Charles Lim Yi Yong: SEA STATE

Charles Lim, SEA STATE 3: inversion (production render, detail), 2015 3-D nylon polymer print; 900 x 598 x 62 mm, Courtesy of the artist & Future Perfect, Singapore

SEA STATE by artist Charles Lim, commissioned for the Singapore Pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale and curated by Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, will be presented at the NTU CCA Singapore from 30 April to 10 July 2016. For over a decade, Lim’s ongoing project SEA STATE examines the biophysical, political and psychic contours of Singapore through the visible and invisible lenses of the sea. SEA STATE is an indepth inquiry by an artist that scrutinises both man-made systems, opening new perspectives on our everyday surroundings, from unseen landscapes and disappearing islands to the imaginary boundaries of a future landmass. To develop the Venice presentation, Lim was awarded a nine-month residency at the NTU CCA Singapore in 2014/2015.

First held at the Palazzo Franchetti on the occasion of the Singapore Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, the symposium The Geopolitical and the Biophysical: a structured conversation on Art and Southeast Asia in context will continue and expand upon the debate with a second iteration at NTU CCA Singapore during Lim’s exhibition. The presentation of SEA STATE and the symposium are generously supported as in Venice by the National Arts Council Singapore and the Singapore Tourism Board.

Charles Lim Yi Yong (b. 1973, Singapore; lives and works in Singapore) studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London, graduating in 2001. In 2002, he participated in Documenta11 in Kassel, Germany as a member of the net-art collective tsunamii.net. A former professional and Olympic sailor, Lim’s practice stems from an intimate, bodily engagement with the natural world, mediated and informed by field research and experimentation, performance, drawing, photography and video.

Interview with Charles Lim: