Recipient of the Curator Open Call 2021
With You Here Between: Defamiliarizations
Curated by Elaine Thanya Marie Teo x Tekad Kolektif
Featuring artworks by Dylan Chan, Fitri Ya’akob, Masuri Mazlan and Vimal Kumar
With You Here Between: Defamiliarizations presents works by emerging artists Dylan Chan, Fitri Ya’akob, Masuri Mazlan and Vimal Kumar who depict photography in different, more experiential ways, and touch on themes ranging from queer identity and the body, to spirituality and ecology, to yearning for home, and family. Collectively, their works celebrate living, and thriving, in the margins.
Elaine Thanya Marie Teo x Tekad Kolektif is the recipient of Curator Open Call, part of Objectifs’ ongoing effort to broaden perspectives by supporting curatorial research and innovative ways of presenting image-based work. They were mentored by Marc Glöde and Wang Ruobing.
Exhibition Information
- 23 Sep - 31 Oct 2021 | Chapel Gallery
Resources
Press
26 September 2021 – “With You Here Between: Defamiliarizations” at Objectifs Centre
Plural Art Mag, 26 Sep 2021
About the Curator
Elaine Thanya Marie Teo is a curator with a specialisation in performance art and is the co-founder of Tekad Kolektif, an artist collective dedicated to research in the liminal space.
About the Artists
Dylan Chan (b. 1997) is a Singapore-based artist pursuing his BFA (Hons) at LASALLE College of the Arts. He previously graduated from their Diploma programme in 2018, and was a recipient of the Winston Oh (Practice) Award. His works abstract instances from everyday life and draw from memories centred around intimacy.
Fitri Ya’akob’s (b. 1996) works imbue her personal narratives with elements of spirituality and carnal human emotions, and explore the philosophical nuances in human relationships. She holds a BFA in Photography and Digital Imaging from Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media and received the Kwek Leng Joo Prize of Excellence in 2019. Her works have been exhibited locally, and at the 2019 edition of the Pingyao International Photography Festival, China. [Website]
Masuri Mazlan is a Singapore-based visual artist and co-founder of Tekad Kolektif. He graduated with a BA in Fine Art (First Class Honours) from LASALLE College of the Arts accredited by Goldsmiths, University of London. His accolades include the Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Scholarship Award (2016), the International TAKIFUJI Art Award by Japan Traffic Culture Association (2017), the Winston Oh Travelogue Research Award (2018) and Anugerah Cemerlang by MENDAKI (2019). He was the recipient of the NAC LASALLE Community Arts Mentorship Programme (CAMP) (2019) to co-lead art workshops on a grassroots level, and organised Of Spaces and Phases in conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2020. [Website]
Vimal Kumar (b. 1993) is a multidisciplinary Singaporean artist with an interest in the visual aspect of storytelling, often delving into narratives of the unseen. His works explore themes related to culture, heritage, spirituality, and ecology. While he enjoys working with traditional media such as oil, gouache, and ink, he has a keen interest in photography and digital painting as well.
About the Mentors
Marc Gloede is a curator, critic and film scholar. His work focuses on the relationship between images, technology, space, the body, and the dynamics between art, architecture and film. He was senior curator of Art Film, Art Basel’s film programme (2008-14) and has curated exhibitions including STILL/MOVING/STILL — The History of Slide Projection in the Arts (Knokke / Belgium). He authored the book Farbige Lichträume / Colored Space of Light (2014), was co-editor of Synästhesie-Effekte (2011), and was recently published in The Impossibility of Mapping [Urban Asia] (2020). He received his PhD at the Free University of Berlin and since 2017 is Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices at NTU ADM.
Wang Ruobing is an artist, independent curator and art educator based in Singapore. She received her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. She was previously a curator at the National Gallery Singapore. At present, she works as a lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts and is the co-founder of Comma Space 逗号空间: an artist-run experimental art space that creates thinking spaces between commas. As an independent curator, her recent curated exhibitions include “12 SOLO” (2020 -2021, ongoing); “Arts in Your Neighbourhood” (Public Art Trust 2018 and 2019); “Happens When Nothing Happens” (The Esplanade, 2019); “Of Other Places” (The Substation, 2019); and “Beneath Tide, Running Forest” (Singapore Botanic Gardens, 2018).
As an academic, her research concentrates on identity, hybridity and transcultural discourses, particularly on contemporary art in China and Southeast Asia. Her writings have appeared in publications such as Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (JCCA), Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Nanyang Art and a range of exhibition catalogues. Wang’s artistic work spans across a variety of methods and approaches, including drawing, film, photography, sculpture and installation. Concerned with challenging and exploring different ways of seeing everyday objects and urban landscapes in relation to the rapidly changing world of today, Wang creates artworks that actively disrupt perception and spotlight on the anthropological nature of objects. Wang has exhibited extensively, with solo and group shows showcased both locally and abroad.