“Many of the artists that I think deserve attention are exactly the artists that I’ve worked with before or are planning to work with in future – such as Aki Hassan, Ashley Hi, Daniel Chong, Genevieve Leong, Lee Wan Xiang, and Victoria Hertel (all artists whose works are illustrated throughout this story), just to name a few. These are younger artists in their 20s or early 30s who are just in the beginnings of their practice – as am I – but who have already developed strong, identifiable sensibilities, and work with their chosen mediums in compelling ways. I find myself intrigued by their methods, and fascinated by their deep, nuanced engagement with their chosen materials and ideas.”

“I’d only be able to speak from my personal experience, as every curator works within different contexts and to achieve different objectives. My working style would greatly differ from a museum curator – who has to work according to the institution’s schedules, departments, and stakeholders – or even another independent curator, depending on their own sensibilities and preferences.

And every project starts from a different place – it could begin with a specific artist, or a specific combination of artists, or it could begin with an idea or a text, or it could really be devised entirely in response to a physical space. It might even be determined by the requirements of available grants and funding sources – would it need to engage the public, or respond to certain themes, or would the artists need to be of a certain age or working within a certain medium? There are a multitude of ways in which the seed of an exhibition might be planted, and a multitude of paths that the exhibition might take in the process of being put together.

But in general, a curator would work within the realms of devising the conceptual framework for an exhibition or programme, selecting artists, engaging artists in conversation and critique about their works, negotiating the presentation of artworks within a given physical or even digital space, shaping the audience experience of an exhibition and the artworks within it, and writing exhibition texts and curatorial essays about the art and artists. A curator might even build relationships with artists over time without having any concrete projects that they are working on, until the right opportunities arise.”

“In my opinion, having more curators with diverse backgrounds and approaches can only be a good thing; even better that each curator has their own personal preferences and connections with various artists, so that different artists will have their own or even multiple platforms to present their works. What I particularly enjoy is seeing artists and their works outside of traditional art institutions and galleries, removed from certain historical or conceptual frameworks, commercial concerns, or connotations of legitimacy.

In a time of instability in the arts – the ‘closure’ of the Substation, the loss of the NTU CCA exhibition space, the dormancy of the Institute of Contemporary Art, a period of evolution for the Singapore Art Museum, not to mention the impact of the pandemic – I think it’s very exciting that independent curators, or even artists themselves, are carving out their own spaces to present their works and ideas.”

“I don’t think there’s a set of fixed criteria – I personally think a lot of it is contextual. But I would say that I ask myself some of these questions: Does the exhibition make the most thoughtful use of the space that it has? Were the curatorial choices in the best interest of the artists, and of the resonance between different works? Are the artworks enhanced by the way in which they are presented?

What kind of feelings and thoughts did I experience, and how does that relate to the objectives of the exhibition? How is the information about the show conveyed – was the exhibition text written and presented in the most effective way, or is the show better experienced with a sense of mystery?”

“I learn a lot from just looking at and thinking about the art and visual culture around me. That means regularly going to exhibitions, meeting or chatting with artists to see what they’re working on, and keeping track of artists’ works and projects through social media. It also means thoughtfully observing the world outside of what might be defined as ‘visual art’, whether it’s popular culture, current events, or our everyday environment.

There’s a necessary process of introspection that underlies all of this – thinking about what I’m drawn to, or dislike, or believe in, and why. But I find that my practice develops the most from actually doing the work of curating exhibitions. Each project presents unique challenges, and the ways I and the artists respond to these circumstances can tell me a lot about what I value and how I can improve.”

“I’m excited to see what is to come from relatively new independent art spaces such as starch, Comma Space, and Field Studies. I’m also very interested in the developments at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), now that they’ve moved to their new temporary space at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. I’m looking forward to SAM’s first exhibition featuring The Observatory, and I’m curious to see what they have in store for the 2022 Singapore Biennale. I’m also very glad that SAM has recently committed to a residency programme for artists and curators, which I’ll be participating in in the later part of 2022.

As for limitations and drawbacks, I do think that artists in Singapore have been struggling for a long time with this dependency that we have on state funding. While we are appreciative of the financial support, we are also very conscious of the conditions of this funding. It also seems like art institutions here are in a state of flux due to various factors, and I hope to see more rigour and leadership from them in the coming years.”

“As part of Singapore Art Week 2022, I am co-curating an exhibition titled Bad Imitation with fellow artist and curator Daniel Chong. This group exhibition brings together seven diverse art practices that engage in acts of deliberately imprecise imitation, generating new meanings and surprising encounters within the gap between copy and original. We will be presenting new commissions by Ashley Hi, Catherine Hu, Khairullah Rahim in collaboration with Nghia Phung, Michael Lee, Moses Tan, Pat Toh, as well as Daniel himself. This will take place at Tanjong Pagar Distripark from January 14 to January 23.

I’m also curating a series of exhibitions that will be held in February 2022 at Field Studies, a newly opened independent art space run by Robert Zhao and Ang Song Nian. Conceived as an unconventional drawing show, Three Sketches for a Lost Year will be organised into three parts – Grid, Curve, and Mark – motifs that are inspired by basic elements in drawing practices. Each part will present five artists working in different mediums, from drawing itself to sculpture and even kinetic art. The works move beyond the understanding of drawing as pencil-on-paper to contemplate lines in space, and the sketching-out of an image or idea.

Three Sketches is meant not just as an intimate survey of the role of drawing in emerging contemporary art practices in Singapore, but also a curatorial experiment that reflects the nature of the artworks within the structure of the exhibition. In keeping with the brevity of a ‘sketch’, each of the three exhibitions will last for only three days (Friday to Sunday), over three consecutive weekends.”

Photography Phyllicia Wang Art Direction Jonathan Chia Hair Linh/Itto+Lim Makeup Kenneth Chia, using Nars

A version of this article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2022 Art & Music: The Analogue Edition of FEMALE