enthusiasm to participate and volunteer for this project, our thanks especially to the artists Sean Lee, Joo Choon Lin, Jack Tan, Mark Thia and the Post-Museum folks (Woon Tien Wei and Jennifer Teo). To Marcin Dudek for building and gifting us the House Under Four Flags (HUFF) and to the artist, Merryn Trevethan, for her subsequent residency there.

To the groups who facilitated the projects to make it happen, including the Gillman Barracks Galleries, National Arts Council (NAC), National University of Singapore (NUS) Architecture Department, Art Outreach, Singapore Chinese Girls School (SCGS), Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) and INDC Fabrication. Thank you to all our sponsors who have been involved in this project with both monetary and also professional support. Thank you to friends and kind supporters such as Richard and Lauren Nijkerk, Christopher Chan, Bernise Ang, Jeevan Nathan, Audrey Anthoney, Danielle Yong and Ahmad Iskanda r for your enthusiasm. And all of this would not have been possible without the positive attitude and hard work of the team, Jayant Mitter, Anni Oates, Jolyn Chin, Priscilla Tan and Veronica Neo. Further acknowledgements are in the colophon.

The Arnoldii Arts Club is an elite association focused on art education through talks, tours, and other art engagement activities.

The Arnoldii Arts Club is a production of Yeo Workshop Pte Ltd.

Audrey Yeo Editor/ Curator, SAC Founding Director, Yeo Workshop

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ABOUT THE LOCATION: GILLMAN BARRACKS Dear Visitor, Welcome to Gillman Barracks, Singapore’s visual arts precinct set amidst lush greenery. Located on the site of a former military camp used first by the British Military then the Singapore Armed Forces, the vicinity has undergone multiple changes and has since redeveloped itself to accommodate Singapore’s growing arts cluster.

Housed in conserved colonial barracks, our enclave of 11 galleries curate an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events throughout the year, showcasing a diverse range of both local and international artists. The programmes of the galleries are ever-changing, promising a different experience of contemporary art every time.

Additionally, the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Singapore, with an excellent international artist residency programme, is devoted to advancing knowledge through research and a roster of innovative shows to bolster the region’s visual arts landscape and to facilitate cultural exchange.

Art After Dark, happening bi-monthly at Gillman Barracks, promises to inject a synergy of creative vigour as part of Singapore Art Week 2016, establishing us at the forefront as a destination of choice for the arts.

Over the weekends, the Friends of the Museum (a volunteer docent group) conduct free tours of the Barracks, highlighting its history and current shows in galleries.

Your continued support and patronage helps to breathe life and identity into Singapore’s arts scene.

Gillman Barracks is jointly developed by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), JTC Corporation (JTC) and the National Arts Council (NAC).

Gillman Barracks Galleries Include:

ARNDT, FOST Gallery, Mizuma Gallery, OTA Fine Arts, Partners & Mucciaccia, Pearl Lam Galleries, ShanghART Gallery, Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore, Yavuz Gallery, Yeo Workshop and NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore.

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MAKING MYTHS

Sean Lee From the series “Two People”, 2012 – 2016

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The title for the 2016 edition of the public art project for Gillman Barracks is “Making Myths”, inspired by artists staking their claim on the contemporary by taking stock of the past and creating their own stories at a time of rapid development both locally and globally.

As a public art project, audience interaction is key to its success. Artists’ goals can only be fulfilled through public experience. Summing up the interactive approach, local writer Jeremy Fernando said, “Is the work exhibiting an idea, or is the exhibited work waiting for an idea?”

The artist Jack Tan creates new mythical monsters in the form of lanterns, flags and stories.

By subverting folk stories and drawing from history, Tan’s work raises questions on how myths are created and accepted in society.

Since antiquity, humans have created myths to explain nature, history or customs. Some of these myths persist to this day, ingrained in our collective memories. By examining the state of the world, the artist demonstrates an awareness of the forces that shape our society, allowing participants to respond to and shape their own myths.

Post-Museum’s “Extreme Picnic” consisting of picnic baskets, mats, instructional booklets as well as food and drinks, will invite audiences to find their own picnic sites. By doing so, they encourage participants to re-claim and inaugurate usable recreational sites. Don’t forget your bug spray and watch out for mosquitoes, and snakes!

The artist collective behind the ‘Extreme Picnic’ is comprised of Woon Tien Wei, Jennifer Teo and friends who are known for their community-based projects, and have been interested in subverting the systems of mainstream economic exchange. The group run an artists’ space in Little India, a soup kitchen, as well as the “Really Really Free Market,” held in Singapore and was recently part of the Jakarta Biennale.

This publication also portrays Sean Lee’s series of work, “Rooms”; intimate renderings of the spaces he grew up in at his grandmother’s place. Lee does not say much, instead, he believes in visual communication through his photographs. In his words, he just wants to capture time, intimate and funny moments with his parents “whilst he still can”.

Lee’s work featured in this publication differs from the large scale, advertising-sized posters exhibited on the facades of the barrack walls. On the walls, Lee’s private, often mundane family life is blown up to great theatrical effect. His work “Shauna”, created after a protracted period of integration into Cambodian nightlife, resulted in friendships with sex workers and artwork featuring his alter ego, a Cambodian transvestite.

The last ensemble piece in “Making Myths” is by artist Joo Choon Lin. Joo sets the stage for performance artists by creating a set that represents the human body, while actors, donning blood red costumes to signify blood vessels, gyrate and spasm. Joo’s work uses the metaphor of the body to represent perception. Her interests lie in investigating the nature of reality: whether appearances are as they present themselves to the eye and senses are meaningful to the essence and identity of things.

The artist will also present a sculpture that the audience is invited to touch using special gloves that repulse as two magnets come into contact with each other. Additionally, the geometric heart and arteries that make up the sculpture utilize hard materials and metallic surfaces, enhancing the notion of coldness, in stark contrast to what we perceive to be human.

Other projects such as the National University of Singapore (NUS) Year 2 Architecture projects demonstrate how architecture students are thinking about the world we live in, imagining ideal studios and residences for artists.

Besides learning more about the artists and the activities of the Singapore Arts Club, this publication allows the reader to peek into the lives of the arts community who use the content of the art and galleries at Gillman Barracks to enhance their lives. I hope that this project continues to bring the public to Gillman Barracks, to engage meaningfully with contemporary art, and that it provides a fulfilling platform for the artists.

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SEAN LEE

Sean Lee From the series “Shauna”, 2007 – 2009

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TWO PEOPLE SHAUNA Typically working in the small and intimate format of the book and exhibition-sized photographs, photographer Sean Lee explores and challenges the boundaries between the private and public in this project. Much of his work involves taking the familiar and putting the spotlight on them – Lee’s way of pushing viewers to question and ponder their own interactions with family and past experiences. While his themes on humanity have been mainly captured across Southeast Asia, his work is recognized universally.

Incorporating building facades and pavement surface areas, Lee enlarges his photographs for the first time to uncanny proportions to enhance and subvert spatial awareness.

Photographs mimicking retro billboards with neon lights recreate the 70s feel of movie advertisements. This publication features Lee’s latest work entitled “Rooms”, showing the places he grew up in.

On the night of the event, Lee will enact a live photography session where he will photograph strangers interacting for the first time together on a bed to examine how the public interacts with this installation-event.

Lee’s series “Two People” depict his parents in intimate and sometimes humorous poses while his provocative collection, “Shauna,” portrays his alter ego dressed in drag.

Sean Lee From the series “Two People”, 2010 – 2016 Photography

Born in 1985, Singaporean artist Sean Lee has shown his work internationally and locally, participating in both group and solo exhibition. His solo exhibitions include The Empire project in Istanbul, Turkey in 2012. His work has also been shown at Singapore’s Objectifs Centre for Photography and Filmmaking, as well as at the exclusive New York Photo Festival, and is recognized on an international platform for his expertise in the area of photography.

His first body of work “Shauna” was nominated for the Prix Découverte on the 40th anniversary of the Arles Photography Festival in Arles, France. He has also received Singapore’s most prestigious photography award in 2011, the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu Award for his most recent work, “Two People”. Other significant nominations include the Paul Huf Award by the Foam Fotografiemuseum in Amsterdam in 2010; Lee was one of 67 nominees selected to participate in the elite training programme for master photographers at the Reflexions Masterclass.

Lee’s work can be found at the Singapore Art Museum as well as in the Sandor Family Collection.

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Sean Lee From the series “Rooms”, 2015 Photography

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Sean Lee From the series “Rooms”, 2015 Photography

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Sean Lee From the series “Rooms”, 2015 Photography

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Sean Lee From the series “Rooms”, 2015 Photography

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JOO CHOON LIN Joo explores how our visions become distorted and lead us to attain the unattainable.

Joo Choon Lin’s interests lie in investigating the nature of reality: by challenging the perception of surface appearances as they present themselves to the eye and other human senses, as well as the essence and identity of things as they are comprehended by the mind.

