Yale-NUS College Artist-in-Residence’s open studio and podcast series
Event and podcast series offer opportunities for the public to engage with the works of Yale-NUS artists-in-residence
Yale-NUS College presents an open studio event and a podcast series as part of its Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programme, which seeks to catalyse activities that promote art as a living and breathing practice. The programme is the first of its kind to be situated within a liberal arts and sciences institution in Southeast Asia and is supported by the Tan Chin Tuan Chinese Culture and Civilisation Programme. The Yale-NUS AIR programme facilitates meaningful community engagements to nurture a vibrant arts community in Singapore, hosting local and international artists engaging with multivalent historical layers of the complex present.
Open studio with Beatrice Glow
Multidisciplinary artist-researcher Beatrice Glow, who is currently in residence at Yale-NUS, will be holding an open studio event at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (CCA) Residences Studios in Gillman Barracks from 1 to 2 May 2021. This event is the culmination of a five-month artist residency for Glow, who will be showing works-in-progress to the public and sharing the creative process behind the development of her artworks. Deputy President and Provost of LASALLE College of the Arts and member of the Yale-NUS AIR selection committee and Venka Purushothaman said, “The Yale-NUS Artist-in-Residence programme is a unique curricular feature enabling the critical engagement with artists on contemporary issues. More than introducing students to artistic practices, this residency provides students an opportunity to experience meaning-making as it occurs. In this regard, Beatrice Glow’s ‘Smoke Trails’, which carries viewers into a more just future, is a project for audiences to participate in making sense of their worlds.”
While in Singapore, Glow has been researching oceanic, diasporic and trade circulations in the region, exploring decorative arts and diverse cultural heritages, exchanging with local cultural practitioners, connecting with students and alumni, while altogether deepening her understanding of regenerative just futures as being rooted in relational and archipelagic thinking. This process has enriched the development of ‘Smoke Trails’, an ongoing project referring to a fictionalised potential future, set in the 2060s and centred around the pseudo auction of a private collection belonging to a mysterious ‘Empire of Smoke (EoS 10^15)’ quadrillionaire family, whose vast riches are underpinned by involvements in dispossession, enslavement and displacement. This fictional ‘Empire of Smoke’ family’s history reflects historical realities of 17th century Spice Wars, military innovations, tobacco plantations, and the industrial revolution. Through virtual reality world-building, 3D printed sculptures, textiles and a mock auction catalogue, Glow satirically delves into the aesthetics of violence in the age of extractivism through hauntingly manicured luxury goods.
‘An Archipelagic AIR’ podcast
Since the Yale-NUS artist residency programme was launched in 2020, it has hosted local and international artists who have engaged with stories of migration in Southeast Asia, ethical cohabitation and comparative artistic research on gardens. Newly released on the ‘An Archipelagic AIR’ podcast is the second in a series of conversations with artists-in-residence linked by a wave of archipelagic consciousness. In the latest episode, Yale-NUS Assistant Professor of Practice in Humanities (Visual Art) and AIR Director James Jack, who is also the podcast host, welcomed artist-in-residence Chen Sai Hua Kuan in conversation with art historian and curator Marc Glöde. They discussed Sai’s artistic work and creative research during his residency from August to December 2020, Hainanese opera in Singapore, collaborative frameworks and manoeuvring with materials.
Exhibitions of works created during Yale-NUS AIR programme
The works that were created during the Yale-NUS residency programme are now on exhibition around the world.
- Andrew S Yang (January to May 2020): Video work on display in the ‘Tending to the Body’ exhibit at Spencer Museum of Art digital space. Upcoming exhibitions curated by Yang include ‘The Earthly Observatory’ at Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and ‘Making Kin’ opening at the Center for Humans & Nature in Chicago (where Yang is currently a Curatorial Fellow).
- Christa Donner (January to May 2020): Virtual exhibition space and artist talk ‘Uncommon Senses Conference’ at Concordia University, Montréal 6-9 May 2021 featuring the artwork ‘Listening Through the Landscape’ which was recently featured at NTU CCA Free Jazz III in early 2021 as well as recently published interviews with Singapore artists Susie Wong, Mintio and Kabul and Faye Lim currently featured on Cultural ReProducers online.
- Chen Sai Hua Kuan (August to November 2020): Artwork is included in ‘This is Where I Draw the Line’ at NTU Art, Design and Media Gallery Singapore curated by Marc Glöde open to the public through 29 May 2021 as well as an upcoming sculpture exhibit opening in July 2021 at Jendela (Visual Arts Space), The Esplanade.
Artistic research made possible through this residency programme will continue to develop within professional and academic networks to become noteworthy exhibitions, publications and presentations in the future. Other artworks can be viewed at https://artsandhumanities.yale-nus.edu.sg/artists-in-residence/artworks/
For media enquiries, please contact publicaffairs@yale-nus.edu.sg.
