Art Outreach is thrilled to present a dynamic line-up of programmes for Singapore Art Week 2024, reflecting our commitment to showcasing the rich tapestry of Singapore's art scene. From senior artists to emerging talents, the exhibitions aim to celebrate and spotlight diverse voices within the local artistic community. Art Outreach will also facilitate access to private collections and art fairs, offering a unique opportunity to engage with exceptional artworks. Additionally, as part of our ongoing efforts to support the professional development of art practitioners, we are unveiling the Art Outreach Summit, a new model of support for practitioners set to officially launch in 2025.
Our Children by Tang Da Wu
5 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks, #01-06 12 Jan to 4 Feb 2024 | 11am to 7pm daily (and until 10pm on Fri 20 Jan and 27 Jan)
Opening performance by Tang Da Wu on 20 Jan 2024 6pm to 7pm | Free admission
Off the Wall: Modern Wisdoms
OCBC Bank, 435 Orchard Rd, Wisma Atria, #04-01
9 Jan to 31 Mar 2024 | 11am to 6pm daily | Free admission
Art Outreach as ART SG’s Cultural Partner
Sands Expo and Convention Centre 18 to 21 Jan 2024 | Opening hours and ticketing details at artsg.com
The Pierre Lorinet Collection presents Rough
22 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks, #01-33 12 to 28 Jan 2024 | 11am to 7pm daily (and until 10pm on Fri 20 Jan and 27 Jan) Free admission
Unveiling the Art Outreach Summit
Art Outreach is pleased to announce the forthcoming Art Outreach Summit, scheduled to premiere during Singapore Art Week in 2025. Positioned as a visual arts workshop, the Summit is designed to deliver substantial support to numerous art practitioners, granting them invaluable access to preeminent art experts and their networks to enhance their artistic practices.
The selection of Summit participants will be conducted through an open call process, ensuring a diverse representation across a spectrum of artistic disciplines. The chosen participants will enjoy exclusive access to impactful presentations, critical portfolio reviews, and unparalleled networking opportunities with members of leading global arts institutions.
In anticipation for the official launch, Art Outreach is set to welcome its inaugural faculty of experts during Singapore Art Week 2024. The distinguished faculty includes:
Alessio Antoniolli (Director, Gasworks London and Triangle Network)
Zoe Butt (Director, In-Tangible Institute; Lead Advisor, Kadist Art Foundation)
Patricia Chen (Independent Art Writer & Filmmaker)
Catherine David (Former Deputy Director, Centre Georges Pompidou Paris)
Honor Harger (Vice President, ArtScience Museum Singapore)
Sook-Kyung Lee (Director, The Whitworth, Manchester; Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale; Curator, Japan Pavilion, 60th Venice Biennale 2024)
Dr Adele Tan (Senior Curator, National Gallery Singapore)
During their visit, these experts will actively engage with key stakeholders, local practitioners, and attend various art events. This collaborative involvement›, including a discussion with past winners of Art Outreach's IMPART Art Prize, is specifically designed to provide the faculty with valuable insights into Singapore's dynamic arts landscape as they shape the approach and curriculum for the upcoming Art Outreach Summit launch.
Full biographies of the faculty can be found in Annex A.
Our Children by Tang Da Wu
5 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks, #01-06
12 Jan to 4 Feb 2024 | 11am to 7pm daily (and until 10pm on Fri 20 Jan and 27 Jan)
Opening performance by Tang Da Wu on 20 Jan 2024 6pm to 7pm | Free admission
Highlighting our artistic legacies and offering a unique art experience, Art Outreach will present a re-staging of a seminal performance installation titled Our Children by the senior artist Tang Da Wu. The work refers to a parable from Chinese opera in Teochew, in which a young boy experiences a humbling moment of enlightenment at the sight of a kneeling baby goat being fed by its mother. It speaks to the values of filial piety and educating future generations.
Visitors will have the chance to witness a performance activation on the opening weekend of Singapore Art Week and delve into Tang Da Wu's work through a new interview and archival footage, which attest to the long history and depth of contemporary and performative arts practices in Singapore.
Addressing the enduring and wide appeal of the themes present in the work, a focused selection of works from private collections around the themes of tapestry and craft, as well as parent-child relationships, will also be displayed. Featured artists include Cheung Pooi Yip, Chuah Thean Teng, Amanda Heng, Christopher Myers and Rita Mae Pettway.
About the Artist
Tang Da Wu (b. 1943) is an iconic figure in the contemporary Asian art scene. While working in various media, he is best known for his performances and installations. Noted for co-founding The Artists' Village in Singapore in the 1980s, Tang raised awareness of social and environmental issues through mythological narratives in his work. In his practice, provocation and commentary are as important as aesthetic concerns. Emphasising the interactions between individuals as a collective working process, Tang describes himself as the medium through which his audience works—a method challenging the conventional performer-audience relationship.
Recipient of the Visual Arts Award from the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1978 and the Artist Award from the Greater London Arts Council in 1983, Tang received the 10th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in Arts and Culture in 1999. He has held solo exhibitions globally and participated in international group exhibitions, including the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. His work, "Our Children, 2012," is part of the Guggenheim Museum, New York's collection.
Off the Wall: Modern Wisdoms
OCBC Bank, 435 Orchard Rd, Wisma Atria, #04-01
9 Jan to 31 Mar 2024 | 11am to 9pm daily | Free admission
In collaboration with OCBC, and as part of Singapore Art Week and the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations, Art Outreach will present a pop-up of its latest exhibition series, Off the Wall, at OCBC Bank in Wisma Atria’s lifestyle branch, which integrates an art gallery with curated offerings. Off the Wall is a sustainable art exhibition series featuring artists live-painting murals at Art Outreach. These murals are subsequently transformed into fine art prints for public sale, with proceeds supporting the artists and Art Outreach’s non-profit work. The inaugural edition titled Modern Wisdoms was curated by Zarina Muhammad and featured artists ANTZ, Chris Chai and Lewis Choo from October to November 2023.
The pop-up will feature 15 works by ANTZ, Chris Chai and Lewis Choo from the inaugural edition, which offer imaginative interpretations of Chinese folklore, popular literature, and iconography, inviting fresh perspectives on cultural motifs transmitted through generations, including Journey to the West ⻄游记 and the legend of Nezha 蓮花太子哪吒. Visitors can view and purchase a wide selection of artworks, including limited-edition hand-embellished prints.For more details, please visit: https://www.artoutreachsingapore.org/off-the-wall
Full biographies for the featured artists and curator can be found in Annex B.
Art Outreach Returns as ART SG’s Cultural Partner
Sands Expo and Convention Centre | 18 to 21 Jan
Opening hours and ticketing details at artsg.com
Art Outreach will return as ART SG’s Cultural Partner at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre from January 18 to 21. As Southeast Asia’s largest art fair and the Asia Pacific’s most significant art fair launch in a decade, ART SG provides an invaluable platform for collaboration. As a Cultural Partner, Art Outreach will once again extend a suite of working and learning opportunities to local art school students and art enthusiasts, providing individuals with a rare chance to gain exposure to the intricacies of running an international art fair and develop practical industry skills.
Art Outreach will stand alongside world-class galleries worldwide with a booth at the fair, from which the organisation will coordinate efforts to support fair operations. In alignment with its commitment to fostering the local art ecosystem, Art Outreach will also showcase a pop-up of Off the Wall: Modern Wisdoms, showcasing fine art prints by artists ANTZ, Chris Chai, and Lewis Choo that present reinterpretations of Chinese folklore and iconography.
Visitors to ART SG will have the opportunity to peruse and purchase prints, along with a limited-edition zine that unveils behind-the-scenes stories of realising the exhibition, which Art Outreach will be releasing exclusively at the fair.
The Pierre Lorinet Collection presents Rough
22 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks, #01-33 | 12 to 28 Jan 2024 | 11am to 7pm daily
(and until 10pm on Fri 20 Jan and 27 Jan) | Free admission
Following the warm reception of Pierre Lorinet’s debut public exhibition at Singapore Art Week 2023 earlier this year, Art Outreach is proud to collaborate with Lorinet once again to present the second public showcase of his works.
Curated by the collection’s advisor, Edward Mitterrand, the exhibition grants the public an exclusive look at 15 new, never-before-seen works from Pierre Lorinet's collection. Lorinet, a renowned collector and philanthropist with a background in banking and commodity trading, currently sits on the boards of various organisations, including Trafigura Group, Enterprise Singapore, the National Arts Council, and ART SG.