The culmination of her curiosity with human anatomy and the concept of touch, Joo’s new body of work, titled ‘Abdominal BASS Cavern Of A Stricken HEART’, will highlight a set of handmade costumes, lights, live music and actors, special LED gloves as well as an aluminum sculptural piece, which the public is highly encouraged to interact with.

With three prior installations in Sweden, France and Singapore under her INTESTINOLOGY Series, this is the latest addition to the series, as she continues to explore the mind and body and how they function in a similar way to electrical wires and machines. The concept of touch is influenced by a favourite Singaporean pastime - shopping - and the character Lennie Small from ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Her observations are based on how vacuum-packed products are untouchable as the glossy packaging acts as a barrier and second skin, and how the surfaces reflect light as well as our own reflections on it; a sort of visual misconception.

Joo explores how our visions become distorted and lead us to attain the unattainable. Likewise, our minds are unable to conceive why everyday products and commodities continue to hypnotize us, attracting us obsessively to them.

Evoking a sense of exclusion and lack of intimacy, both the sculptural piece and gloves provided for audience interaction will have positive magnets hidden beneath the surface. The action of touch leads to a sense of repulsion as the two magnets come into contact. Additionally, the geometric heart and arteries that make up the sculpture utilise hard materials and metallic surfaces, enhancing the notion of coldness and reflection, in stark contrast to what we perceive to be human.

Joo Choon Lin ”Abdominal BASS Cavern Of A Stricken HEART”, 2015-2016 Video Still

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Abdominal BASS Cavern of a Stricken HEART Born in 1984, Joo Choon Lin graduated from the Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, UK, with a Masters in Fine Art. Based in Singapore and Glasgow, she has shown her work both internationally and locally, participating in group and solo exhibitions. She has exhibited at the 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Japan (2009), 1st Aichi Triennale, Japan (2010), Roving Eye at Sorlandets Kunstmuseum, Norway (2011), Art Stage Singapore (2011), Resolution of Reality at Third Floor Hermes Gallery, Singapore (2012), “Show #6”, The Parlour Art Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2013), Your Eyes Are Stupid at Singapore Biennale (2013), Be Mysterious, Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre, Canada (2014) and Paradise Sans Promesse, Frac de Pays de la Loire, Nantes, France (2015), to name a few.

Joo Choon Lin “Abdominal BASS Cavern Of A Stricken HEART”, 2015 – 2016 Documentation

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POST-MUSEUM

Post-Museum “Extreme Picnic”, 2016

In line with Singapore Arts Club’s goal to encourage visitors to enjoy Gillman Barrack’s lush greens, PostMuseum has created a twist on the traditional picnic to be held on the evening of 22nd January 2016.

Taking advantage of Gillman’s vast open areas, Post-Museum will be providing each participating group of between three to five people a picnic set that serves as a prop for the ‘Extreme Picnic’. Each set comprises of a limited edition picnic basket, a mat, an instructional booklet, and a selection of wellloved food and drink items from the Food #03 menu. The completion of the ‘Extreme Picnic’ involves choosing a picnic spot, partaking in the food and drinks, and conducting a conversation as outlined in the instructional booklet.

Extreme Picnic is a development from Post-Museum’s interest in issues of community, space and land contestation. The project is a mash-up of extreme sports and picnics.

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Post-Museum “Untitled II (Da Wu)”, 2013 Cooking Pans, Spatulas, Wooden Pedestals, Induction Cookers, Gloves, Dry Ice and Smoke Machines.

Post-Museum is an independent cultural and social space in Singapore which aims to encourage and support a thinking and proactive community. It is an open platform for examining contemporary life, promoting the arts and connecting people. Through their Social Practice art projects, Post-Museum aims to respond to its location and communities as well as find ways to create micro-Utopias where the people actively imagine and create the cultures and worlds they desire.

Bukit Brown Index (2014-) is a project that indexes the case of Bukit Brown Cemetery. The struggle to conserve Bukit Brown is not read as sentimental conservation but a struggle over Singapore’s soul. Part of a worldwide movement, Post-Museum’s Really Really Free Market Series (2009-) forms temporary autonomous zones based on an alternative gift economy. The project creates a temporal physical manifestation of a ‘free market’ where the fundamental economic structure is altered with a structure that values acts of ‘giving, sharing and caring’.

Currently operating nomadically, Post-Museum continues to organise, curate, research and collaborate with a network of social actors and cultural workers.

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MARK THIA

Mark Thia “Untitled”, 2013 Digital Collage

Mark Thia “Melancholy Tropics”, 2015 Digital Photograph

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Mark Thia “Nicholas”, 2015 Digital Photograph

Mark Thia is presenting a sound piece titled “The Chinese in America” in Gillman Barracks.

Mark Thia is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes performance, sound, photography, video, drawing and sculpture. He was born in 1981 in Singapore.

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JACK TAN

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1 VACARE, The Haze Buster 2 THE FLYING STO, The Animal Home Finder 3 SMELLEN, The Rolling Roti Hunger Monster 4 SLOSHTROS, The Sewer Litter Eater 5 LIMENDRAGEN, The Pygmy Chimera 6 MR KRANIUM, The Brain Vampire 7 FRETAN, The Anxiety Monster

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MYTHOLOGIES

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Mythologies is a work of art by Jack Tan that explores various day-to-day Singaporean obsessions or concerns through a series of mythological characters based on the idea of the Japanese Yōkai (妖怪), or supernatural monsters. Exploring myth-making as a spatial, visual, performative and pedagogic activity, Jack Tan presents eight new mythological creatures through a choreographed children’s lantern parade, and public installations of flags and lanterns.

With reference to Roland Barthes’ book by the same name, Mythologies is a work of art that raises questions about the value and function of myth-making today. Tan says: “I am interested in how a society makes myth, the nature of myth itself (does it operate as ‘sign’ that closes down interpretation or ‘symbol’ that opens up further imagination?), and the mythic stories we tell each other in order to make sense of our daily fears and hopes.”

Children from Singapore Chinese Girls’ School, as part of the Art Outreach Singapore programme, will construct lanterns designed in collaboration with Melvin Tan and Darius Ou before performing a series of dances inspired by each ‘monster’ in an evening lantern parade choreographed by Susan Sentler. A limited set of lantern kits are also available for sale to the public from www.singaporeartsclub.com, and buyers are invited to bring their lanterns along and join the parade on 22nd January 2016.

Jack Tan “Art School Surgery” (detail), 2015 Installation, Performance, Life-coaching, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore.

Background: Artist’s reproduction of Sister Corita Kent’s “Rules”. © Courtesy of the artist.

Photo: truphotos.com.

Jack Tan (b. 1971, Singapore) is a Singaporean artist based in London. He creates performances, performatives, sculpture, video and participatory projects that highlight the socio-legal: customs, rituals, habits and theories that guide human behavior. Prior to becoming an artist, Jack worked in civil litigation and non-governmental organisations undertaking human rights case and policy work. Jack Tan’s recent solo exhibition, How To Do Things With Rules, at the Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore included a live singing litigation process called Karaoke Court. His upcoming residency, Silence in Court?, on voice and the law will take place with the Community Justice Centre at the Singapore State and Supreme Courts. Later in 2016, Jack will also work with Arebyte, a London gallery specialising in digital and performance practices, to present a research exhibition on legal aesthetics. Jack is also currently a visiting lecturer in sculpture at Brighton University and in fine art at Goldsmiths College, London.

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SUSAN SENTLER MYTHOLOGIES COLLABORATOR Susan

Sentler

is

a

Dance Artist,

working

as

choreographer, teacher, researcher, director, and performer. She served as a Senior Lecturer at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for 18 years and has taught globally in the field of dance for over 30 years. Susan’s practice is eclectic, with a distinct focus on site specific/gallery contexts. She has an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Glenna Batson on varied avenues of imagery research. This interest in somatic practices and imagery underpins her pedagogic and overall artistic vision. As performer she danced with the Martha Graham Ensemble, and in recent years has performed in works of Tino Sehgal, Jerome Bel (with the Candoco Dance Company), and Xavier le Roy. She creates durational installations, using the body, objects, sound, moving and still image. Her films and installation work have been exhibited in the UK, USA, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, and for the online symposium Waterwheel 2014. In 2013 Susan earned a Masters in Creative Practice, professional practice pathway, awarded

by Trinity Laban in collaboration with Independent Dance in London/UK. Currently she is a Lecturer of Dance at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore.

Susan Sentler Choreographer for “Mythologies”, excerpt from sketchbook, 2015-2016

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Susan Sentler Choreographer for “Mythologies”, excerpt from sketchbook, 2015-2016

Susan Sentler Choreographer for “Mythologies”, excerpt from sketchbook, 2015-2016

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DOES ART EDUCATION MATTER?

By Durriya Dohadwala

The arts define us. Visual arts, dance, theatre and music all play an integral part in creating the identity of a society and promoting and teaching values to the people within it. Not only do concerts, theatre performances, private and public art provide entertainment and enhance the quality of our lives, they also serve as important building blocks of the personality and character of individuals and therefore societies.

