Wrapping up our third season, we invited back curator Hsu Fang-Tze to dig deep into the practice of Artist-in-Residence Anthony Chin. In their insightful exchange, Anthony discusses his art-making process that often begins with extensive research into archives addressing imperial and colonial histories, and how this eventually informs the conceptualisation of his site-specific installations that bring to light the geopolitical reverberations that continue to resonate until today. Anthony also considers how his background in industrial design has shaped his practice and interest in the symbolic significance of objects.

The research-driven conceptual practice of Anthony Chin grows out of site-specific engagements with the historical, social, and architectural stratifications of a place. Through the articulation of ordinary materials into poetic installations, his work unravel the latent power structures and complex geopolitical narratives that undergird the colonial past and the post-colonial present. He has regularly presented his work in Singapore and abroad.

Hsu Fang-Tze is currently a curator at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), with previous experience as a lecturer in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Over the past decade, she has extended her expertise beyond academia, actively engaging as a curator, film programmer, and archivist. Her collaborative efforts with artists, art historians, and institutions have been the most important aspects for her in defining her practices. Her current research pursuits revolve around the nuanced exploration of sonic modernity, Cold War aesthetics, and the convergence of critical curation historiography with a decolonial pedagogical approach.

Contributors: Anthony Chin, Hsu Fang-Tze
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan

In this episode, we invited curator Syaheedah Iskandar to explore the multidimensional practice of Artist-in-Residence Irfan Kasban. This conversation marks a full-circle moment for the two as they first collaborated for Hutang Belantara, a public programme at NTU CCA Singapore back in 2016 when Syaheedah was Curatorial Assistant with us at the Centre. The two trace through Irfan’s background that has seen him wear varying hats, weaving through theatre and sound, and addressing what drew to the arts. Irfan also opens up about the significance of curiosity in guiding his working process that is largely collaborative, open, and ever-evolving. He also shares about the various communal activities he held in the studio that he has affectionately called Port of Reciprocity, also the title of his long-term research project.

The transdisciplinary practice of Irfan Kasban weaves together multiple roles such as playwright, theatre director, lighting and sound designer, and multimedia artist. Often engaging in collaborations with fellow artists as a method of experimenting across mediums, Irfan creates intricate worlds guided by a principle of visceral ephemerality in an attempt to redefine boundaries between performance, artwork, artist, and audience. 

Syaheedah Iskandar is currently Assistant Curator at Singapore Art Museum. She works with vernacular ideas of seeing, thinking, and being. Drawing from Southeast Asia’s visual culture(s), she is interested in the entanglements between the unseen, the hypervisual, and their translations from material to new media practices. She holds an MA in History of Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Contributors: Irfan Kasban, Syaheedah Iskandar
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan 

This episode features a conversation between Artist-in-Residence Shahmen Suku and Singaporean artist Moses Tan. With disparate practices, the two find synergy as they uncover shared ground in their drawn-out path in becoming a visual artist. They discuss how Shahmen’s experience growing up as a minority in Singapore shaped his practice that employs humour and double-meanings to confront difficult truths. Shahmen also ponders upon the position he occupies in straddling the lines between performance within theatre, performativity, and performance within the visual arts.

 
Shahmen Suku is a performance artist who works between Sydney and Canberra, Australia. Drawing from his personal experience of growing up in a matriarchal Tamil household in Singapore, Shahmen’s body of work explores multifaceted perspectives on migration, displacement, race, culture, colonisation, and gender identity. The personal, poignant, and irreverent narratives generated around these themes are conveyed through performances, installations, and video works and they are often voiced by his alter ego, Radha. 

Moses Tan is a Singapore-based artist whose work explores histories that intersect with queer theory and politics while looking at melancholia and shame as points of departure. Working with sculpture, drawing, video and installation, his interest lies in the use of subtlety and codes in the articulation of narratives. He currently programs and runs starch.sg, an artist-run space in Singapore. 

Contributors: Shahmen Suku, Moses Tan
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan