Marina Bay Sands, MoMA PS1, Art Agenda, ShanghART Gallery, Affordable Art Fair, CHAT/The Mills, Flowers Gallery, 100 Tonson Foundation, Art Jakarta, Objectifs, DECK
By A&M

New Eden: Science Fiction Mythologies Transformed

Anne Samat, 'Cannot Be Broken and Won’t Live Unspoken', 2022. Image courtesy of Marina Bay Sands.

The group show, which runs from 21 October 2023 to 3 March 2024 at ArtScience Museum, Singapore aims to uncover new perspectives on the science fiction genre through the works of 24 women artists and collectives from Asia, which have also been inspired by local histories and cultures. From Southeast Asia, participating artists are Kara Chin (Singapore), Chok Si Xuan (Singapore) Debbie Ding (Singapore), Anne Samat (Malaysia), Soe Yu Nwe (Myanmar) and The House of Natural Fiber (Indonesia). The nearly 70 works on display are organised into eight chapters. Together, they show how speculative science fiction and local narratives, seemingly disparate sources of inspiration, come together to create thought-provoking works, and at the same time challenge the notion that science fiction is a predominantly “masculine” domain.

For more information, click here.

Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE

Rirkrit Tiravanija, ‘untitled 1990 (pad thai)’, 1990, mixed media, installation view. Photo by Kyle Knodell. Image courtesy of MoMA PS1.

‘Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE’ is the Thai artist’s first American survey. It features more than 100 works in a wide range of media over four decades. They trace the artist’s career, beginning from the late 1980s and 1990s, where his works were informed by the politics of the personal, and centred on his experience of “otherness” as an immigrant living and working abroad. The exhibition is organised by Ruba Katrib, Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, MoMA PS1, together with Yasmil Raymond, guest curator, and Jody Graf and Kari Rittenbach, Assistant Curators, MoMA PS1. The artist has conceptualised five historical interactive pieces, starting with ‘untitled 1990 (pad thai)’, 1990, to be presented chronologically on Fridays and Saturdays, with a new one presented each month.

The exhibition is on show from 12 October 2023 to 4 March 2024 at MoMA PS1, New York, USA. For more information, click here.

Sights They Saw: (Re)Visiting Pictorialised Lands

Johann Fauzi, ‘Batu 6 (6th Mile)’, 2018, oil on canvas in custom frame, 181 x 191cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Art Agenda.

The exhibition features works by 12 artists, including Ang Ah Tee, Aw Tee Hong, Cheong Soo Pieng, Chua Ek Kay, Choo Keng Kwang, Hou Hsi Ching, Lim Yew Kuan, Shui Tit Sing, Tan Choh Tee and Yeh Chi Wei. Works by these nine modern artists were inspired by their travels in Southeast Asia. They are seen in juxtaposition with large-scale contemporary pieces: ‘The Shape of the River’ (2010) and Memory Portals (2022) by Debbie Ding, ‘Batu 6 (6th Mile)’ (2018) by Johann Fauzi and ‘1:3,500,000) Plus Human Wrong)’ by Poodien. All together, the works showcase the varied ways that the artists used to pictorialise the places they have visited. They show us distinctive points of view, which in turn inform the viewers’ perceptions of the places depicted. On the closing day of the exhibition, join artists Debbie Ding and Johann Fauzi alongside NTU art history PhD candidate Anne Goh and exhibition curator Jessie Lim for a panel discussion, ‘I Spy With Mind's Eye: Representations And Re-Imaginings of Places by Modern & Contemporary Artists’, on how Singapore artists think about, imagine and visualise places. Jessie Lim will give a pre-discussion tour of the exhibition.

The exhibition is on show from 17 October to 25 November 2023 at Art Agenda, Singapore. More information here. RSVP for the panel discussion here.

This Moment Now is Past and Future All at Once

Miti Ruangkritya, 'BLISS 02_Landscape 05', 2022, colour inkjet print, ilford smooth pearl mounted on 3mm dilite, 150 x 175cm, edition of 3 + 2AP. Image courtesy of the artist and ShanghART Gallery.

The group exhibition, showing at ShanghART Singapore, is curated by John Z. W. Tung. It features new works of Anthony Chin, Dusadee Huntrakul, Ong Kian Peng, Pratchaya Phinthong. It also offers a re-animation of a selection from Ng Joon Kiat’s body of work, and the Singapore premiere of works from Miti Ruangkritya’s recent photographic series ‘BLISS’. Curated on the premise of the German notion of sehnsucht, or “a yearning for the redress of imperfect moments in life”, the exhibition examines the process of art-making that tethers the artists to the past, while anticipating the anxieties that are lying in wait.

The exhibition is on show from 14 October to 26 November 2023. More information here.