In the Asian context, an education in the arts has usually been considered secondary to one in maths and the sciences. The arts education curriculum in most public schools in Singapore typically limit exposure to the art forms at primary and secondary levels. Art and music are taught within the curriculum as soft subjects (on a non-examinable level) and dance and theatre are offered as an extra-curricular option. While this is slowly changing, there are still very few opportunities and avenues for children to explore or develop an interest in the arts within the conventional educational framework.

Pursuing creative skills is still mostly considered a hobby or superfluous activity.

Education in any form of the arts requires learning by doing, which develops not only the cognitive side, but more importantly, the empathetic side of young people.

The arts of a society or community represents the totality of experiences, feelings, beliefs and values of its artists,

Art Outreach Children’s Programme in the Visual Thinking Lab at Gillman Barracks.

and by studying and appreciating these we are better able to understand and appreciate other cultures and practices. For today’s global citizen, this knowledge is necessary and invaluable in order to promote openness and foster a better understanding of different perspectives and ways of doing things.

In recent years, Singapore, as part of its Renaissance City Plan which aims to develop the island into a Global City of Arts, has taken many steps to integrate arts into the everyday and bring this into the realm of the person on the street. A wide range of activities and events are on offer in order to engage people from all ages and backgrounds to integrate the Arts into their lifestyles. This is perhaps more evident in the visual arts arena: the newly opened National Gallery, Gillman Barracks, Singapore Pinacothèque de Paris and the ArtScience Museum as well as the Singapore Biennale and multiple art fairs like Art Stage and Affordable Art Fair have opened up a whole new range of opportunities for the art enthusiast.

While there are numerous businesses and organisations that offer art enrichment to all ages in the private sector, one venture that has done commendable work in the area of teaching art appreciation is the not-for-profit charity, Art Outreach. Established in 2003, the charity provides a free art education programme to public schools in Singapore through portfolios that teach a wide

Art Outreach tour participants exploring “It Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time”, 2012 by Chun Kai Feng in FOST Gallery.

Image courtesy of the artist and FOST Gallery.

range of genres and subjects. With topics ranging from Chinese Symbolism to Mughal Miniatures and art media from public sculpture to print making, the charity has reached out to more than 350,000 children over the past 13 years. Fuelled by passionate school parents and independent volunteers, the charity’s outreach has covered a wide spectrum of local schools, teaching students (ranging from 8-16 year olds) about the world of art as part of an add-on session to schools’ existing art curricula.

During the Art after Dark event at the Gillman Barracks this January, Art Outreach is collaborating with Yeo Workshop, Singaporean artist Jack Tan and British dance artist Susan Sentler to produce a children’s parade as part of Tan’s work ‘Mythologies’, a lantern and flag installation

and parade. Taking inspiration from youkai, which are Japanese folkloric characters, Tan has created eight uniquely Singaporean characters.

Participating children from local schools will carry a unique youkai character and walk about the Gillman Barracks performing ‘blessing’ dances at selected sites. The purpose of the lantern parade is to bring children and families to experience and participate in contemporary art.

Art Outreach is passionate about promoting art appreciation in Singapore and will be hosting a number of workshops and tours for families and adults in the coming months. Participants will have an opportunity to explore contemporary art in the galleries of Gillman Barracks and then participate in an artist-led workshop where they will create their own artwork inspired by their experience.

For information on their upcoming programmes, please contact info@artoutreachsingapore.org

Durriya Dohadwala Durriya Dohadwala is an independent art writer based in Singapore and has been actively involved in the area of art appreciation for the last ten years. She is a docent at the Singapore Art Museum and a volunteer and Board Member at Art Outreach.

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Lee Kee An ”Dwelling for an Ecologist and Textile Artist”

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUS) YEAR TWO DESIGN STUDIO

DWELLINGS AT GILLMAN: HOMES FOR ARTISTS AND RESEARCHERS 12 Selected Models and Renderings from the NUS Year 2 Architecture students are on display at various locations in Gillman Barracks from 22 January - 22 February 2016.

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Part I - “The task of the architectural project is to reveal, through the transformation of form, the essence of the surrounding context.” (Vittorio Gregotti, b. 1927; Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture 2000, p. 132 (cited)) Architecture cannot separate itself from the time, place and conditions in which it exists. As suggested in the introductory quote by Vittorio Gregotti, one priority in design is to address the differing aspects of a place, i.e. its context. Ideally, a design addresses its context through a process of discovering its essence and, subsequently, engaging with it. In other words, a design engages with its context through the translation of contextual understandings into space and form.

Within the discipline of architecture, the word ‘context’ is not solely utilised to qualify the physical and the environmental factors influencing a design. It also qualifies the historical, cultural, experiential and social factors that influence it as well.

Comparable to language, where context implies understanding an entire statement as opposed to a single word, a broader understanding of context enables a designer to propose and enact more engaging translations. Ultimately, an ‘engaged translation’ can help a design transcend its immediate context to a broader one; beyond its material surroundings to the subjective, immaterial ones, as well.

This project is an opportunity to acquire a contextual understanding of a place to propose and enact design decisions. The contextual understanding comes from studying the immediate and distant, the material and immaterial aspects of a place as possible qualifications for form. Ultimately, the project is an occasion to recognize the essence of the surrounding context.

Top: Dwelling for a Lantern Artist and Botanist by Tan Wei Chuan.

Bottom: Dwelling for a Textile Artist and Entomologist by Muhd Aditya bin Mohd Rosli.

Gillman Barracks is the subject of the creation of a set of spatial rules or design guidelines. These design guidelines highlight the essential characteristics of the site and its broader context.

Each Year Two Design Studio section has created their own design guidelines based on the section’s site analysis. This entails three topics of study: site, context and experience. Each topic is undertaken by a group of three to four students from within a design section. Group assignments are determined by and amongst the students of a section or by section tutors. Each topic group studies their respective topic through field and scholarly research.

Initially, each topic group analyses the site through a series of descriptive diagrams that identify and document their respective topic. The initial series of diagrams is then further analysed through a series of interpretative diagrams to understand the concepts or situations discovered in the initial analysis. Then, each design section composes a comprehensive document of Gillman Barracks featuring the three topics of study. In the end, the comprehensive document will serve as the design guidelines for a ‘formal intervention’ within Gillman Barracks.

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The parameters for the design guidelines are defined by two essential questions related to recognising and discovering the essence of the Gillman Barracks. These are:

• What are the phenomena, forms and rituals of the Gillman Barracks that a proposed formal intervention can contribute or relate to?

• What are the phenomena, forms and rituals of the Gillman Barracks that can affect the form and the programme of a proposed design intervention?

“Multiple pathways and experiences, one shared destination unified through art.”

Top left: Vignette by Sean Poon Left/Above: Dwellings for a Textile Artist and Anthropologist by Sean Poon

Year Two Design Co-ordinators Dr. Lilian Chee and Mr. Roland Sharpe Flores, RA Year Two Design Studio Tutors Mr. Adrian Lai, Mr. Chaw Chi Wen, Mr. David Thomas, Ms. Esther Wong, Ms. Yen Goh, Ms. Gyn Kong, Mr. Looi Chee Kin, Ms. Samant Swinal Ravindranath, Ms. Sio Lim, Prof. Teh Kem Jin, Mr. Tiah Nan Chyuan Exhibition Liaison Ms. Yen Goh, with student leaders Mr Sean Poon and Mr Muhammad Aditya B Mohamed R Supporting Sponsor: UOL Group Limited

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Part II - “Rooms must suggest their use without a name.” (Louis I. Kahn 19011974; ‘The Room, the Street, and Human Agreement’; Architecture: Silence and Light’) A seminal challenge and opportunity in architectural design is the translation of distinctive traits or characteristics of activity into space, form, and material. Recognising and fostering the characteristic rituals of everyday life vis-à-vis architectural design involves embellishing a space or a series of spaces beyond mere utility. Spaces can nurture and guide an inhabitant’s identity and perceptions even while accommodating their actions, evolving from objects to experiences.

Along with nurturing the inhabitants within it, spaces also situate their inhabitants within a setting. In other words, as noted by Gaston Bachelard, our dwelling is our corner; not apart from the world but “in the world.” A dwelling is an extension into and an interface with its immediate context.

Part II of the project was an opportunity for the students to explore the translation of distinctive traits or characteristics of activity into space, form, and material. On a personal level, the translation of

distinctive traits or characteristics of an individual serve as the basis for the design of a dwelling. On a communal scale, the translation of distinctive traits or characteristics of a setting serve as the basis for designing the dwelling within a particular context.

Specifically, the contextual analysis of Part I serves as the basis for the communal scale design of a shared dwelling for a researcher and a fine artist at Gillman Barracks. The analysis highlights and provides the distinctive traits or characteristics of Gillman Barracks that the dwelling’s design needs to address with regards to site, context and experience.

On a personal scale, the translation of distinctive keywords associated with characteristic activities of a particular researcher or fine artist determine the dwelling’s design.

