NOV-DEC 2023
MAKING SPACE: OBJECTIFS TURNS 20
Chapel Gallery
Making Space is a gathering of moments across the past 20 years of Objectifs. The showcase charts our evolution in size and spirit, reflecting on the ways we have grown in community and verve, and how we have been shaped by the unique conditions of the Singapore arts scene and wider trends. As an independent visual arts centre focused on photography and film, Objectifs has made room for image-based art to traverse boundaries of form and function, while encouraging conversations about the manifold ways in which stories, issues, and artistic expression can bring us together.

In marking our 20th anniversary, we pay homage to the people and events that have made Objectifs possible. It is a tribute to the past and a celebration of the present, in anticipation of the future. It is an attempt to learn together, connect with each other, and enable more inclusive and diverse ways of telling stories and building communities through the power of the image. Our print fundraiser has closed, but you can continue supporting Objectifs here!

DEC 2023
READING BY AN ARTIST
Chapel Gallery
In this performance artwork, artist John Clang embodies his search for meaning, purpose and identity by adopting the technique of zi wei dou shu (紫微斗数), a metaphysical philosophy dating back to imperial China, to forecast events in the life of invited participants and illuminate insights to challenges. Integrating knowledge from geomancy to Chinese medicine and elements, the approach involves computing charts based on one’s birth timing to intuit interrelationships between various core “palaces” of life such as health, kinship and career. The readings, conducted in hour-long durations, welcome anyone and everyone seeking advice. Reflecting on dual roles of an artist and visionary in triangulating causality, necessity and possibility, the artwork contemplates on critical junctures where art ceases and life begins. It questions how knowledge gathering through seemingly unconventional routes reconciles with an increasingly contrived reality which is exceedingly scripted and post-produced. View the performance documentation here.

NOV 2023
CROSSING PATHS
Outdoor Courtyard
An outdoor exhibition by 12 student photographers of Pathlight School exploring the people, spaces, and things that define their school experiences, shedding light on the extraordinary within the ordinary. Through a year-long workshop with instructor Marvin Tang, students from Pathlight School explored various photographic skills, resulting in the creation of these images.

OCT-NOV 2023
DANCING ON PAPER
Lower Gallery
Dancing on Paper by Jane Goh is an exploration of abstract nude female drawings rendered in the mediums of Chinese ink, crayons and acrylic. This exhibition invites you to embark on a journey into the boundless realm of femininity, where form meets abstraction and lines converge to celebrate the sheer beauty of the female body. Her works captivate with their delicate dance between abstraction and representation. With each stroke, the artist evokes a symphony of emotions, echoing the complexity and diversity of womanhood.

OCT 2023
ALT_TAB
Lower Galleries
An exhibition featuring the alternate creative passions of advertising professionals, from art directors to copywriters, strategists to producers. Featuring Angus Hunter, Arcs of Stellar, Athirah Nazzuin, Auraya Pongpradit, bernice gaspar, Bryan Yu, Cherry Chan, Cynthia Luo, Edrick Tan, Elsie Loh, Hannah Teo, Isaac Ong, JT Tang, Kapilan Naidu, Kar Men Lee, Kessie Zheng, Nasrul Haqqim, Olga Bessarab, Zoe Raras-Ong.

SEP 2023
EXACTLY FOUNDATION EXHIBIT 9
Lower Gallery
In Path. 11, Boedi Widjaja contemplated notions of invisibility and impalpable intensities. He worked with cosmic ray muons as material, and his research culminated in experimental photography and moving-image projects. In Side-Eyes, writer-photographer Marc Nair considers how offence is captured photographically along the streets and public housing blocks of Bras Basah. Presented by Exactly Foundation.

AUG-SEP 2023
OF WEEPING TREES
Chapel Gallery
Of Weeping Trees is a solo exhibition by Marvin Tang examines the parallel narratives of Hevea brasiliensis, also known as the Para Rubber Tree, and plantation labourers, whose fates became entwined upon their arrival in Singapore in the 1900s. Through colonial postcards, contemporary surveys of former and existing rubber plantations, and the songs sung by these labourers, the exhibition unfolds connections forged over the contested ground of history, economy and ecology.

This is the conclusion to the first chapter of The Colony, which focuses on Singapore’s early relationship with the botanical empire via the movement of the Hevea brasiliensis. The Colony is the artist’s long-term research project on the impact of botanical institutes on the movement of seeds, plants and people in the colonial era.

Includes screening and conversation In Different Order with ila, Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee and Marvin Tang; and Of Planted Trees: The Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Transformation of the Singaporean Landscape, lecture by Timothy Barnard.

AUG 2023
WATERLOO STREET STORIES 
Courtyard
Waterloo Street Stories is a collaborative project by the #WaterlooStKakis for Singapore Night Festival 2023, to spotlight the dynamic and textured stories that make this street unique. At the heart of Waterloo Street Stories is a rich narrative of one of the main thoroughfares of the Bras Basah Bugis district, illustrated through movement, audio plays, music and photographs that responds to the oral histories of different Waterloo Street personalities.