Affordable Art Fair 2023

View of Affordable Art Fair 2022. Image courtesy of Affordable Art Fair.

The Affordable Art Fair is holding its 14th edition at F1 Pit Building, Singapore from 10 to 12 November 2023. Visitors can look forward to seeing artworks by 750 artists, represented by 81 galleries, including 29 local ones. The artworks are priced under SGD15,000, with 75% under SGD7,500, including many offerings under SGD1,000, in a continuous bid to encourage artwork ownership. There will also be art workshops for children and adults in the Creative Hub, as well as art installations and guided tours. Part of the proceeds from ticket sales for Arty-Licious Evening, taking place on 10 November, will go to a charity, to be announced.

Tickets are on sale here.

Jakkai Siributr: Everybody Wanna Be Happy, Outworn and Matrilineal

Jakkai Siributr, 'Two Thousand Eighteen', 2018. Image courtesy of the artist.

‘Jakkai Siributr: Everybody Wanna Be Happy’ is the artist's first major survey exhibition outside of Thailand, and takes place at CHAT/The Mills (the Centre for Heritage, Arts, and Textile) in Hong Kong, from 11 November 2023 to 13 February 2024. It will showcase wall hanging textiles and sculptural pieces, and shine a spotlight on the artist’s community initiatives. Alongside, Flowers Gallery will present 'Outworn', from 9 November 2023 to 6 January 2024. This features a new series of five tapestried installations, made from uniforms worn by workers in the service industry in Thailand, in a monetary exchange. While assisting the workers economically, the works also reflect the artists’ thoughts towards the authorities’ handling of the pandemic.

At the same time, in Bangkok, the exhibition ‘Jakkai Siributr: Matrilineal’ at 100 Tonson Foundation will take place from 30 November 2023 to 26 May 2024.. This is built upon ‘18/28: The Singhaseni Tapestries’ (2018) which explores grief and departure through the passing of the artist’s mother. Curated by Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani, it explores the women and makers in the artist’s family and encompasses large textile installations, embroidered intimate portraits as well as vintage garments that have been reworked through beading and stitching.

Read about ‘Jakkai Siributr: Everybody Wanna Be Happy’ here. More about ‘Outworn’ here. And find out about ‘Jakkai Siributr: Matrilineal’ here.

Art Jakarta 2023

View of Art Jakarta 2022. Image courtesy of Art Jakarta.

Art Jakarta 2023 returns from 17 to 19 November 2023 at a new venue, JlExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta. Altogether, 68 local and international galleries are participating, including 14 new exhibitors. Visitors can look forward to Art Jakarta Spot, which features art installations made specially for the fair. And in Art Jakarta Scene, artist collectives and non-profit organisations raise funds for their causes through the sale of editioned works, merchandise and publications. There will also be an accompanying programme of talks, panel discussions and workshops. Ahead of the fair, we spoke with several exhibiting galleries to get a glimpse of what they will present, click here to read the preview.

Tickets are now available for sale here.

Making Space: Objectifs Turns 20 | Exhibition and Fundraiser

Rony Zakaria, ‘Parangtritis’. Image courtesy of the artist.

Objectifs is turning 20! To celebrate this anniversary, the exhibition ‘Making Space’, marking the centre’s milestones, will be on show from 15 November to 16 December 2023. At the same time, the non-profit charity will launch a print fundraiser to support its expansion into 161 Middle Road in March 2024. This will include a Junior Lab offering visual literacy workshops for youth, and an Arts Accelerator programme to support collaborative projects between artists and other industries. In appreciation of donors’ support, 20 artists are offering their prints, including Marvin Tang, Stefan Chow and Lin Huiyi, Woong Soak Teng, and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee.

Click here to find out more about the exhibition, and click here to lend your support to the fundraiser.

'The Unstable Image' at DECK

Clara Che Wei Peh, independent curator and arts writer, has curated a one-day symposium on 26 November 2023, to discuss our relationship to images in the post-photography age. The first talk, "Between Fact and Fiction" features Marvin Tang, Robert Zhao Renhui and Jonathan Liu, who will speak about the role that "truth" plays in their work. This is followed by a discussion on how to read images at present and in the future with Hsu Fang-Tse, Debbie Ding and Marc Gloede, with Nurul Huda Rashid. Thereafter, an Un-Conference will be held with all symposium participants, with open conversations facilitated by visual artists Angelica Ong and John Marie Andrada from DECK’s Undescribed #9 alongside with Jake Tan of SERIAL CO_. To wrap up, writers Chrystal Ho, Khong Yin Ying and Paul Jerusalem will give live readings that ruminate on emerging intertextualities.

For more information and to register, click here.