The design parameters eventually calls for a selection of one researcher and one fine artist and their associated keywords from the list as follows:

• Anthropologist – Grouping • Botanist – Ordering • Ceramic Artist – Coiling • Dendrologist – Branching • Glass Artist – Ribbing • Geographer – Mapping • Ecologist – Connecting • Entomologist – Trapping • Land Artist – Stacking • Lantern Artist – Projecting • Printmaker – Engraving • Textile Artist – Stitching Top left: Vignette by Tay Min Bottom: Dwelling for a Lantern Artist and Dendrologist by Tay Pei Yun

Yen Goh, Shadowgap Suite Yen Goh is a Qualified Architect who graduated from the School of Design and Environment NUS, in 2002. Besides being involved in the industry, with projects ranging from master planning to commercial, residential and mixed-use developments, she currently teaches design at NUS, Glasgow School of Arts and Temasek Polytechnic, also facilitating Civic Education trails and Social Innovation workshops. Yen is part of StandUpFor.SG that runs projects that matter to Singapore. As Co-Founder of Shadowgap Suite, Yen is currently working on a book project and shared these experiences recently at TEDxYouth2014.

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ART PATRONS AT HOME

By Danielle Yong

Art collectors may come in all shapes and sizes but when it comes to why they collect, there are only two camps: those who buy art for investment, and those who buy for passion.

The Nijkerks fall squarely into the latter category. To speak to this couple about their collection is to take a tour through their personal histories. Each piece represents a memory, a place or a feeling.

The couple say they employ no strategy when acquiring art. What they look for are pieces that appeal to them on a personal level. Lauren agrees empathically with her husband when he says the whole concept of art is to enjoy it. “Is art decoration or is it just art?” asks Richard, before In Lauren and Richard Nijkerk’s apartment in Singapore, art concluding: “It is both.” is everywhere – hanging on walls, against tables, mounted on plinths. At one point I’m unsure whether I’m seated Artwork Lauren bought in her twenties is still hanging in one on a chair or propped against a priceless sculpture. It is, of their homes, as are pieces inherited from their parents. however, tastefully displayed and very much a home.

For the Nijkerks, buying art boils down to whether they love

Left to right:

Gregor Hildebrandt

Hiroshi Senju

Sarah Bostwick

“Take me in your arms”, 2015

“Waterfall”, 2014

“Mayes Lumber #3”, 2013

Ink Jet Print, Plastic Boxes in Wooden Case

Acrylic & Fluorescent Pigment on Japanese Mulberry Paper

Ebonized Cherry Wood

159 x 111 cm

162 x 162 cm

130 x 195 x 11.5 cm

Tadashi Kawamata “Favela in Ghent”, 2012 Maquette on Wood Panel 100 x 153 cm

it or not. “If you consider art fun, if it makes your life fun, you should not have a strategy,” explains Richard.

Since their arrival from Brussels more than a year ago, the Nijkerks have thrown themselves into the local arts scene, opening their home to both artists and collectors. They host regular events for various organisations so guests can view their collection. The point of collecting art is to allow the artworks to be seen “because it’s good for the artists,” says Lauren.

Art patrons do more than collect art: they also fuel progress in the art world. And nowhere is this forward momentum needed more than in emerging arts markets. Lauren is a big proponent of local art and describes the Singapore arts scene as being in the toddler phase: full of promise and youthful exuberance.

The ubiquity of young people is a good sign, she believes.

“Where there are young people, there is a bright future.”

She is closely involved with the Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI), a local non-profit art institution that pioneers contemporary art practices. Part creative workshop, part gallery, STPI has, in Lauren’s words, “put Singapore on the international [arts] map.” As a Friend of STPI, Lauren initiated a fundraising initiative that raised $550,000 a fact gleaned from Audrey Yeo, owner of Yeo Workshop – and one that Lauren downplays.

When the Nijkerks says they don’t like safe art, they mean it.

By the entrance, a Tony Oursler installation greets guests. Like many of the pieces in their home, the Oursler work is ‘crossplatform’: part video, part sculpture. Mixed media, says Lauren, is a common theme in their collection.

In the master bedroom, a striking piece by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata grabs my attention. The artwork is a marquette (or scale model) of a favela erected in Ghent, Belgium. The Tōhoku tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011 features heavily in Kawamata’s work, a topic that resonates with the Nijkerks. When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit, the couple were holidaying in Phuket with their family.

Kangxi Export Porcelain (17th-18th Century)

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The couple were actively involved in a recovery project known as ‘The Building International Bridges’ programme which placed high school children from the hardest-hit areas in Northern Japan on an exchange programme with Belgium schools. The point of it was to give young victims of natural disasters a way to look forward. “We knew we had to do something,”says Lauren matter-of-factly.

Their collection is not just about pretty things. A black-faced Statue of Liberty by New Orleans artist Ti-Rock Moore takes pride of place in the TV lounge. Galleries that show her work (including a full-sized sculpture of Michael Brown, whose death incited the Ferguson riots last year) have been subject to threats. This provocative piece in the Nijkerk’s home is a statement on white privilege, an issue Lauren believes needs airing.

“Art has always been a medium to convey political ideas,” she says.

“Even the work of the Dutch masters were controversial in their time.”

What comes across in conversation is that collecting art is a real passion project for this pair of art patrons. True to form, they have only sold two paintings in the last twenty years. Even without cataloguing their entire collection it is apparent this is a drop in the ocean. Their approach to art gives me cause for optimism. For as long as collectors like the Nijkerks exist, art will thrive.

Left to Right

Ti- Rock Moore

Ken Matsubara

Ti-Rock Moore

Ti-Rock Moore

“Privilege Fatigue”, 2015

“Paper in the Wind”, 2014 edition 1/10

“Minstrelsy”, 2015

“Black on Black”, 2015

Wood, Acrylic, Paint and Neon Light

Video, Book, Projector

Resin

Wood, US Flag, Lacquer, Acrylic

61 x 36 inches

37 x 26.5 x 5.7 cm

37 x 63 inches

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Tony Oursler “Filament�, 2009 Video Projection on Wood, Fibreglass and Paint 73 x 32 x 26 cm

Danielle Yong Danielle Yong has lived and worked in four countries but now calls Singapore home. A freelance writer covering lifestyle and travel, her articles have appeared in various print publications including travel trade and inflight magazines.

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CONTEMPORARY ART INTERESTS

ARTIST QUYNH DONG ON “ASIAN POP CLICHÉ”

Quynh Dong Late Autumn, 2015 Video, 1920 x 1080, 11min 22

Quynh Dong (b. Hai Phong, Vietnam, 1982) is a Vietnamese Contemporary artist who creates sculptures and performances for video. Her hyper-real video works provide an innate platform upon which she deliberately challenges cultural stereotypes. Her work questions representation and revitalises the notion of a cliché aesthetic.

Deriving the title of the exhibition from the 1986 television series ‘Journey to the West’, her work introduces us to a selection of varying realities. The contextualised setting of each piece is independently created and digitally enhanced to promote a reconstructed understanding of what is real; an exaggerated setting at the threshold of emotional overload.

She studied Fine Arts at Bern University of the Arts, and completed her MA in Fine Arts at Zurich University of the Arts. She has exhibited at Kunsthalle Bern, Galerie Perotin in Paris, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, and Galerie Bernhard Bischoff & Partner in Barcelona.

“Long Journey” is showing at Yeo Workshop, Gillman Barracks, Block 1, Singapore 108932, from 19 January – 28 February 2016.

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Top: Quynh Dong My Paradise, 2012 Video Installation, 1920 x 1080, 14min 32

Bottom: Quynh Dong Sweet Noel Performance and Video Installation, 1920 x 1080, 7min 39

Exhibition Fabrication by

6242 2339 admin@indcreative.com

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THE ARTIST STUDIO IN SINGAPORE A transcription of a Lunchtime Art Talk Programme held on Saturday 24 October 2015, 12 – 1pm @ Yeo Workshop, Gillman Barracks Block 1, Singapore 108932, in conjunction with a solo exhibition by Mike HJ Chang ‘Dog and Butterfly’, shown from 18 September – 15 November 2015

THE ARTIST STUDIO IN CONTEXT Two artists, Ian Woo (IW) and Mike Chang (MC), talk about their artist’s studio, habits and techniques for creating artwork.

IAN WOO

MIKE HJ CHANG

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MC: I don’t know how I arrived at this way of working. I can’t really remember how I started. I’ve always used a lot of different mediums and motifs. What’s more important for me is to work quickly. I take a picture and then try to make a drawing out of it. If I don’t like it, I’ll do something else.

The idea of working quickly enables me to make lots of work.

Sometimes, creating too much helps me break my own way of thinking. I just start making works, and through that, new works create a new feeling. I like using different mediums because it relates to fragmented moments. Sometimes I feel happy, so I do one thing; other times I feel sad, so I do another. Sometimes I feel like spending 20 hours on one work and on the next spend only five minutes. It’s a way of figuring out all things that are happening around you: all feelings and moments.

What worries me most is how to put a drawing next to a photograph and make sense of it. How do I make sense of this representation and not another? It’s a thought exercise and at the end I reach some kind of conclusion about how these works may work together. I like the looseness of seeing things this way because it generates other things.