Stretching from Rochor Road to Bras Basah Road, Waterloo Street is home to a diverse mix of communities, as well as religious, arts, food, and lifestyle organisations. This mix includes Centre 42, Objectifs, P7:1SMA, SMU-ACM (Arts and Culture Management Programme at Singapore Management University), and The Theatre Practice, who each have been building their own artistic and educational communities on this street.

Over at Objectifs, we present an outdoor Photography Exhibition by photographers Marc Chu, Muhammad Zulfadhli, Pek Yan Lin, and Sarah Lee. Originating from the oral histories collected for Waterloo Street Stories, the photographers documented 18 individuals who live and work in the neighbourhood. From a priest that makes cocktails at a Catholic social enterprise cafe to a private investigator, each photo series tells a unique tale, showcasing the remarkable diversity of people and culture on Waterloo Street. During SNF, visitors can also sign up for guided shoots led by these photographers.

Also happening:
Music Performances produced by SMU-ACM in collaboration with local music production house Panik Records, featuring emerging music artists Alicia DC, Angelo, Krysta Joy and Farizi.

Audio Plays by Centre 42 produced in collaboration with local audio creative house Artwave Studio, and written by playwrights selected through an open call – Christopher Chee, Laura Hayes, Lim Shien Hian and Rajkumar Thiagaras.

Movement Responses by p7:1sMA featuring dance artists include: Kansh, Xie Shangbin, Eleanor Si Ying Ee, Nathania Lauren Sim, Dalilah Diyanah, Syarifuddin Sahari

JULY-AUG 2023
BEING WITH WATER
Lower Gallery
Being with Water is a photographic work that explores the interconnectedness between our interior worlds and the elemental. It features unique silver gelatin prints suggestive of landscapes, dusk, and dawn, visually alluding to renewal and transformation, beginnings and endings, hope and loss – universal experiences as we navigate life. To create these prints, artist Ng Hui Hsien bypasses the camera and works directly and primarily with water, light, and photographic materials. For her, this hands-on analogue process is her attempt to better understand – and learn from – the characteristics of natural elements, especially water. In a way hence, Being with Water also invites us to see ourselves and draw lessons from the natural world around us. Read an essay about the exhibition by Michelle JN Lim here.

JUN 2023
A PIECE OF HOME
Chapel Gallery
How can we encourage more to look at the world with fresh eyes, unencumbered by the norms and standards of society? Perhaps start at A Piece Of Home, a group exhibition featuring 26 young persons with disabilities (PwDs). Organised by ART:DIS, the comprehensive showcase of over 60 artworks across paintings, prints & ceramics invites viewers to suspend notions of what is commonplace and to embrace difference instead. This exhibition is a highlight of ART:DIS’s 30th anniversary celebration and a cumulation of a year of artist-in-training programme in the Fine Arts and Ceramics faculty.

© Luna Chang

FEB-MAR 2023
YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHERS MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME CLASS OF 2022 EXHIBITION
Lower Gallery & Courtyard
Featuring works by the photographers from Objectifs’ young photographers developmental programme. Includes Andrea Vincent, Chang Jia Xuan Luna, Desnando Sarlim, Ethel Lim Kay Qin, Gayle Lim, Goh Pei Xuan Jomel, Kayleigh Qiqi Ho, Kyle Davidson, Janson Lim, Joel Tan Haohui, JX Soo, Minsoo Bae, Muhammad Syahmi Bin Hashim, and Muhammad Zulfadhli.

© Shane Koh Kechun – Pathlight School

FEB 2023
SCHOOL WORKSHOPS’ SHOWCASE 2023
Lower Gallery
Here at Objectifs, our school photography workshops aim not only to equip students with camera knowledge and competency, but to also provide them with a platform to visually articulate their stories and showcase the sights that capture their imagination.Featuring works by students of Crescent Girls’ School, Raffles Institution, Pathlight School and Naval Base Secondary School

Image credit: DASSAD

JAN-FEB 2023
BAD CLOCKS: ALLEY THROUGH A PINHOLE
Lower Gallery & Courtyard
A site-specific and immersive installation that introduces a camera obscura into the Lower Gallery of Objectifs. By creating a pinhole in a darkened room, the environment surrounding the gallery projects back into its interiors, blending indoor and outdoor spaces with light.

Bad Clocks is an ongoing concept explored by DASSAD to reconsider the ways we understand and define time. This iteration explores the perception of time within the camera obscura, tracing back to the beginnings of photography. The camera obscura becomes a playground for interdisciplinary collaborations, inspiring visual, sound, performance and installation-based works concerned about the passing of time. This exhibition is led by DASSAD (multidisciplinary arts trio comprising of Dave Lim, Adar Ng and Woong Soak Teng), in collaboration with installation artist, Victoria Hertel, movement artist, Neo Jialing, and writer, Euginia Tan, and with venue support from Objectifs.