Allan Sekula and Noël Burch, Empty cargo ship, The Forgotten Space (2010), film still.

NTU CCA Singapore presents Fish Story, to be continued, bringing together for the first time in Southeast Asia an important body of works by the late eminent American artist and photographer, theorist and photography historian, Allan Sekula. The exhibition juxtaposes three chapters from his ambitious project, Fish Story (1988 – 1993) alongside video essay, Lottery of the Sea (2006) and his last film, The Forgotten Space (2010) co-directed with American film theorist, Nöel Burch. These core works of Sekula’s research on the maritime world underlines his sustained argument that the sea is the “forgotten space” of the contemporary global economy.

Allan Sekula, Hammerhead crane unloading forty-foot containers from Asian ports. American President Lines terminal. Los Angeles harbour.
San Pedro, California, Fish Story, Chapter 1: Fish Story (1992). Frac Bretagne Collection, France © The Estate of Allan Sekula.

The key project, Fish Story was created over a five-year period and considers global maritime trade as an integral part of capitalist market forces. Blurring the boundaries between academic essay, photography and socio-historical research, the exhibition Fish Story is structured in nine chapters, three of which are presented at NTU CCA Singapore. The opening chapter, Fish Story (Chapter 1) depicts travels from distant ports, focusing largely on the busy and abandoned harbour areas of California. Middle Passage (Chapter 3) charts the connection between the Atlantic and Pacific maritime space, in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Walking on Water (Chapter 9) closes the series and consists of slide shows produced in Warsaw during Poland’s establishment of the first post-communist government.

Allan Sekula. Fish Story: Walking on Water (Chapter 9). 1990. Eighty 35mm color slides. Duration variable. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Marie-Josée Kravis, 2013. © 2015 Allan Sekula.

Lottery of the Sea, a geopolitical investigation of the contemporary maritime life takes the format of a long video-diary. The title is a reference to Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations (1776) in which he explored the concept of risk drawing examples from seafaring and sea trade. In this fragmentary essay, Allan Sekula explores the maritime economy from different angles. He combines his explorations of the sea with reflections on the effects of neoliberal policies and their resulting socioeconomic conditions. A critical examination of global capitalism, The Forgotten Space profiles the supporting figures of the global economy: truck drivers in Los Angeles, factory workers in China, and Filipino migrant workers. Both films are conceived as extensions of a wider research on the ocean and global maritime trade to which Sekula has committed during the last twenty years of his artistic practice.

Through its presentation in Singapore and engagement with the maritime histories of Southeast Asia, Fish Story, to be continued hopes to reflect on the history of Singapore whose port activities contributed vastly to her economical growth – an added chapter and continuation of Sekula’s important artistic research whose geographical expansion is open-ended.

Fish Story, to be continued will include works from the collections of Fond Regional d’art contemporain Bretagne, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York and Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA 21), Vienna. The exhibition will be complemented by different events and interventions in The Lab and a film programme in The Single Screen. Fish Story, to be continued is situated under NTU CCA Singapore’s narrative of PLACE.LABOUR.CAPITAL. that draws from transdisciplinary research addressing the complexities of a world in flux and the network of connections that such underlying elements define at both local and global scale.

Curated by Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director and Anca Rujoiu, Curator, Exhibitions.

PUBLIC PROGRAMME

Exhibition de(Tour) led by Anca Rujoiu, NTU CCA Singapore Curator, Exhibitions
Friday 10 July, 7.30 – 9.00pm

Exhibition de(Tour) led by Andrea Nanetti, Associate Professor at the School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological University
Friday 21 August 2015, 7.30 – 9.00pm

Exhibition de(Tour) led by Tim Bunnell, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
Friday 4 September 2015, 7.30 – 9.00pm

Exhibition de(Tour) led by Jegan Vincent de Paul, PhD candidate at NTU Centre for Contemporay Art Singapore and the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University
Friday 11 September 2015, 7.30 – 9.00pm

Allan Sekula Symposium
Saturday 26 September 2015, 11.00am – 4.00pm
With contributions from Carles Guerra, Artist, Critic, Independent Curator and Hilde Van Gelder, Director of the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography, amongst others. Moderated by Ute Meta Bauer, NTU CCA Singapore Founding Director and Anca Rujoiu, NTU CCA Singapore Curator, Exhibitions Otherwise stated, all programmes take place at NTU CCA Singapore, Block 43 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks.

Exhibition: 3 July – 27 September 2015
Exhibition Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays: 12pm – 7pm, Fridays: 12pm – 9pm. Closed on Mondays. Open on Public Holidays
Venue: NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Block 43 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 109443
Admission: Free admission