IW: You speak about this notion of ‘looseness’ in your work, an attitude of ‘not thinking too much’. It’s almost like playing a game of cat and mouse with what you are making. Can you elaborate on that idea?

MC: I think too much. What is important is that drawing is thinking. In my head I believe I think in words. Our minds are text-oriented, but drawing enables those voices, that ‘textuality’ to disappear. I find it very quiet and I enjoy that.

I find that I do work that is quick, very simple, with a focus on gesture. Whether it makes sense or not, it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes it’s about telling a joke, being funny, being angry. Sometimes all those things can be represented in a quicker form of thinking. It’s about finding a story I want to tell and finding ways to explain it.

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be earned by painterly corrections, overlapping and erasing.

The first time I saw his painting, I hated it; I was disappointed.

I felt he lacked confidence in painting, the strokes were tentative and reflected doubt. He’d correct certain things within the work such as a figure in which he painted over and left traces of the adjustments. It bothered me for a week so I went back to see it again and I fell in love with it. He was searching for something. I think Mike is also talking about that kind of search. He goes and creates drawing that is fantastic.

The feeling of making ‘fantastic’; the feeling of traveling while making it is ‘fantastic’; the resolution is ‘fantastic’; the feeling of resolution is ‘fantastic’; the look of the work is ‘fantastic’.

Guston leaves and comes back the next day crawling into the studio with fear. What he sees will be a true test of whether the work is a success or not. We know so much about the work but yet at some point, we don’t want to know. We need to be a stranger again.

John Cage is a composer who spoke of the rationale of a studio. As artists, we carry with us a huge amount of art history.

Your loved ones, your family, your double and triple lives; and then you’ve got the history. Ultimately Cage was talking about how we need to get to the point where everything disappears.

Removing oneself by working.

MC: Yes, I think the studio is a site where you decide what you want to leave out and what you want to bring in. How do you decide what to bring in? I find it harder to go in when I’m feeling a lot of things. I can’t sit there. My best solution is to take a nap, then wake up and do my work.

IW: I used to do the same. I’d come home from work and I’d arrive at the studio, I’d sleep because I’d be so tired. I’d then get up and look at the work with fresh eyes. You play the game of trying not to focus on the familiar. The best way is to walk around and get excited about your surroundings - make some tea, read a book and strain out your time. I find ways to prolong the time it takes me to start working.

IW: You refer to drawing as a way of thinking. Perhaps thinking can be associated with the idea of planning before

MC: It’s a habit, a practice, getting yourself ready. It’s confusing. You’re not getting paid to go in. It’s not exactly for

you make a work.

the work. It’s very personal; it’s very private.

MC: Certain artists plan things because they want to achieve a certain outcome. A lot of the time they arrive at this outcome very directly. When I do that, I realise the outcome I reach is quite empty; it doesn’t have the substance I want. I tend to find a sketch a lot more exciting because it’s not finished and it’s quite ugly. For this show, for instance, I convinced myself that it is OK to have all these unfinished works in a show.

During this show, I prepared two weeks in advance before installing. I usually have a lot of things lying around in the studio and I tend to play around with them. I found a pink sponge. Something about it changed everything. I had the biggest doubt about whether this would work. I was having a hard time convincing myself that what I’ve been working on for the last few months were right. When this moment happened I tried to tell myself to not overthink it. Just sleep and wake up the next day and see it again. It’s about removing yourself from the space and then going in again and again.

IW: In reference to the notion of creating works in a particular moment in time, and its completeness, there are different types of artists that find different ways of accepting it.

Philip Guston, an abstract painter of the 50s, painted a figurative painting, inspired by caricatures. There was a period where he was in search of a kind of image that was to

IW: We can say that you construct everything yourself. Do you think that the quality of the homemade correlates to the language you are presenting here?

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SAC WO R K B O O K MC: I do it so I wouldn’t know. How do you remove yourself? How do you create the distance from your studio or from your work? How do you reflect on something you’re too involved in? You can’t. Maybe a couple years down the line I’ll know what I’m doing. Just give me some time.

IW: Does having a solo exhibition here mean that you’ve emptied out your studio or do you still have works there?

MC: For this show, most of the drawings on the wall were taken off my studio wall. During the installation my wall was empty. Now it’s back. I do switch the work around. If I could have a new studio every month it would be great.

IW: I think sometimes to clean your studio or spend time organising it is very important. It gives you the chance to think over your practice. In my studio, one painting faces me while all others face the wall. They have no identity so I see them as separate units. I don’t see them as a series. In your case I’m sure seeing your work in the context of the gallery is a very different thing. Do you see a sequence there.

MC: Putting work in a different space is really nerve-racking. Even if it’s just a painting on the wall. In some ways, having an installation as my studio helped because I knew what it would look like.

IW: The real world has so many things you can’t control. What happens to beauty when such things challenge and provoke our sense of art?

Born in Singapore in 1967, Ian Woo is a painter working in the language of abstraction with an interest in painting’s inherent ability to suggest modes of representation. Woo began his studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) in 1991. He received a Masters in European Fine Art at the Winchester School of Art (UK) in 1995 and a research practice DFA with RMIT University (Australia) in 2006.

In 1999, Woo was the recipient of the UOB Painting of the Year award in the Abstract category. He was also the Juror’s Choice for two consecutive years in South East Asia’s Philip Morris Award in 1999 and 2000. His Doctorate research was based on the language of abstract painting, which possesses the ability to express notions of a continuous presence.

Woo’s first solo exhibition “Mental Images” was held at the LASALLE Gallery in Singapore in 2000.

Recent solo exhibitions include “The Difference Between Your Mountain and My Couch” at 8/ Tomio Koyama Gallery Tokyo (2014) and “Ian Woo: A Review 1995 – 2011” at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (2011). Selected recent group exhibitions include “ A Drawing Show” at Yeo Workshop, Singapore (2014), “Market Forces - Erasure: From Conceptualism To Abstraction” at Osage Gallery, Hong Kong (2014), “Island Vernacular” at Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth University, UK (2013) and “Encounter: The Royal Academy in Asia” at Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (2012). His works are in the collection of major institutions such as ABN AMRO, Singapore Art Museum, The Istana Singapore, The National Art Gallery Singapore, UBS, and the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, USA. Woo’s paintings were recently featured in the publication “Art of the New Cities: 21st Century AvantGardes”, a publication by Phaidon 2013. He is currently Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the LASALLE College of Arts in Singapore.

Mike HJ Chang is a Taiwanese American who received his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles then his MFA from California Institute of the Arts. Chang now lives and works as an educator in Singapore. For his art practice, Chang often utilizes autobiographical information as the basis of narrative exploration. Employing architectural elements, furniture, and text, his recent works focus on exploring the notion of temporary identity in the space where the public and the private intersect. The results are sometimes humorous, sometimes pathetic, and sometimes selfrighteous.

His recent works, idiosyncratically, examines the relationship between “the clean” (quiet, orderly state) and “the generic” (empty, ego-less, memory-less).

Chang was a resident artist at Redgate Gallery in Beijing in 2006. He was awarded The California Institute of the Arts Interdisciplinary Grant to go to Nauru to shoot his MFA thesis video Horizon, or Do Fish Drink Water in 2007. In June 2012 he was the artist in resident at The Artist Village’s Pulau Ubin Artist Residency. Chang was commissioned for the entrance artwork at Art Stage Singapore 2015 under the curatorial direction of curator Khim Ong. He had his debut solo exhibition at Yeo Workshop in September 2015. He is now the resident artist at Nanyang Girls High School, Singapore.

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A transcription of a Lunchtime Art Talk Programme held on Saturday 24 October 2015, 2 – 3.30pm @ Yeo Workshop, Gillman Barracks Block 1, Singapore 108932, in conjunction with a solo exhibition by Mike HJ Chang ‘Dog and Butterfly’, shown from 18 September – 15 November 2015

URBANIZATION & SPACE CONSTRAINT: TECHNIQUES FOR AN ARTIST’S STUDIO A panel discussion targeting the conditions of artists’ production and their studios in Singapore.

Moderated by Randy Chan (RC), Principal Architect of Zarch Collaboratives and Creative Director of Singapore InsideOut, complemented by artists Loke Hong Seng (LHS), Photographer, Merryn Trevethan (MT), Artist-In-Residence at House Under Four Flags (HUFF) Studio, and Marcin Dudek (MD) (Artist via Skype).

RANDY CHAN

MERRYN TREVETHAN

LOKE HONG SENG

MARCIN DUDEK

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RC: In Chinese, when we say ‘Xin Jia Po’, ‘Xin’ means new. How do we think about our “tabula rasa,” our attitude when we talk about art production? Over the years you can see there has been a condensation of space, building more roads and more housing. But I’ll begin with what happened to our arts community. If we want to dwell on a moment in history I would point to an artist’s village, which focused on artist’s production on the outskirts of Singapore. The Substation, and the oldschool. Now we have a new narrative, a new city. Singapore is thought of as a smart city but in the new narrative where do artists play a role? Merryn would you like to share with the audience some comments about your art practice?

