Archive – Exhibitions & Screenings
Other Highlights From 2019
BAUHAUS IMAGINISTA x SINGAPORE
NOV-DEC 2019
Chapel Gallery
Presented by Goethe-Institute Singapore, Objectifs and Singapore Heritage Society. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus Movement, the influential German school of design and architecture. bauhaus imaginista x Singapore marks this occasion by looking at how Bauhaus impacted design internationally, including how the movement left its mark on Singapore’s landscape.
The modular travelling exhibition investigates the legacy of the Bauhaus through four areas of research from the perspective of challenges faced by the world today. It uses four objects created by key thinkers of the Bauhaus — Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Marcel Breuer and Kurt Schwerdtfeger — as a point of departure to articulate the transcultural exchanges and encounters that informed the movement, and how its ideas were subsequently modified, adapted or rejected in different local contexts.
Alongside this is a showing of 14 large photographic prints of local modernist architecture by the late Singapore photographer Jeremy San, which exemplify the Bauhaus concepts of simplicity and functionality. San’s artistic practice emphasised the sensorial aspects of the built environment. With a singular eye for light, texture and detail, his images are evocative depictions of past and present spaces in Singapore. The show includes the Panel Discussion: Bauhaus at Home and Abroad with Prof Ho Puay-Peng, Eduard Kögel, Justin Zhuang, moderated by Dr. Johannes Widodo.
I REMEMBER IT ALL & ENTAH, TAK TAHU
DEC 2019
Lower Gallery
In I Remember It All, Seelan Palay expresses his fascination with his family’s treasure trove of photographs predating the era of digital photography and their ability to trigger memories of his past lived experiences. In Entah, Tak Tahu, Shahrom Mahat considers his identity as a half Malay, half Chinese person raised Malay-Muslim, and examines whether the Haji Lane area, known today for music, food and entertainment, still bears traces of its past as a hub of spirituality and scholarship for Malay culture and Haj pilgrims. Presented by Exactly Foundation.
SILVER FILMS 2019
SEP 2019
Cathay Cineplexes
Silver Arts, an annual festival dedicated to celebrating seniors and creative ageing, and organised by the National Arts Council, returns for an eighth year. Silver Films, part of Silver Arts, presents a selection of heartwarming films curated by Objectifs on living life to the fullest and holding our loved ones close to us. Includes short films by Wee Li Lin, Sun Koh, Anthony Chen, and two new commissioned short films – Family Affairs by Chai Yee Wei (in collaboration with Dr Liang Wern Fook) and A Dream I Did Not Dream by K Rajagopal (in collaboration with Dr Uma Rajan). Also including feature films Still Human by Oliver Siu Kuen Chan, Radiopetti by Hari Viswanath, To My Dear Granny by Chu Yu-ning and Sweet Bean by Naomi Kawase. Also includes 2 outdoor screenings at Our Tampines Hub.
MIGRANT WORKERS PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL
SEP 2019
Lower Gallery
The inaugural Migrant Workers Photography Festival is the first photography festival dedicated to the works of migrant workers working and residing in Singapore. This year, a total of 118 submissions were received in response to the theme “Life in Singapore”, across three categories: Landscape and Nature, People and Culture, and Places and Architecture. The twelve images selected as finalists and exhibited at Objectifs capture the perspectives and expressions of migrant workers living and working in Singapore. For more information, visit the Migrant Workers Photography Festival’s Facebook Page here.
Press Coverage:
– The Straits Times: Photos by migrant workers shine at new festival
– Xinhua: Feature: Images speak of longing, laughter at Singapore’s migrant worker photography festival
– Coconuts Singapore: The first ever Migrant Workers Photography Festival looks at life in Singapore with a different lens
– South China Morning Post: Singapore photography festival captures closer ties between locals and migrant workers
HOLDING SPACE & FLAT OUT TO KEEP
SEP 2019
Lower Gallery
Holding Space by Tan Ngiap Heng is a photographic project which seeks to hold space for families dealing with mortality, chronic illness and the fragility of life. Flat Out to Keep is a continuation of Lau Eng Seng’s documentation on the demolition of Rochor Centre to build part of the new North-South Corridor by the mid 2020s. Presented by Exactly Foundation.
