Incubator run by Kimberly Shen and Sabrina Koh
By Vivyan Yeo

dblspce founders Kimberly Shen and Sabrina Koh. Image courtesy of dblspce.

Founded in 2021 by Kimberly Shen and Sabrina Koh, dblspce – pronounced as “double space” – is a creative laboratory for interdisciplinary encounters. At its core are two tailored programmes: one-to-one mentorship sessions and a residency for creative practitioners. Based in Peninsula Shopping Centre, its residency programme has hosted over 15 individuals and collectives with myriad artistic interests, including photography, paper-making, performing arts, writing and curating.

Beyond running dblspce, the two founders wear many hats. Kimberly is an arts practitioner, curator and Programme Leader in the Fine Art Programme at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), and Sabrina is an interdisciplinary artist and Vice Dean and Senior Lecturer in the Fine Art Programme at NAFA. In this conversation, I speak with them about their motivations for starting dblspce, the importance of interdisciplinary engagement, how their multi-hyphenated practices influence each other, and their most memorable residencies thus far.

dblspce residency with artist collective RejectsAsylum, July 2021. Images courtesy of dblspce.

What motivated you to collaborate and start dblspce?

We have long wanted to open a studio. In late 2020, we came across this amazing unit at Peninsula Shopping Centre, which supported our idea to launch an incubator for artists. Through dblspce’s programming, we hope to expand the possibilities of making, thinking and feeling in the local arts landscape.

Peninsula Shopping Centre is built on a historical site dating back to the early 19th century. How does this location complement dblspce’s residency programme?

Being situated in an older strata mall offers an unusual context and intervention to artistic practice. We are inspired by the rawness, the historical remnants in the space, and the shared layers of culture embedded within the building. These elements have been catalysts for our dblspce residents. The space also aims to shed light on artists’ processes, which are often not visible to the general public. Visitors and passersby to the mall – who may not be regular art goers – are able to observe and participate in each resident’s explorations and activations within dblspce.

Could you walk us through the typical process of working with residents, from running an open call for proposals to the execution of ideas?

We begin with launching an open call for proposals, and we meet all applicants to ensure a thorough and fair process. After deciding on the applicants who have best responded to the open call theme and topic, they are scheduled for the year. Unique to the residency are the dedicated mentoring and coaching sessions that facilitate deeper discussions with each resident about their practice.

dblspce residency with artists Sabrina Sng and Vanessa Toh, October 2021. Image courtesy of the artists.

Tell us about your experience beginning dblspce’s first residency cycle in 2021 with The Gathering, which included theatre practitioners Sabrina Sng and Vanessa Toh.

At our residency programme, they were motivated to forge connections with their individual and collective practices, and to seek alternatives and possibilities between performing and performance art. dblspce was a new and unfamiliar environment for them. As performers, their bodies defied movement within the rawness of the space. They gradually found momentum and presence within dblspce, culminating in their immersive site-specific experience, ‘Seeing Double’.

What strikes me about dblspce is that your mentorship and residency programmes are open to a wide range of formats. You have hosted art exhibitions, fitness sessions, open studios, discussions, movement pieces, gatherings and more. What is the importance of interdisciplinary engagement in your practice?

Interdisciplinary engagement grounds the ethos of dblspce, which seeks to develop shared and intersecting affinities, and create new artistic knowledge through crossing disciplines and acts of collaboration. Less motivated by artworks that are too certain or concrete, we are more drawn to the varied formats, unpredictable outcomes, and multiple readings or perspectives derived from the divergent practices that traverse through dblspce.

dblspce residency with artist Noor Iskandar, August 2021. Images courtesy of dblspce.

Seeing that your mentorship and residency programmes are not outcome-driven, how do you document and archive these exchanges?