MT: When I came here I was very interested in how vertical the landscape is. I have a studio at home in my lounge, and since I got here I’ve been working directly from there. I start with layers of observational drawings, and it’s been interesting because although I’ve had less space, I’ve been able to work directly with the cityscape. It’s caused me to change the way I work, and the direction of my art practice. I also do big wall paintings; painting beyond the canvas with works that wrap around spaces. So there are different aspects to my practice.

RC: So on that note, Marcin you have probably heard about what Merryn has done to your work, House Under Four Flags (HUFF). Maybe you could share a bit on your stay in Singapore.

What made you want to create this work?

MD: First I’d like to start with an introduction to my background, and why the studio space is actually part of my practice.

I come from Poland. I grew up in council estates, in a very large architectural project; very common architecture spanning across cities. Secondly, what links me to the artist’s studio is the lack of space itself. Constructing an artist’s studio came as a reaction to reduced space in Singapore. I stopped referring to an artist’s studio as a classical white cube or space for production, but rather saw it as a mobile project in itself.

The first incarnation of the studio was in White Chapel on the roof of the building. The studio lasted eight months and was destroyed when White Chapel was gentrified in 2012. It was constructed using separate panels so it could be dismantled and moved to a new location. It was improvisational; trying to be flexible at the same time as well as competing with the need for a space to work in. Following its dismantle, it was initially put in storage for a year before being reassembled and revealed as an exhibition space. It progressed in nature and transformed into a space for exhibiting artworks. The studio ended up being classified as a sculpture so it became acknowledged as an artwork in itself. Eventually the artwork was destroyed so it completed a full cycle.

The second incarnation, or rather new project, was built outside Yeo Workshop. Singapore is a perfect place to initiate a new project. What was very interesting about it was that it posed a challenge. It kept labour and its construction on the street.

LHS: Well during the time - by my time I mean 1963 - I owned my first camera. During those times, owning a camera was a very difficult thing. To own a camera cost $370, and that was the cheapest Super Flex. For construction workers, $70 would be an average salary. If you became a teacher you could earn $170 a month. How could you own a camera of $375, nearly $400? I am lucky my brother could buy a camera. I used his camera to start my practice. From then on it became my hobby. At the time, I was employed as a radio broadcaster so I eventually saved some money to buy myself a good camera that had three German lenses of high quality. Pasar Malam for instance, is a very successful picture. Once I took that picture, I gained confidence. I thought to myself- I can take pictures on the street. After that my wishes, my freedom, my time, was spent searching around to document Singapore.

RC: The three artists reflect time and place within their practice especially in the context of Singapore, where the rate of change is incredible. Mr Loke, how do you define the role of an artist?

LHS: Throughout my practice, I have never expected anything in return. What is most important is to express my own point of view. Street photography has no subject. You may walk by today, or tomorrow, or a month later, and see the seasons are changing; people are changing, especially Singaporeans. I saw the boats - from rowing boats to motorboats - and even before that, I saw the kampong. That shows how Singapore is changing.

RC: Merryn, how do you see change in your work? There are a lot of silhouettes. What do they mean to you, in terms of your stay here?

MT: My practice deals a lot with the uncertainty of perception.

I may start with observational drawings but each time I look at something I see it in a slightly different way. A good example of constant change is that there was a building that was being constructed as part of my view. I started observational drawings where two cranes could be seen. Every five minutes I would do a sketch of the crane in a slightly different position. I then started to layer all those drawings together in a painting. I feel that I’ve almost recorded that change by actively observing.

RC: If the building is demolished, do you tear it out of your cityscape?

MT: No because it was there when I observed it the first time.

But I like my work to convey a sense of flux, so I guess that is a response to that constant change.

RC: And Marcin, you create and you destroy. What does the act of you building things, dismantling the artwork and then reconstructing it in a different city, mean? What were you trying to reconcile with this?

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MD: When you go back to the city about 3-4 months later you don’t recognise it anymore. It’s a new constellation that appears in front of you. The artist’s studio that I create and then destroy is like a metaphor of the city’s landscape, or the process of gentrification that happens all over. My entire process goes to show how vulnerable art and the studio is. Above all I think it’s a challenge. The studio goes beyond production. It is a building in itself, and a building within a district. So it is interesting to analyse the construction of, the perception of space and then the destruction of it.

RC: What do you think the role of an artist is in the present day, and how does he react to his environment?

MT: There are lots of different roles that an artist can play. My work is my response and it’s quite personal. The work becomes a memory of time. It’s about presence; being in the moment, and responding to what’s around us.

MD: What I mostly want to show is the attitude; the attitude of taking care of your own production, the anti-readymade. To create your own artwork frames- to find the wood you would like hang on your wall, or even construct your own studio. I think it is very important to think about what physicality lies behind every artwork; behind every object we encounter in our everyday lives.

LHS: I think the most important thing is to keep up with the time. Your artwork, your photograph, everything today uses the digital.

Nobody will go back to analogue film like in my time. We got a square format, 135mm, 30 lens or fixed lens, and there was no zoom. Manufacturers eventually produced a prime lens and of course a zoom. Nowadays we need to do something to reflect society. We need to keep changing. That is very important. Someone asked me “Why do you no longer take photographs?” My answer was, “Because it got boring. It is fixed to modern society.”

Today I use my digital camera and mobile phone to take photos. I was asked, “Do you take any aspects of Singapore?” I said, “Yes. If you go to the people, and befriend them, they become your subjects.” That is a century’s documentation.

Randy Chan is an award-winning architect and artist. Chan’s architectural and design experience crosses multiple fields and scales, all guided by the simple philosophy that architecture and aesthetics are part of the same impulse. Chan is the principal of Zarch Collaboratives - one of Singapore’s leading architectural studios established in 1999. In 2015, he was the Creative Director for Singapore InsideOut, Singapore Tourism Board project that travelled to Beijing, New York, London and Singapore.

Loke Hong Seng was born in Singapore in 1943. Part of Singapore’s pioneer generation, Loke graduated from Chung Cheng High School in 1960 and was hired by the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation as an announcer in 1965 where he produced numerous Radio Dramas in Mandarin and Cantonese. Loke Hong Seng had an exhibition in 2015 for SG50 Celebrations at Gillman Barracks, which marked his debut showing of images taken of modern Singapore 40 years ago.

Merryn Trevethan (b. 1976) is an Australian artist based in Singapore. She completed her MFA at Monash University, Melbourne in 2005. Since then she has exhibited widely in Australia and has participated in residencies at both Point B Worklodge, in Williamsburg, New York (2011), and at Red Gate Gallery - International Artist Residency Programme, Beijing, China (2009).

Marcin Dudek (1979, Krakow) studied at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, and at the University of Art Mozarteum, Salzburg. His work often broaches on the concept of space, using sculptures and installations to investigate the way we interact and respond to the environments we live, work and learn in. Marcin Dudek is represented by Edel Assanti, London, Harlan Levy Projects in Warsaw Poland and Yeo Workshop in Singapore.

About Yeo Workshop Yeo Workshop is a commercial art gallery with a strong focus on community and education. It organizes a bi-monthly schedule of engaging and relevant talk programmes for artists and audiences to interact with contemporary art. These talks are also open to members of the Arnoldii Arts Club. The Arnoldii Arts Club is an elite association whereby gallery tours and artist engagement opportunities are organized for its subscribers.

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MATTHEW PENN’S SENSE OF LIGHT – ERCO LIGHTING AND ART

Portrait of an Unknown Man in Oil: His skin shows delicate nuances in colour – tiny wrinkles, pores, each hair, silvery stubbles stand out from darker parts of the face in almost three-dimensional reality. More precise, it seems, than a photo, the whole image appears to be emerging from the deep black of the background. The use of bold contrasts between light and dark elements of a picture – known as

ONE MUST UNDERSTAND:THE LIGHT IS PART OF THE ART the “chiaroscuro” effect – is a technique which was commonly employed in art in the late Renaissance period and in Baroque. It was very popular with painters such as Caravaggio, Tizian or Rembrandt.

26-year-old British artist Matthew Penn uses this approach to enhance the whole aspect of his photo-realistic portraits and their spatial effect. His artistic skills, precision and sculptural compositions are impressive, to say the least – all the more in light of the fact that Penn is a self-taught “hyper-realist”. From an early age, the artist found a strict teacher in his grandfather, a painting restorer: The latter agreed to let his grandson in on the secrets and techniques of painting with oil only after Matthew had trained his talent for painting with great diligence in nature. A classic didactic sequence, in fact, and in earlier centuries by no means an exception, yet at many art schools today the studying of surface textures, colours and light moods in every minutiae is an often neglected aspect. For Matthew Penn’s development as an artist, however, it was crucial.

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Talking to Penn, one soon gets the impression that this artist leaves nothing to chance. This applies to his artwork as much as to his studio, which he designed in every detail to suit his requirements. Penn has come to see the illumination of his paintings as an integral part of his art: “From now on, I won’t sell an artwork, unless someone uses ERCO lighting to light the picture. One must understand: the light is part of the art. Although it is not attached to it, it is part of the artwork. It gives the exact effect I desire,” he explains. “I will only use ERCO lighting because I believe it’s the best. Also, using LED lighting has the important advantage that there is no UV damage to the pictures and no heat damage either.”