NOCTURNAL NARRATIVES
JUL 2019
Courtyard & Shop
Join us for an evening of Singapore short films under the stars! Objectifs presents a selection of animated works by young local filmmakers, as well as zines from the region. From fantastical tales to introspective expressions, these nocturnal narratives lay bare the sheer breadths and depths of our inner lives. Part of Singapore Night Festival 2019.
COMMONPLACE & WRITING ON THE WALL
JUL 2019
Lower Gallery
Commonplace by artist-writer Jason Wee is “inspired by Arthur Yap’s poetry, as well as the furtive, coded, partially hidden walks, postures and other moves that queers make in order to claim and revise the normative orientations of public space as their own.” In Writing on the Wall, Grace Baey documents transgender people in Singapore and their experiences. Presented by Exactly Foundation.
CHINATOWN
MAY 2019
Chapel Gallery
Chinatown comprises a book and an exhibition of a selection of black and white photographs of Chinatown, Singapore, taken by photographer Sha Ying from 1995 to 2002. The photos have documented the changes of the landscape of Chinatown due to urbanisation and how the people and spaces have been greatly affected by social development. Through this project, Sha Ying also hopes to create more awareness of the importance of recording our memories and our past through visual documentation so as to provide a historical reference for the future generations.
PLASTICITY & HURT LIKE HEAVEN
MAY 2019
Lower Gallery
In Plasticity, artist Ernest Goh uses plastic trash found on Punggol Beach to highlight how marine life mistake tiny micro-plastic bits for food. Hurt Like Heaven by Eiffel Chong attempts to discuss the prickly topic of euthanasia, which is not legal in most countries including Singapore. Presented by Exactly Foundation.
ACCRETION
MAY 2019
Lower Gallery
Photographers from Yale-NUS College concerned with a variety of social issues from environmental destruction to transgender rights present their works in this group show. Their works were developed in a four-day intensive masterclass with photographer Ian Teh at the OBSCURA Festival of Photography 2018 in Penang. The photographers are Dave Lim, Ines Toa, Leong Kit Ling, Lesha Mansukhani, Sean Cham, Sim Yi Shien, Wong Cai Jie (Jay) and XiZhe Sim.
ALLEGORIES OF LABOUR
APR 2019
Lower Gallery
Allegories of Labour explores the boundaries between man and machine in the workplace. The manipulations in artist and educator Ang Siew Ching‘s video works take off from the above questions to consider the human condition in being surrounded by machines. With opening performance by The Artists Company.
STOICHEION 金星
FEB 2019
Chapel Gallery
Presenting two large scale video installations and a selection of Japanese-ink paintings by Georgian-born and New York-based artist Levan Songulashvili, who is currently a resident artist at INSTINC.
A MEXICAN PORTRAIT
FEB 2019
Lower Gallery
The Embassy of Mexico in Singapore presents A Mexican Portrait, a solo exhibition by Mexican photographer Martha Gabriela Driessen. Through black and white photographs, Driessen captures candid moments of Mexican people’s everyday lives from a small town in Oaxaca, Mexico, to the urban streets of Chicago, USA. The works offers a glimpse into the Mexican spirit in which ancient traditions are weaved into new ways of life.
ECOPSCYHOLOGY
JAN 2019
Lower Gallery
1PROJECTS presents Ecopsychology, a group exhibition by four rising photographers; Lavender Chang (Taiwan/Singapore), Sophirat Muangkum (Thailand), Pokchat Worasub (Thailand) and Yatender (Vietnam) curated by Nim Niyomsin.