Without being outcome-driven, dblspce offers the valuable opportunity for artists to play, explore, experiment, fail, revisit ideas in their sketchbook that have not been realised, or simply take a break from the momentum of their day-to-day expectations and responsibilities. The dblspce residents will regularly document their processes, and we have our own platforms to archive, document, and communicate the ongoing programmes. A big part of the residency involves our conversations with the residents. Often, this exchange of ideas is not tangible or demonstrated visibly. To a significant extent, the outcomes of each residency are shaped by these conversations.

“Without being outcome-driven, dblspce offers the valuable opportunity for artists to play, explore, experiment, fail, revisit ideas in their sketchbook that have not been realised, or simply take a break from the momentum of their day-to-day expectations and responsibilities.”

Both of you are multi-hyphenates. How do your experiences in education, art-making, management and curation inform your work at dblspce?

We regard each practitioner as an active learner and collaborator – open to exploring processes, creating dialogues, and exchanging ideas. We hope dblspce emerges as a safe space for quiet reflection, mediation, and rumination for arts practitioners.

On the flip side, in what ways does your time at dblspce influence your other practices?

Sabrina’s ongoing research looks at the role of the artist as facilitator in a multi-layered, paradoxical world, while Kimberly’s curatorial practice is imbued with feminist thinking and consciousness. Our time at dblspce engaging with our artists-in-residence contributes and opens up new contexts to our personal practices.

dblspce residency with artists Kar-men Cheng, Phoo Myet Che, Pearl and Syahrul Anuar, October 2022. Image courtesy of the artists.

Your second cycle of residencies this year concludes with 微 Wei Collective, comprising lighting designer Liu Yong Huay Faith and actor and writer Neo Hai Bin. How would you describe running this year’s cycle compared to the first cycle in 2021?

The first cycle was more inhibited; taking Peninsula Shopping Centre as the point of departure, the activations at dblspce were site-specific and contained. The second cycle’s residents engaged with ideas of body and space, gender and sexuality, image and text, and collaboration and collectivism, drawing rich, dynamic and diverse interpretations. We have also observed that the range of creative practitioners is varied – the first cycle required more deep diving, while the second cycle moved breadth-wise. In a sense, both cycles “stretched” differently.

Could you tell us about your most memorable residency or mentorship so far?

Sabrina: I would pick 微Wei collective – it was incredibly heartening to observe them as creative collaborators and life partners. It is clear that both Hai Bin and Yong Huay have such deep respect for each other’s art forms, and at the same time, they want to nourish each other’s practice and artistic being. As spouses, it is even more challenging to commit to a creative and collaborative practice. Their relationship is very endearing and humbling for me.

Kimberly: Artists Kar-men Cheng, Syahrul Anuar and cultural producer Phoo Myet Che applied as individual applicants. We observed intersections in their research and practice and offered them a co-residency. As three strangers, they came together and had incredible synergy and collaborative spirit. They befriended the mall’s eclectic tenants during the residency and created a fantasy photo booth, where their interactions deliberated on ideas of aesthetics and attitudes of the everyday person. During their residency, dblspce became a friendly gathering place. Art appeared welcoming and less intimidating in these conversations and interactions. Through collaborations and unexpected encounters across disciplines during the residency, we hope to reframe the ways we speak about and make art.

dblspce residency with artists Sean’s Bookshop and Taufiq Rahman, August 2022. Image courtesy of dblspce.

What are the challenges of running dblspce, and how have you overcome them?

As cliché as this sounds, we always wish we had more time. So, we have learnt to work around time, and with time. It is important that we do not lose our core motivation for what we do, so every session spent at dblspce, with or without the residents, is precious.

What keeps you going, and what is in store for 2023?

They are the residents, community, and people who have contributed to dblspce in their own ways. We are moved when the dblspce residents gain new ground in their practice, and perhaps one day, they might pay this gesture – a space for thinking and making – forward. It shows us there is a purpose for a space like dblspce in today’s time. In 2023, we hope to grow and expand our programming for more collaborative opportunities with diverse sectors and fields.