Bumper update time! Since returning to Singapore, things have been terribly hectic and the Singapore Psychogeographical Society has been involved in a number of going-ons --
(1) exhibiting and speaking at Art Stage with The Substation's booth (25 Jan - 27 Jan 2013);
(2) exhibiting at Gillman Barracks' Engaging Perspectives (25 Jan - 31 March 2013);
(3) our essay on Psychogeoforensics was been published in a new journal launched by Lasalle (To be launched on 22 Feb 2013);
(4) "Ethnographic Fragments from Singapore" has also been nominated for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2012/2013 and we went up to Hong Kong to see the work (5 Feb 2013).
"Fragments and Traces", Art Stage 2013 (23 Jan 2013 - 27 Jan 2013)
We were honoured to show two recent works at The Substation's first ever booth at Art Stage last month -
"Ethnographic Fragments from Central Singapore", and
"A Collection of Postdated Memories from Paris".
The project
"Ethnographic Fragments from Central Singapore" had been first shown at The Substation as part of "Drive", a mobile experimental film festival curated by Kent Chan in June 2012, and subsequently "public exchanges" of fragments occurred in July 2012 at The Substation Random Room whilst Jeong Heewoo and me were working there during The Substation-Seoul Art Space_MULLAE Project 2012. In August 2012, another exchange was held at the Independent Archive and Resource Centre (curated by Mike Chang).
"A Collection of Postdated Memories from Paris" had been first developed during a 3-month residency with the Dena Foundation in Paris. It was first shown at Immanence at "
Primavera", a show curated by Valentine Meyer, 16 November 2012.
Primavera featured the artists at the Dena Foundation Residency in 2012 -- Elio Germani (IT), Hafiz Osman (SG), Bado (IT), Matteo (IT). [See also:
Primavera Documentation Video]
The Substation Booth at Art Stage 2013
The first time that this particular print has been exhibited in Singapore.
Paris Fragment which thankfully arrived in Singapore in one piece. Many thanks to the Dena Foundation for helping with the unexpectedly huge postage costs, and to Elio Germani who helped me pack and bring it to the post office in my absence.
3 Fragments from Singapore - "Bay Pavement Fragment", "Sungei Road Fragment V", and "Henry, or all that is left of Fat Frog"
Thanks to all the friends who came down to support us!
Engaging Perspectives at Gillman Barracks
The Singapore Psychogeographical Society showed two works at Gillman Barracks at "Engaging Perspectives: New Art from Singapore" - an exhibition of nine Singapore contemporary artists and collectives, all born in the 1980s and working in Singapore. The artists featured in the show were Ang Song Nian, Black Baroque Committee, Mike Chang, The Singapore Psychogeographical Society, Nah Yong En, Bruce Quek, Frayn Yong, Jasper Yu and Zhao Renhui. The exhibition was organized by the (soon-to-be-opening in later part of 2013) Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Singapore, and curated by Eugene Tan. The show is ongoing until 31 March 2013.
We were also featured on
Culturepush (Thanks guys!), and an image of the work was posted on
yesterday.sg and
cafa art info.
"Spotspotting" at Block 1
This was the first time Spotspotting has been presented in a physical space - forming a wall of 616 surveyor and civil engineering marks collected in cities such as Singapore, UK (London, Bournemouth), France (Paris), South Korea (Seoul), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Kassel), Indonesia (Jakarta), and Cyprus (Paphos, Nicosia). [For more images, see the
Spotspotting Flickr Set]
"Ethnographic Fragments from Singapore" at Block 39
All the physical fragments collected and exchanged in 2012 are exhibited at Block 39 - with the exception of 3 fragments which were removed for display at Art Stage. You can also read descriptions and notes from the fragment exchanges.
Psychogeoforensics: Land ISSUE (Lasalle College of the Arts)
An article by the Singapore Psychogeographical Society will be in ISSUE, a new art journal by the Lasalle College of the Arts. There will be a launch on Feb 22 at Lasalle. You can read more at
artinfo or on the
Lasalle website
Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2012/2013
The Singapore Psychogeographical Society was nominated by Charles Merewether for the 2012/2013 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, and has made it as one of three Singaporean finalists along with Boo Sze Yang and Zhao Renhui. The work is being exhibited in Hong Kong at the Rotunda of Exchange Square. It was actually my first trip to Hong Kong (basically the first other chinese speaking country I have ever travelled to in my life!) so there will be more to say on that in a later post...
The Singapore Psychogeographical Society's "Ethnographic Fragments from Singapore"
Boo Sze Yang's "Fashion Mall, Las Vegas, USA"
Zhao Renhui's "Expedition #43"
The entire process of bringing the work to HK was also a rather expensive lesson in shipping and freighting large framed works, as I had not known that a framed work in excess of 1.9m would incur significantly more shipping costs than a framed work of 1.2m. Bringing the work to HK would not have been possible without my dad's assistance whilst I was away in London. Thanks Dad!
In general I found it somewhat strange to see my work hung in the middle of Hong Kong's CBD, in the middle of the busy financial district. I know the marriage between arts and its commercial patrons is inevitable but for me an uneasy one as the commercial value of art and the critical strength (cultural value?) remain as two separate things which expect to be correlated (although that is not always the case...).
A video commentary for the purpose of the auction of the work can also be seen here.
(With... er... interesting musical accompaniment?)
Lot 24 -- "Ethnographic Fragments from Singapore"
