Asia Art Archive (AAA) and Nanyang Technological University Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA) present an online programme on performance art, using the Lee Wen Archive as a point of departure. The event consists of a public talk and a workshop designed for educators, and is part of the Teaching Labs series, AAA’s teacher professional development programme.
Lee Wen (1957–2019) was a multidisciplinary artist who defined and shaped performance art in Asia. He had solo exhibitions at Singapore Art Museum, The Substation, and elsewhere. Group exhibitions included SunShower (2017), Secret Archipelago (2015), Singapore Biennale (2013), Asiatopia (2008 and 1998), Third Asia Pacific Triennial (1999), Sexta Bienal de La Habana (1997), and Gwangju Biennale (1995). Alongside his artistic practice, Lee was active in artist-run initiatives—in particular, the collective Black Market International, and the festivals Future of Imagination and Rooted in the Ephemeral Speak (R.I.T.E.S.). The Lee Wen Archive was digitised through a collaborative project initiated in 2017 by NTU CCA Singapore and AAA, with National Gallery Singapore as an additional partner, to give access to culturally significant materials that document the arts of Singapore and beyond.
Talk | What Is Art Good For?
Tue, 3 Nov 2020, 7–8:30pm
Lee Wen and many artists of his generation were known for using art to question conventions and social justice issues. We will look primarily at material from the Lee Wen Archive—the artist’s notebooks and sketchbooks, documentation of his projects, and his activities as an arts organiser.
The talk will take place online and is open to the public. Please click here to register and we will send you the Zoom Webinar ID.
SPEAKER
Chương-Đài Võ, AAA Researcher
Workshop for Educators
Fri, 6 Nov 2020, 4–6:30pm
The workshop will begin with a short introduction by AAA Researcher Chương-Đài on the development of performance art in Singapore and the material in the Lee Wen Archive. Participants will explore the role of the body in performance art under the guidance of artist Priyageetha Dia, and uncover different perspectives about performance and its visual documentation with Kai Lam from Singapore’s pioneering contemporary art collective The Artist Village. In addition, Engaging with Performance Art through the Lee Wen Archive - A Resource Guide for Educators, developed by AAA and NTU CCA Singapore, will be launched during this workshop. Taking the Lee Wen Archive as a point of departure, the guide presents suggested approaches to using performance art in the classroom.
The workshop will take place online and is exclusively offered to teachers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Please contact us at learn@aaa.org.hk if you are interested.
SPEAKER
Chương-Đài Võ, AAA Researcher
FACILITATORS
Priyageetha Dia, Artist
Kai Lam, Artist
Chương-Đài Võ is a Researcher at Asia Art Archive, where she is supervising the acquisition of three archival collections: Lee Wen, Green Papaya Art Projects, and Manila Artist-Run Spaces. Her research and curatorial work focuses on collective platforms, ephemeral practices, social movements, and marginalised genealogies.
Priyageetha Dia is an emerging artist whose practice focuses on public site-specific installations. She is best known for her works Golden Staircase (2017) and Golden Flags (2018). In particular, Dia is interested in bridging the banality of lived spaces and the act of subversion using the medium of gold. Presently, she is involved in research on public space, with American artist Martha Rosler and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, in Hong Kong. She graduated with a Bachelor (Hons) in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore in 2016. Dia continues to contribute to the discourse of what constitutes art in Singapore, and pushes boundaries with new perspectives of art in public spaces.
Kai Lam practises multidisciplinary art geared towards performative tendencies. Lam is versatile and prolific in drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed-media installation, sonic art, and performance art. His involvement in the arts began in 1995 when he majored in sculpture at LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts. In 2001, he was awarded a study grant from Lee Foundation and an education bursary from National Arts Council to undertake his Bachelor of Arts at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, where he also majored in sculpture. He has participated and collaborated in many multidisciplinary art productions, and co-organised art-related events including Artists Investigating Monuments (AIM) in 2000 under The Artists Village, which took place in various public sites in Singapore. Starting from 2003, he also co-organised a few editions of Future of Imagination, an annual international performance art festival. In 2009, he initiated Rooted in the Ephemeral Speak (R.I.T.E.S), a platform to explore new ideas and cross-disciplinary presentations in sonic art, time-based, and performance art–related practices.
This programme is a collaboration between Asia Art Archive and Nanyang Technological University Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore.
AAA’s Learning and Participation Programme is supported by the S. H. Ho Foundation Limited, and the C. K. & Kay Ho Foundation.
