Do social forms of art inherently resist collection by institutions? How are these process-oriented and ephemeral works defined, conserved and valued within the contemporary art institution? In collaboration with Shayus Sharif (Bras Basah Open, current SAM resident), Salty Xi Jie Ng presents her ongoing research, based on interviews with SAM directors, curators, and fellow artists. She will ask how SAM can acquire and re-activate artist ila’s work on sexual assault ‘There can be no touching here’, as well as propose that SAM acquires artist Zarina Muhammad’s recently formalised work on the spiritual and energetic lives of art spaces, titled ‘9 Questions as Instructions to Construct Pragmatic Prayers for Peculiar Habitats’. The SAM Acquisition Committee is cordially invited to attend.
'Dear Singapore Art Museum Acquisition Committee' is a public programme in support of ‘Present Realms’, on view from 14 to 23 January 2022 at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. More details here.
This performance lecture will take place live on 16 Jan, 2pm at The Main Deck @ SAM. A recording of the performance will be screened on 19 Jan, 4pm at Gillman Barracks, 47 Malan Road and livestreamed on SAW Digital.
Speakers:
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Salty Xi Jie Ng (b.1987, Singapore) co-creates semi-fictional paradigms for the real and imagined lives of humans within the poetics of the intimate vernacular. Her interdisciplinary work proposes a collective re-imagining through humour, care, subversion, discomfort, a celebration of the eccentric, and a commitment to the deeply personal. Her projects explore themes of aging, intimacy, food, lineage, identity, ritual and power, while questioning who artists are and what gets to be called art. Xi Jie was recently artist-in-residence or artist fellow at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, Buangkok Square and Singapore Art Museum. Her work has been supported by diverse platforms such as Singapore Art Week, Elsewhere Museum, King School Museum of Contemporary Art, Singapore International Film Festival, and Hollywood Senior Center. She was the editor of SoFA Journal: Conversations On Everything, Portland, Oregon publication on social forms of art.
This performance lecture is co-presented by Singapore Art Museum.