Penn had come across the tools of the German specialist in architectural lighting around three years earlier. Today, he uses the spotlights throughout the painting process in his studio and for the final display of his art: “In the future I plan to exhibit only in a specially designed room where there is only black walls and no light from elsewhere and only ERCO lighting set up and precisely manipulated to point to certain areas of the pictures. In an exhibition environment we want to use sensor-controlled lighting, so when a person enters the room, the 3000 Kelvin ERCO Pollux comes on, slowly first, out of the dark and then the 4000 Kelvin spotlight comes on slowly so you get the feeling the picture is evolving right before your eyes. It comes to life. By this we can enhance the visual effects I have created as a painter, spotlighting, say, the forehead, the eyes, the chin and the shoulders of the portrayed person individually, so there are up to four of sets of lights involved to achieve this kind of effect.”

BY THIS WE CAN ENHANCE THE VISUAL EFFECTS I HAVE CREATED AS A PAINTER Penn paints only around ten or twelve portraits a year – his painting process requires utmost precision, patience and perseverance. In it, he follows his own style with the confidence and commitment of a true artist: “There are billions and billions of things you can do in the art world, an endless number of ideas and concepts that can be realised. But I am only interested in this tiny percentage, this one thing that I believe is the way that I should continue. There will always be these dark backgrounds in my work and the highlighted areas in the faces of the people I portray. By sticking to this principle, it will also give collectors the opportunity to see how I progress as an artist over the years within this defining set of rules.”

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LIFE AFTER DRIVE PUBLIC ART PROJECT

“...my work has continued to be inspired by an ever-changing cityscape.”

Merryn Trevethan “Accelerator City”, 2015 DRIVE Prize Winning Artwork, Gillman Barracks

Merryn Trevethan is an Australian artist currently based in Singapore. Her practice focuses on the uncertainty of perception and the complexity of vision. She completed her Masters of Fine Arts (Research) at Monash University, Australia in 2005, and has since then exhibited widely in Australia and internationally. Upon moving to Singapore she participated in DRIVE, a public arts festival based in Gillman Barracks. Her work, which partially encapsulated the side of a given facade, won the first prize.

Following her success, Trevethan has continued to complete additional residency programmes, including the Facebook artistin-residence programme, Singapore, and House Under Four Flags (HUFF).

HUFF is a sculptural work originally created by Polish artist Marcin Dudek. In reaction to a limited availability of space to work in within Singapore, Dudek decided to create his own artist’s studio. The artist’s studio was an objective, a condition offered to all practicing artists. It has since then been transformed, or rather adapted. Merryn Trevethan has idolised the space with her vibrant colours and eliminated the threshold between exterior and interior.

Merryn Trevethan “The Collapse...”, 2016

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House Under Four Flags (HUFF) Image courtesy of the artist & Jolyn Chin

“This year I have been involved in several group exhibitions including ‘The World Around Us’ presented

by Yeo Workshop at The American Club and Print Lab at Grey Projects in Sydney. In addition, my role as Artist Educator for GOLDEN Artist Colors (USA) has seen me teaching many workshops both in Melbourne and Singapore.

“The end of the year has seen me return to Gillman Barracks as an artist-in-residence at HUFF, The Outdoor Studio Installation Project. Over three months, the project aimed to transform the HUFF Outdoor Studio into a spatially ambiguous work that seeks to draw attention to the lack of logic in our perception. I will be building up elements using painting and other inventions to create an immersive environment that reminds us that vision is tricky and all too capable of deception. I have recently worked with Art Outreach Singapore, now also based in Gillman Barracks. We have hosted studio visits with parent volunteers and their children at HUFF followed by mono-printing workshops back at their studio headquarters. I will be running some workshops as part of my residency so keep an eye out for details. It has been a busy year full of exciting opportunities!”

In a short conversation with the artist, Trevethan shares what life is like after DRIVE. “For me, winning the DRIVE Public Art Festival was the perfect beginning to life in Singapore. It opened up many exciting opportunities for me here, the highlight of which has being invited to create a work for Facebook’s Singapore Headquarters at South Beach! During the summer of 2015, I was one of five commissioned artists welcomed to complete the Facebook artistin-residence programme. The brief was to create new artwork for their new offices in Singapore. My project introduced five large wall works that helped connect the different areas of the reception on the ground floor.

“After winning the DRIVE Prize, I was excited to have my work featured in Art Republik Magazine. Following a much-needed holiday, I settled back into creating new work in the studio for upcoming exhibitions. Informed by the view from my 12th floor studio, my work has continued to be inspired by an ever-changing cityscape.

“My first project after DRIVE was back in my hometown of Melbourne; a solo exhibition at Trocadero Artspace. I created an immersive installation combining wall and floor paintings, works on canvas and sculptural forms.

This project was inspired by my DRIVE artwork, extending the ideas further and translating this into a gallery context.

“Upon my return to Singapore in May, I was an artist-in-residence in GEMS World Academy for their 2015 Artweek. I led a collaborative project with students (parents and teachers) at the school to create several large paintings that reflected on the theme of the city. We created lots of colourful paintings during a really fun and challenging week.

Merryn Trevethan Artist-In-Residence Summer Commission, 2015 Facebook Headquarters, South Beach Tower

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TALKING ART WITH AMATEURS

By Danielle Yong

Pack away the awkward hellos. One couple has shown how Art can be a conversation starter.

Artwork pictured with the couple: Loke Hong Seng “Portrait, Teh Tarik Stall Owner”, 1972/2015 Digital Print on Archival Cotton Paper, Edition of 15

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Food and drink may be the Singaporean way to bond, but Christopher Y. Chan believes that by combining this with art, conversations can take on a different dimension. He astutely observes that art brings thoughts and ideas into sharper relief.

A lawyer by day, Christopher was lured to our sunny shores in pursuit of love and opportunity. His partner, Singapore local Bernise Ang, is a social entrepreneur who says she appreciates art, “though only at a layperson level.”

Shortly after relocating to Singapore from Washington, D.C., Christopher invested his time and money into forging a community of working professionals who share his passion for, amongst other things, provocative conversation and local art.

Every two to three months, the couple invites a group of between 40 to 50 people to participate in a privately hosted reception cum art salon in Gillman Barracks, Singapore’s contemporary art cluster. Past artists have included Loke Hong Seng, Merryn Trevethan and Mike HJ Chang. During these events, the hosts make deliberate attempts to steer conversation away from careers toward opinions.

By congregating around shared interests, Christopher has built a network that he considers both “influential and creative”, a feat he acknowledges is made easier by gallery owner Audrey Yeo’s willingness to facilitate his events at Yeo Workshop. “It’s an open and unpretentious setting,” he adds.

Getting to know you Christopher is an expat, one of 1.3 million economic migrants in Singapore, according to government data. As a migrant worker the entire span of my career, I relate to the sense of detachment that often sets in after a move. Far from a home base – wherever that may be – expats often seek solace in familiarity, which is also why a packet of crisps sells for $3.50 in expat haven Tanglin mall.

The art salons, Christopher admits, is a replica of events held in his home in Washington. But it does more than remind him of home; art has also given him a window into Singaporean society.

While Singapore (and more broadly Asian) society is often governed by narrow definitions of success, the “honest expression of an idea” is what Bernise considers most valuable in art. “What I relate to is the expression by the artist: a very pure and precious thing that occurs at a moment in time, in a particular context.”

Christopher agrees. Local art exhibitions – recent ones cited were S.K. Lo, John Chan, Winston Chai and Yen Phang – offer precious insight into the undercurrent of Singapore society. “Through art, I’ve seen a lot of different ways that people express themselves in a way that’s not expressed in the public sphere.”

What this couple has shown is that art appreciation is neither esoteric nor unattainable. At its worst, art is a conversation starter. At its best, a breeding ground for the next wave of intelligentsia. Somewhere in between, it is also a safe haven for expats to unravel their new environment. After all it doesn’t take much to say hello, I like your art; can we be friends?

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OLD & NEW - EAST & WEST

Culinary Interest in the Vicinity of Gillman Barracks

Whenever I travel, I find the measure of a new land in its taste preferences and its produce. In Singapore, the restaurant scene reflects the diversity of cultures between Southeast Asia, China, India mixed with colonial and Western influences, reflecting the trends and tastes of the times and people.

Within the vicinity of Gillman Barracks are two restaurants reflective of such interest. The old school multi-generational family-run Manhill Restaurant (the younger branch of Hillman Restaurant) has been serving Cantonese claypot specialties since 1973. The Wong family’s restaurants are steeped in history and famously won a gold medal for their boneless paper chicken dish in 1978 at the first Asian Salon Culinaire which was adjudicated by the legendary “Chef of the Century” Paul Bocuse. Wrapping small pieces of marinated chicken in wax paper before cooking ensures that as it steams, all of its juices are retained and the flavours concentrated. This cooking technique is similar to the French en papillote method of cooking – a fact I am sure was not lost on Mr. Bocuse.

