Art & Market sums up key discussions and takeaways from Art and Action: Contemporary Art and Discourse in Southeast Asia, Singapore's first major international conference on contemporary art histories of the region, held at LASALLE College of the Arts from 3 - 5 December 2018.
The changing world of arts management in Singapore
In recent years, there has been an observable rise in the visibility of the arts here in Singapore, in part due to increased government support and funding. But what does that mean for the role of the arts locally? And what do these changes spell out for the arts manager, who has been positioned as the intermediary between different stakeholders – the public, artists, sponsors, and the government?
LASALLE College of the Arts holds Singapore’s first contemporary Asian art histories conference with Art and Action: Contemporary Art and Discourse in Southeast Asia
The conference is complemented by two specially curated exhibitions at LASALLE's Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore
This book chapter looks at the cultural history of the Singapore Arts Festival from 1959 to 2017. It studies the role of the arts festival in nation building and the formation of Singapore's cultural identity as a multicultural and multiethnic enterprise. Through a close study of key moments, the chapter establishes the relationship between state enterprise and cultural rootedness, and social access and political agency as key engines of artistic development in postcolonial Singapore.
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Diverse art practices have, since time immemorial, sought to establish a visceral link with the viewer's insides in order to problematise order and disorder, normativity and aberration, totem and taboo, as even a cursory glance at Ghirlandaio's portraits of decay, Bruegel's depictions of disease, the Viennese Actionists' performances with animal carcasses or Athey's ritualistic work with HIV-positive blood, shows. In all these works, the defilement, the disgust, and the horror are intentional, strategic - even ideological.
The inclusion of Sur (soē เซอร์) reality as one of nine key themes in the 2012 exhibition Thai Trends: From Localism to Internationalism, curated by Apinan Poshyananda อภินันท์ โปษยานนท์ (b. 1956), reinforced the inclusion of 'surrealistic' works as a part of conventional histories of Thai artistic modernism. While the phonetic resonances between Sur and its English counterpart 'surrealism' might suggest European origination, Apinan's framework hinged on the nationalist premise of the uniqueness of Sur within the Thai context.
LASALLE's Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore Unveils Dissolving Margins and Moving Pledges Exhibitions
Exhibitions feature works from 6 Singapore artists which explore the role of art in contemporary society
Female Graduate Bags LASALLE's Award for Excellence After Going Against Parents' Wishes to Study Musical Theatre
At LASALLE's 32nd Convocation ceremony, the prestigious McNally Award for Excellence in the Arts was presented to Michelle Ler, who graduated top of her cohort in the BA(Hons) Musical Theatre Programme.
First Class Graduates from LASALLE
LASALLE graduates come from many different walks of life, each with their individual goals and passions that saw them through their years at the College. Six of our graduates who received a First Class BA(Hons) degree at our 32nd Convocation ceremony come together to talk about how their education at LASALLE has shaped both their personal and professional development, sharing stories of inspiration, support and how they overcame the challenges they faced.
Oasis in the 'Cultural Desert': Blazing a Trail for Arts
The support provided by the government, in terms of issuing grants to artists and providing infrastructure for more art spaces, has borne fruit. Singapore has come a long way. Once referred to as a 'cultural desert', the little red dot is now a major arts hub with an annual staple of high-profile arts and cultural events that are well-attended by locals and foreigner alike.
