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The unpublished travel photographs of Singapore‐born British artist Kim Lim (1936–97) reveal the diverse reference points for her sculptures. Thus far, critical literature on Lim's practice has not yet regarded the body of photographs taken by her across five decades, largely because her photography remained a private undertaking throughout her artistic career. As ephemera relating to her sculptural making, they are essential to the way that we encounter her practice today and reveal her own approach to 'minimalism' outside of its burgeoning developments in Euro‐American contexts. Bringing together a selection of travel and art photographs taken by Kim Lim, this essay asks what these works suggest is at stake for us now, and, specifically, the kinds of engagement that they enable with Lim's practice today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the social realist paintings of the art groups Yiyanhui and the Equator Art Society which emerged during the 1950s in Malaya and Singapore. Their works centred on the social functions of art and its subject matters featured the working class, the Japanese occupation and anti-British colonial sentiment. Their artworks are viewed here as cultural productions shaped by the negotiation between dominant-subordinate relationships within a postcolonial framework. It is argued that the artistic productions examined here may be viewed not only for its overarching "social realist" endeavours but, also as a struggle to rewrite the narrative of the Chinese in Malaya against of the prevailing static representations forwarded by the colonial campaign. The first part of the paper illustrates how colonial discourse in the local press propagated an image of the Chinese as inherently susceptible to communism, untrustworthy, and opportunistic. The second part of the paper shows how the artists resisted this essentialist image of Chinese identity and offered a more complex picture of a Chinese-Malayan identity. Through a combination of interviews, written artist's statements, formal and contextual considerations of the artworks, as well as a cultural studies framework, the author demonstrate how a different narrative is being offered by these artists through two related processes in identity construction: qualifications for authenticity and belonging, the articulation of ambivalence. Resistance thus, is explored as encompassing a network of strategies employed by these artists as a way to reject colonialist representations of otherness and gain authorial agency against the intellectual and ideological dominance of colonial discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates the operationalization of an analytical framework that draws on Pamphilon's Zoom Model and on an arts-informed life history research approach in the analysis of event travel career narratives. Nineteen Singaporean artists and producers in the performing arts world participated in the study, and were encouraged to create and employ memory maps, photographs, and artifacts as creative inquiries to describe and explain the stages of their event travel careers. The storying of lives is as complex as illustrating lives on paper. A structure is necessary to help researchers make sense of both visuals and narratives. Pamphilon's Zoom Model is adapted to incorporate creative inquiries (visuals). The model functions like a camera, providing the researcher with different levels of zoom, cues, and perspectives for the interpretation of visuals and narratives throughout the data collection process. The Zoom Model is a versatile instrument that not only provided structure for the storying of participants' lives but also allowed for the interpretation of visuals and stories across different time periods, providing richer stories and unfolding unexplored aspects of lives lived. Limitations of the arts-informed life history approach and the operations of the Zoom Model are discussed, and suggestions are presented for their future application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the shift of the Singaporean contemporary art from more historical to more fictional archives during the period from 2006 to 2016. The archive is recognized for improving in terms of aesthetic formats. The exhibitions of works by artists such as Jason Wee, Robert Zhao and Debbie Ding are reviewed, particularly their depictions of the country's social and political history.

The article provides a selection of documents and photographs of works by the Singaporean performance artist Tang Da Wu. The works are part of the Singapore Art Archive Project created by artist and archivist Koh Nguang How. The history of contemporary art and the censorship of art are discussed. Also presented is an overview of a series of performance art sessions featuring the artist's works held at the National Museum Art Gallery.

Being able to document, preserve and provide access to music resources is both challenging and exciting. Prior to the development and launch of MusicSG, there was no known music archive of Singapore music that was readily accessible to the public. There was, thus, a need to develop a music archive that would collect music, preserve and make them accessible to current and future generations of users before the formats become obsolete or the tracks were lost. The MusicSG archive assembles a collection of music composed or published by Singaporeans that is accessible for research and discovery. This paper will focus on the objectives of the web archive, the types of content available in the archive, various challenges faced in building the archive as well as a brief snapshot into the user's experience of the online archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview is presented with Singaporean artist Heman Chong, which focuses on the collaborative art project "Moderation(s)." Topics discussed include his work with art museum curators, the workings of the art scene in Singapore, and the structure created by Chong for Moderation(s), which specifically avoided hierarchies.

The article focuses on the artwork by artists including Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, and Chen Chong Swee of Singapore during a painting trip to Bali, Indonesia in 1952. It states that their artworks portrayed the pastoral and primitive lifestyle in Bali in modernist style, wherein, they had great influence in the stylistic development of Singaporean artists. It adds that four Singaporean Chinese artists including Agnes Yit, Kai Lam, and Jeremy Hiah retrace the paths of Kang and colleagues in 2001.

The arts and culture are considered core in a creative industries strategy. But the promotion of the creative industries brings about revised notions of creativity. These revised notions are being applied to the arts. Creativity is now seen to be largely manageable. All individuals are made to believe that they can be creative. Not only that, creativity is seen to be a money spinner. Workers should tap into their creativity and bring about innovations in the work place. Pupils are taught to tap into their creativity and to think outside the box. Such views on creativity galvanize the public and enthuse many people into the creative industries. Such notions of creativity contrast against the fine arts. Regardless, as this paper examines the situation in Singapore, shows that fine artists in the city-state are finding themselves internalizing a market logic and have tied their art practices to economic value. Fine arts practices will not be as lucrative or popular as their counterparts in the other creative businesses; they will remain poor cousins in the creative industries. Essentially, the fine arts are being subjugated in the creative industries and the Singaporean art world is being changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]