Vincent Leow, Two Men (detail), 1989, Oil on board. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Presented in conjunction with Singapore Art Week and the National Museum of Singapore’s latest contemporary art exhibition What is Not Visible is Not Invisible, “On the Contemporary and Contemporary Art in Singapore…”, is a lecture by Prof. C. J. Wee Wan-ling about the development of contemporary art in Singapore. The idea of contemporary art presupposes an idea of the contemporary not only as a structure of time, but also as a concept of how we live in society. What then is contemporary art in Singapore, and how does it relate to the socio-political context in which it functions – one where culture as a notion from the 1980s has become more prominent? This presentation will examine the state-driven modernisation and industrialisation processes in the city-state, and why culture in “pragmatic” Singapore seems to matter more from the 1980s. It will also consider how the emergence of what we now call contemporary art emerged in Singapore partially as a response to the modernisation drive in the late 1960s to 1970s.
Venue: The Salon, National Museum of Singapore, Level 1
When: 21 Jan 2017, 5.30pm - 7pm
By: National Museum of Singapore