The exhibition will showcase works by 14 prominent artists—Ai Weiwei, Cai Lei, Thomas Houseago, Rashid Johnson, Jannis Kounellis, Elad Lassry, Ibrahim Mahama, Oscar Murillo, Louise Nevelson, Claudio Parmiggiani, Sterling Ruby, Blair Thurman, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Danh Vo—challenging conventions with a raw, unrefined perspective on contemporary art.
Visitors can explore iconic pieces, from Thomas Houseago’s dark masks to Blair Thurman’s shaped canvases, enhanced by the exhibition space's untouched roughness. Works by Ibrahim Mahama, Oscar Murillo, Rashid Johnson, Ai Weiwei, Danh Vo, and Rirkrit Tiravanija delve into socio-political themes, displacement, and identity. Jannis Kounellis and Claudio Parmiggiani introduce avant-garde elements, complemented by Sterling Ruby and Louise Nevelson’s intricate assemblages, while Elad Lassry’s enigmatic three-dimensional photographs and Cai Lei’s "concrete paintings" captivate viewers with their mysterious allure.
ABOUT ART OUTREACH
Established in 2003, Art Outreach is a non-profit arts intermediary with IPC status that is dedicated to promoting art appreciation in Singapore and strengthening networks in the local art ecosystem. We enable practitioners to sustain careers in the arts by offering financial support, professional development opportunities, and an independent and free space to nurture and incubate their work, as well as through facilitating dialogues with collectors and industry leaders. We also champion the value of art by presenting a year-round roster of accessible and innovative programmes catered to diverse audiences—encompassing educational talks for schools, public art tours, exhibitions and artist residencies—with the aim of encouraging a deeper understanding and appreciation of art and artists in the community.
Interviews and quotes can be facilitated upon request.
ANNEX A: ART OUTREACH SUMMIT - FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
Alessio Antoniolli (United Kingdom)
Alessio Antoniolli is the Director of Gasworks, London, where he leads a programme of exhibitions, international residencies and participatory events. He is also the Director of Triangle Network, a worldwide network of visual art organisations that work together to create artists’ exchanges and to share knowledge with each other. Antoniolli is stepping down from Director of Gasworks in March 2024, but will continue as Director of Triangle, working to increase collaborations and exchange opportunities within the Network. He will also continue his consulting work and his role as curator at Fondazione Memmo, Rome. Alessio has lectured widely and has been part of many juries including the prestigious Turner Prize in 2019.
Zoe Butt (Vietnam)
Zoe Butt is a curator and writer, nurturing critically thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, and fostering dialogue among cultures of the globalizing souths. Possessing an extensive exhibition, publishing and public-speaking history globally, in 2022, she founded ‘in-tangible institute’, seeking a robust ecology for locally-responsive curatorial talent in Southeast Asia. Zoe holds a PhD by Published Works, Center for Research and Education in Art and Media, University of Westminster, London and is currently Lead Advisor (Southeast Asia and Oceania), Kadist Art Foundation. Previously she was Artistic Director, Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City (2017-2021), Executive Director, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2009–2016); Director, International Programs, Long March Project, Beijing (2007–2009); Assistant Curator, Contemporary Asian Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2001–2007). Notable endeavours include Pollination (2018-); Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber - Journey Beyond the Arrow, (2019); Conscious Realities (2013-2016) and San Art Laboratory (2012-2015). She has been published by Hatje Cantz; JRP-Ringier; Routledge; Sternberg Press, among others and is a MoMA International Curatorial Fellow, NYC; member of Asia Society’s ‘Asia 21’ initiative, NYC; and member of Asian Art Council, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. She lives between Chiang Mai, Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney.
Catherine David (France)
Catherine David is an art historian, curator, and museum director. She made history as the first woman and the first non-German speaker to curate documenta X in Kassel, Germany in 1997. In 2022, Ms. David retired from her position as Deputy Director of the National Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. She boasts extensive experience curating solo and group shows for renowned artists and has served as Artistic Director for various art programs, including the Venice and Sao Paulo Biennales. David has also been an integral part of the IMPART Art Prize Jury since its inception in 2017.
Patricia Chen (Singapore)
Patricia Chen is a film producer and an independent art writer. She takes a filmic interest in doyens of art with social and art historical footprints and in the last decade, this has landed on two art collectors, Dr Uli Sigg and Dr Oei Hong Djien. Thus began her decade-long open-ended independent documentary film productions on private museums and leading collections and patrons of art in Asia. The resulting works, Uli Sigg: China’s Art Missionary and The 24-Hour Art Practice have been screened internationally — including presentations at Welding Orbits: Connecting & Rethinking Perspectives on Histories of Modern & Contemporary Southeast Asian Art at Centre Pompidou in Paris (2022), AsiaNow in Paris (2018) and the Authentication in Art Congress in the Hague (2016). As a writer, Chen has contributed to ArtAsiaPacific, Flash Art, The Art Newspaper, Financial Times, C-Arts and the Art Market Report; she also authored Collecting Chinese Contemporary Art: Uli Sigg in Conversation with Patricia Chen (2014). Her published articles and public lectures on the Southeast Asian art market inaugurated ways of advancing the study of art and market via quantitative data analyses and primary field work. She has been involved in the art scene in Singapore since the nineties, first as the Founding General Manager of Sculpture Square Ltd, then as a researcher, journalist, filmmaker and art consultant.
Honor Harger (Singapore)
Honor Harger is the Vice President of the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, where she has spearheaded exhibitions that explore aspects of science including big data, particle physics, natural history, marine biology, cosmology and space exploration. A curator from New Zealand, Harger has over 15 years of experience of working at the intersection between art, science and technology. She was the former Artistic Director of Lighthouse in Brighton, and has curated many international events including Transmediale in Berlin and the AV Festival in the UK. She was the first webcasting curator for Tate Modern in London and has lectured widely including at the conferences TED, and LIFT, as well as at the European Space Agency, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, California Institute of the Arts and the American Film Institute.Dr Sook-Kyung Lee (United Kingdom)Dr Sook-Kyung Lee is Director of the Whitworth at The University of Manchester; she was Artistic Director of the 14th Gwangju Biennale in 2023, titled soft and weak like water, which explored themes of resistance, indigeneity, decoloniality and ecology. Lee was Senior Curator, International Art at Tate Modern, working in exhibitions, collection displays and acquisitions. She curated several exhibitions at Tate Modern, including Nam June Paik that toured to National Gallery Singapore after Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She also headed a major multi-year research initiative Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational at Tate Modern, overseeing its strategic vision and associated programming. Lee served as the Commissioner and Curator of the Korea Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale and is currently the curator of the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale represented by the artist Yuko Mohri in 2024.
Dr Adele Tan (Singapore)
Dr Adele Tan received her PhD in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London and is Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary art in Southeast Asia and China. She also lectures in Art History at the National University of Singapore. Her recent curatorial projects include the exhibition Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia, 1960s to 1990s, a monographic exhibition on the artist-computer scientist Lin Hsin Hsin, the annual Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission with Singapore artist Charles Lim Yi Yong (2019), and Indian artist Shilpa Gupta (2023), as well as OUTBOUND, a series of large-scale site-specific artwork commissions at the Gallery. She is currently working on a forthcoming retrospective exhibition on Kim Lim in 2024 and leading the curatorial revamp of the DBS Singapore Gallery launching in 2025.
ANNEX B: OFF THE WALL - ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
ANTZ (b. 1982) is one of Singapore’s leading street artists and the co-founder of urban arts crew RSCLS. Born and raised in the cultural melting point that is Singapore, ANTZ has been exposed to a variety of unique artistic influences over his 17 years in the game. He is known for his distinctive style that draws deeply from classic Chinese culture, identity, and dialect, and often incorporates mythology and stories with urban mixes into his work.
Chris Chai (b. 1987) is a muralist, illustrator and artist whose visual practice can be summarised into one essential idea - the exploration of human complexity through repetition of line and form. His work draws from the multitude of organised structures that constantly surround us, from architecture, to biology, social networks and modern and ancient belief systems, in an attempt to examine the relationship between order and chaos and reach an intimate understanding of balance.
Lewis Choo (b. 1990) is a visual artist whose practice is focused on hyperlocal experiences, a precipitation of careful introspection in his day-to-day environment. He often works with traditional woodblock printing techniques, extensively referencing Chinese and Japanese folklore, while re-examining our roles and relationships, stemming from our predecessors' desire to inculcate the right values in the next generation.
Zarina Muhammad (b. 1982) is a curator, artist, educator, and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature, and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Through a multidisciplinary approach encompassing performance, text, installation, ritual, sound, moving image, and participatory practices, Muhammad investigates the intricate connections between ecocultural and ecological histories, myth creation, haunted historical narratives, water cosmologies, and underground realms.
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