Another favourite dish of mine at Manhill Restaurant is their pork liver claypot. I am generally not a fan of Asian liver dishes because it tends to be overcooked, giving it a tough, grainy and rubbery texture. However, the pork liver claypot dish at Manhill Restaurant was a revelation to me. The liver was not overcooked and still pink in the middle and tender; together with the honey-like savoury dark soy and ginger sauce, one bowl of rice was not enough!

On the other end of the spectrum is Naked Finn, which is situated inside Gillman Barracks. Naked Finn is a modern restaurant serving dishes inspired by local favourites and improving them by adopting Western cooking techniques and using high quality sustainably sourced ingredients.

Their much loved hae mee tng (prawn noodle soup) is one such dish. The concentrated umami rich prawn soup base is made by first frying the carefully selected wild-caught giant red shrimp (with heads and shells) before blending and simmering the ingredients in pork stock for seven hours. The technique of frying and blending of the shrimp heads and shells in the broth has long been used by the French when making a bisque.

On a recent visit to Naked Finn, we also tried their panfried barramundi fillet with kang kong and chilled piquant vermicelli. Coming from Australia, I have always been a big fan of barramundi. It’s a firm white flesh fish and I love it for its diversity because it can be pan-fried if you want that crispy skin or it will hold its shape and remain tender if braised in a curry. I was surprised to see barramundi on the menu as you normally do not see it often on menus outside of Australia. And I was even more surprised to learn that Ken Loon, the chef owner, uses locally sourced barramundi farms

by Kühlbarra in the oxygen-rich waters off the southern coast of Singapore. We also tried Ken’s take on the local fish soup which was light and fresh and his very tasty grilled baby squid which was perfect with the accompanying muscadet.

A final insider’s tip: if you like good wine but don’t like restaurant prices, you can often BYO corkage at a lot of local ‘zi char’ restaurants such as Manhill Restaurant.

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MANHILL RESTAURANT

99 Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore 118517 Tel: 6474 6835, Opening Hours: Daily 11:30 - 14:30, 17:30 - 22:30

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NAKED FINN

39 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 109442 Tel: 6694 0807, Opening Hours: Daily 12:00 - 15:00, 18:00 - 22:00

Irwin Hung Irwin Hung is Co-Founder of Catersmith, a catering logistics and services company that partners with top restaurants in Singapore to enable them to start and grow their own catering arm. In a previous life, Irwin was a corporate lawyer before leaving the law and training at the French Culinary Institute in New York. In his free time, he enjoys searching out off-the-beaten-track restaurants and street food, visiting art galleries and artist studios. www.catersmith.com.sg

IN THE VICINITY: LABRADOR PARK, KEPPEL BAY TOWARDS VIVOCITY

“If friendship entails the risk of witnessing the death of the other, and art is the possibility of attending to the transformation of another, then - perhaps - the only hope of friendship amidst artists lies in looking awry.”

JEREMY FERNANDO, LOCAL WRITER, SINGAPORE, 2016

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THE SAC TEAM

EDITOR

FINANCE

AUDREY YEO

JAYANT MITTER

EDITORIAL SUPPORT

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

DANIELLE YONG ANNI OATES

AHMAD ISKANDAR (AIPAD) SAC COLLATERAL BRANDING & DESIGN

ERIC FOENANDER

ESSAYS & WORDS

DANIELLE YONG MERRYN TREVETHAN IRWIN HUNG AUDREY YEO DURRIYA DOHADWALA YEN GOH EXHIBITION PRODUCED BY

COVER VIGNETTE

SEAN POON EXHIBITION FABRICATION

INDC

FILM DOCUMENTATION

THE ARNOLDII ARTS CLUB A PRODUCTION OF YEO WORKSHOP

MONOCHROMATIC PICTURES

PROJECT COORDINATION

BY PRINTING SOLUTIONS THOMAS WONG

PRINTED IN SINGAPORE

VERONICA NEO PRISCILLA TAN ANNI OATES

PAPER: PRIMA CRÈME SMOOTH, 80 GSM

EDITION OF 6,000

INTERN

JOLYN CHIN

Studio Images interspersed within are copyright Mike HJ Chang, Dog & Butterfly, 18 September - 15 November, Yeo Workshop This publication is published on the occasion of the exhibition: SINGAPORE ARTS CLUB, A GILLMAN BARRACKS WIDE PUBLIC ART PROJECT 22 January 2016 – 22 February 2016, Gillman Barracks, Singapore Presented by: Arnoldii Arts Club Copyright 2016, ARNOLDII ARTS CLUB, YEO WORKSHOP PTE LTD, the artists and the authors All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without the prior permission in writing from the publisher.

First published by: ARNOLDII ARTS CLUB 1 Lock Road #01-01 Singapore 108932 www.arnoldiiartsclub.com

PROGRAMMES

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16 – 17, 22 – 24 JANUARY 2016, 2PM – 4PM MONOPRINTING MANIA FOR KIDS WITH MERRYN TREVETHAN @ HOUSE UNDER FOUR FLAGS (HUFF) GILLMAN BARRACKS

19 JANUARY 2016, 9AM – 10.30AM “NEW MEDIA IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN CONTEMPORARY ART” SPEAKER: AUDREY YEO @ SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM

19 JANUARY 2016, 12.30PM – 1.30PM ART TALK “IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?” SPEAKER: ANNI OATES @ ARNOLDII ARTS CLUB

19 JANUARY 2016, 2.30PM – 4.30PM STREET LEGALSTENCIL AND SPRAY WORKSHOP WITH MERRYN TREVETHAN @ HOUSE UNDER FOUR FLAGS (HUFF) GILLMAN BARRACKS

23 JANUARY 2016, 11AM – 12PM ARTIST TALK “PERFORMING UTOPIAS/DYSTOPIAS IN THE PUBLIC SPHERES: ASIAN MYTHS, CLICHÉS AND SYMBOLISM”

BY ARTISTS JACK TAN, JOO CHOON LIN, QUYNH DONG AND MODERATED BY CURATOR KHIM ONG @ YEO WORKSHOP

GUIDED TOURS BY FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM, VARIOUS TIMES, @ BLOCK 9 GILLMAN BARRACKS

SPECIAL THANKS TO .ARTISTS’ FAMILY AND FRIENDS

SEAN LEE: FATHER - LEE CHEK SENG MOTHER - NG LEE ENG JOO CHOON LIN: LYON SIM ABBY L. KAHEI MARIO CHAN RAEHA (SALEHA) FUZZ LEE EUDORA RUSLI NICOLE DANIELLE FRANCIS EUGINIA TAN JIN WEN LI TESAR DARREN TESAR JACK TAN: CHOREOGRAPHER SUSAN SENTLER DESIGNERS DARIUS OU & MELVIN TAN FOST GALLERY SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERY SUSAN SENTLER: SAMANTHA YUE, ASSISTANT ABIGAIL HUAN, ASSISTANT LASALLE COLLEGE OF THE ARTS DEPARTMENT OF PERFORMING ARTS (DANCE) AND DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND ENVIRONMENT

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE: MUHD ADITYA B MOHD R RUTH YANG WEICHUAN TEO JINHAO TAN PEI YUN LIM YU HENG TAY MIN LEE KEE AN NG ZI FANG SEAN POON KEVIN KUAH LAI YANN TING INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD GILLMAN BARRACKS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL SINGAPORE TOURISM BOARD UOL GROUP LIMITED LASALLE COLLEGE OF THE ARTS SINGAPORE CHINESE GIRLS’ SCHOOL ART OUTREACH CORPORATE PARTNERS: CATERSMITHS ERCO THE ARTLING INDIVIDUALS: LUIS BARAHONA, ERCO CHING BAO LIN, EDB DURRIYA DOHADWALA, ART OUTREACH JONATHAN EU

VANESSA FERNANDEZ,LUSH 995FM/ 987FM DENNIS FOO, ST. JAMES HOLDINGS YEN GOH, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR NUS ARCHITECTURE TAMASINE HENDERSEN, LUSH 995FM ANNIE HSIEH, JTC IRWIN HUNG, CATERSMITHS ANGELINA KONRAD, ERCO TK LAI, INDC LOW ENG TEONG, NAC MABEL LUI, NAC GWEN PEW, TIMEOUT SINGAPORE ROLAND SHARPE, NUS ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT TEO YUK KOON, DTZ THOMAS WONG, PRINTING SOLUTION MICHAELA THERESE RICHARD & LAUREN NIJKERK CHRISTOPHER CHAN, REDMART FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM: DIANA SANTAGATA JULANE JONES ALESSANDRA DIAS DRIVE PUBLIC ART PROJECT 2015: BRYAN LOKE PHNG LI YING FAITH NG CHRISTOPHER ONG KIND STUDIOS CLASSIC CAR CLUB/ HERITAGE CAR CLUB BERNADETTE RANKIN, BONHAMS AUCTION HOUSE SUSIE QUEK, BONHAMS AUCTION HOUSE