• News
  • Add Your Events
  • Support & Advertise
  • Contact Us

Logo

Navigation
  • Art News
  • Art Listings
    • Current Exhibitions
    • Upcoming Exhibitions
    • Auctions
    • Workshops
    • Talks
    • Guided Tours
    • Festivals, Markets, Parties
    • Kids’ & Families’ Events
    • Performances
    • Film
    • Open Calls
  • Art Venues

Sandstorm in an Hourglass at Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre

The sand in an hourglass is meant to represent time, a time that is measured with a past, present, and future. Each reset and inverted when the hourglass flips over. The symbol of an hourglass in relation to time is so entrenched; it is hard to consider it anew while we play our roles in this game of time. If some kind of force enters the hourglass and lifts the sand, will the circling and winds re-present time, will its breath and heat flow through our minds?

In the exhibition Sandstorm in an Hourglass, works by Joo Choon Lin, Jaxton Su, and Sebastian Mary Tay take on this kind of force. Just like a sandstorm in an hourglass might persuade us to shift our perception of time, the artworks invite viewers into their ‘hourglasses’— the metaphorically charged language and landscapes this world has forged and displayed to us. We slip into these hourglasses and enter landscapes that speak of the variable states of consciousness, offer a view into the inner psyche, and reflect an inquiry into its essence.

Many of the artworks, which include installation, film, sculpture, and painting, were produced specifically for the exhibition and present recent questions and new directions in the artists’ practices. Alongside their own investigations, the artworks also respond to the changing set of conditions that accompany Covid-19, reflecting on issues of isolation, communication, and constraints in which work is produced.

Held across two sites, Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre (21-30 August) and The Substation (4-13 September), their works ripple from one site to another, as an extension, a pairing, or a loop of existing concerns. With a shared interest in the appearance and essence of nature, whether observed in their own surroundings or encountered in philosophical discourse, the artists ground their inquiry in materials, shapes, sounds, and forms that are familiar to us. We see landscapes, flowers, seeds, and trees; we hear the crackle of flame, the buzzing of bees. These are reimagined to present strange, paradoxical, or perhaps bewildering sights, overtures from which questions on the nature of the realities moving within and around us emerge.

The exhibition is curated by Magdalen Chua and supported by the National Arts Council, the Arts Fund, The Glasgow School of Art Creative Network, Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre, and The Substation.

Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre, 30A Yishun Central 1, Singapore 768796
Exhibition: 21-30 August 2020, 10am-10pm, daily
Workshops: 22 August 2020
– Video animation by Joo Choon Lin
– Volcano-making by Jaxton Su
– Cyanotype printing by Sebastian Mary Tay

The Substation, 45 Armenian Street, Singapore 179936
Exhibition: 4-13 September 2020, 12-8pm, Tuesday-Sunday
Artist Talks: 12 September 2020

When: 21 - 30 Aug 2020,

By: The Substation

Share this story:
  • tweet

Comments are closed.

Art Calendar

SAGG on Facebook

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

5 days 5 hours ago

theindependent.sg/national-gallery-singapore-reveals-untold-legacy-of-asian-artists-in-modern-art/

National Gallery Singapore reveals untold legacy of Asian artists in modern art - Singapore News

This new art show tells the story of Asian artists in 1920s Paris that most people have never heard.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

5 days 5 hours ago

thesmartlocal.com/read/retro-places-singapore/

14 Retro Places In Singapore To Feel Like You've Travelled Back In Time

Retro's back in fashion, so here's a list of 14 retro places in Singapore you can go to to immerse yourself in an old-school charm.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 weeks 3 days ago

www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-design/national-gallery-singapores-ink-show-ambitious-unsatisfying

National Gallery Singapore’s ink show is ambitious – but unsatisfying

[SINGAPORE] National Gallery Singapore’s new ink exhibition sets out with an ambitious goal: to show ink not as a fixed tradition but as a living, changing language shaped by calligraphers, poets, abstractionists and experimental artists over time and across cultures. Read more at The Business Tim...

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

3 weeks 1 day ago

www.littledayout.com/ocean-diving-into-the-unknown-exhibition-alliance-francaise-singapore/

Ocean: Diving Into The Unknown At Alliance Française Singapore

Take a dive into the blue world at Alliance Française’s latest exhibition, Ocean: Diving into the Unknown. A collaboration with the French National Museum of

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 1 day ago

www.eco-business.com/press-releases/uob-partners-sg-eco-fund-to-bring-sustainability-and-art-to-the-community/

UOB partners SG Eco Fund to bring sustainability and art to the community

UOB, one of Singapore’s leading banks, and the SG Eco Fund have announced a two-year partnership to drive greater community awareness of sustainability and art.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 1 week ago

www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/eight-singapore-indie-booksellers-launch-bookshop-sg-as-amazon-alternative

Eight Singapore indie booksellers launch Bookshop.sg as Amazon alternative

The online store, which launches on May 14, describes itself as an act of "radical cooperation". Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 1 week ago

www.asiaone.com/singapore/over-50k-gold-coins-cash-stolen-veteran-artist-koeh-sia-yongs-home-while-he-was-bali

Over $50k in gold coins, cash stolen from veteran artist Koeh Sia Yong's home while he was in Bali

SINGAPORE — While veteran Singaporean artist Koeh Sia Yong was away in Indonesia for nearly two months earlier in 2025, his bedroom drawers back home were emptied of more than $50,000 in valuables. The 87-year-old returned to his two-bedroom unit at The Interlace condo in Depot Road on March 15 to...

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 1 week ago

danamic.org/2025/05/11/order-is-essential-what-we-learnt-about-fernando-zobel-at-his-national-gallery-exhibit/

Order is Essential: What We Learnt about Fernando Zóbel at his National Gallery Exhibit

Come learn with us about the life, thoughts and works of Fernando Zóbel in a truly transcontinental exhibition that's open right now!

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 3 weeks ago

www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-design/how-one-man-made-nude-art-possible-singapore

How one man made nude art possible in Singapore

Yeo Workshop celebrates the legacy of Solamalay Namasivayam, who fought for nude figure drawing when it was still considered 'indecent'. Today, nude figure drawing is a cornerstone of artist training in Singapore Read more at The Business Times.

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 months 3 weeks ago

www.harpersbazaar.com.sg/lifestyle/robert-zhao-hong-kong-art-week

Robert Zhao Might Be One Of The Best Singaporean Artists That You’ve Never Heard Of, Until Now

We caught up with the creative mastermind behind CHARLES & KEITH’s latest Artist In Residence project.

2
View on Facebook
Share
  • News
  • Add Your Events
  • Support & Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy & Terms
© 2020. Singapore Art & Gallery Guide
We use cookies that are necessary for the website's functions. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoRead more