6th Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission
By A&M

Shilpa Gupta is a Mumbai-based artist whose practice reckons with questions of identity and power structures. Working in sculpture, sound, text, and web-based game, she uses her art to tackle sensitive topics such as national and class barriers, creating opportunities for nuanced dialogue and empathy. Shilpa’s works have been shown in leading international institutions and museums such as Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Serpentine Gallery, Mori Art Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Ishara Art Foundation, and Kiran Nadar Museum, among others.

For the National Gallery Singapore’s Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission, Shilpa has created ‘Untitled’ (2023). The monumental inflatable sculpture takes the form of two bodies in dynamic movement, recalling poses from sports such as wrestling. It stands on its head, with limbs pointed towards the city skyline. Made of a soft vinyl-coated polyester, ‘Untitled’ is made so that it can be touched, especially encouraging interaction and play from children.

In this conversation, the artist speaks about her approach to the commission, the choice of working with an inflatable medium, as well as Artivities, the children’s book which accompanies the exhibition.

Shilpa Gupta, ‘Untitled’, 2023. Commissioned by National Gallery Singapore for the 6th Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission. Image courtesy of the artist.

How did you approach your proposal for this commission? Were there specific conditions you responded to at the Roof Garden space?

The invitation to make a proposal was via email. There was no physical site visit. I responded to the architecture of the building and the multiple ways the work would be approached, first from a distance, while walking towards it. or passing by while walking on the terraces across the work. The other challenge was the dense skyline, which influenced the scale of the work.

Shilpa Gupta, ‘Untitled’, 2023. Commissioned by National Gallery Singapore for the 6th Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission. Image courtesy of the artist.

This is the first inflatable sculpture you made, and you said you “broke with conventions” by using a soft inflatable medium. Could you talk about how you landed on this material as well as the process of making the work?

I am grateful for the opportunity to experiment with a new material. There are multiple reasons which led to this choice. I have known the Gallery as a space for younger audiences, and this seemed like a material which would speak to them. Being an inflatable allowed the artwork to retain a lightness as I wanted to work with scale vis-vis the dense skyline. I was drawn to the idea of a sculpture that would collapse and fold up!

“I have known the Gallery as a space for younger audiences, and this seemed like a material which would speak to them. Being an inflatable allowed the artwork to retain a lightness as I wanted to work with scale vis-vis the dense skyline. I was drawn to the idea of a sculpture that would collapse and fold up! ”

Shilpa Gupta, ‘Untitled’, 2023, image taken during the artwork installation. Commissioned by National Gallery Singapore for the 6th Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission. Image courtesy of the artist.

In your previous public art projects, you have created outdoor light installations that feature text such as ‘We Change each Other’ (2017) and ‘I Live under Your Sky Too’ (2004-ongoing). Language is a key facet of your practice and research interest as well. Intriguingly, text is absent in this commission and even the artwork is untitled. What was your consideration behind this gesture?

The timings of the gallery, where it shuts before it becomes dark, was not conducive for a light installation.

Shilpa Gupta with Rosie Mcgowan, Artivities 2, 2023, published by National Gallery Singapore. — Shilpa Gupta with Rosie Mcgowan, *Artivities 2*, 2023, published by National Gallery Singapore.

In conjunction with the Roof Garden Commission, the Gallery also published the children’s book Artivities: Exploring Inner and Outer Worlds Through Art. It is a new iteration which you have developed with therapist Rosie McGowan. What motivated you to publish the first Artivities in 2021? And can you talk about the collaboration with Rosie for the second edition?

Over the years, in parallel to having works on display, I have been conducting activities and workshops around them. In 2021, when we were working from our homes during lockdown, I compiled these activities into downloadable worksheets. The first edition of Artivities was published on occasion of my survey show ‘Today Will End’ at Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp (M HKA). I have conducted the activities online in a few schools and the worksheets were also distributed to art teachers. When we were discussing a catalogue for the Roof Garden Commission, and seeing such large groups of children visit the National Gallery, I proposed Artivities 2.The organisers introduced me to Rosie and it was a rich and fruitful collaboration. We revisited the previous Do-It-Yourself sheets and added new ones based on the local situation. Rosie is an experienced therapist so I learnt a lot from our interactions.

Your ongoing solo exhibition ‘I did not tell you what I saw, but only what I dreamt’ (2023-24) at Amant in New York gathers 12 works made in the last 15 years. Could you talk about how the presentation is contextualised/ speaks to audiences from the United States?

The show looks at mobility of the body and speech. The curator Ruth Estévez selected works which look at movement and restriction, on visibility and invisibility and erasure. For the show, a new iteration of one hundred hand-drawn maps was created of maps collected locally.

Lastly, what is the significance of poetry to you?

Poetry is a form where we can speak from under our skin. It frees language.

This interview is presented in partnership with National Gallery Singapore.

Shilpa Gupta’s ‘Untitled’ is on view at National Gallery Singapore, from 4 June 2023 to 31 March 2024. For more information about the artwork and the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission series, click here.