re-THINGing Sculpture in Singapore 2021

Venue 1: 

NAFA Lim Hak Tai Gallery: reTHINGing Materiality — Contemporary Sculpture 2021

For more than half a century, the prevalence of conceptualism in the contemporary art world seems to have placed "sculpture" in an awkward position – while the practice of this art in the traditional sense is deemed obsolete, the embrace of objects made beyond formal concerns or the direct appropriation of the "ready-mades", however, have rendered anything 3-dimensional "sculpture", so that we may even say that "sculpture" is everywhere in the art world today. On top of this is a common denigration of the artist's hand – or the so-called craft element. In recent decades, however, there have been increasing discussions on the "material turn" and growing trend of craft making in contemporary practice. 

Venue 2:

Chapel Gallery, Objectifs: reTHINGing — Materiality in Sculpture and Photographic Image

Sculpture and photography has an interesting relationship. Since the emergence of photography, sculpture not only appeared within photographs but was also deeply impacted by it in terms of its design, reception, interpretation, and manner of display. Photography was also widely integrated within other forms and mediums including sculpture in the works of the Western avant garde artists. In recent years, however, photographers had in turn begun to take an interest in “materiality” - possibly spurred by the waning of analogue photography and the proliferation of digital image-making. In a world that is increasingly digitized in a broad spectrum, the artists’ tactile relationship to the making process has either dwindled or altered. In addition, for your further contemplation, Objectifs - formerly the Sculpture Square, was where the SSS was founded, it is also the venue for our inaugural exhibition The Round Show in 2002.

Venue 3: 

SCCC: reTHINGing the Site - Sculpture and its Environment 2021

The quality most intrinsic to sculpture is probably its three-dimensionality. Unlike painting that projects a sort of a virtual space, “[sculpture] takes up space, moves and occupies a site, obtruding on it or changing it” (WJT Mitchell, 2007). While what is today known as “site-specific art” emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to modern art objects as transportable and bound to the museum and commodification, it could be said that sculpture has always had a site-specificity with its implementation in both private and public spaces. “reTHINGing the Site” will explore how sculptures or 3D works intervene with their material form in the space that they occupy. It will feature public sculptures, indoor works, as well as site-specific installations that investigates the relation of material, form, and space. It will also include a special selection of artworks from important pioneer sculptors such as the late Mr Ng Eng Teng, Ms Han Sai Por, and Mr Cheong Fah Cheong, from The Teng Collection under a courtesy loan from local collectors Teng Jee Hum and June Ong. 

Venue 4: 

Jendela Gallery, Esplanade: ReTHINGing Gesture in Contemporary Sculptural Practice

As a co-curation project between SSS and the Esplanade curatorial team, Re-THINGing Gesture in Contemporary Sculptural Practice will present new and recent sculptural works by invited Singaporean artists which culminate from explorations of gesture—either in the process of creating or as subject matter. By including a variety of artworks of various mediums and techniques, the exhibition investigates the ways performative gestures could be embodied or manifested in material forms. The main interest is in exploring how the medium of sculpture, and its ever-evolving strategies, could express the body's capacity to communicate complex ideas and states of interiority.