SINGAPORE – Born right into a fisherman’s household that frequently hosted and attended seafood banquets, fish has at all times been a mainstay in Mr Hoo Fan Chon’s food regimen. Fish has additionally turn into a recurring motif within the 39-year-old Malaysian artist’s observe.
This yr, Mr Hoo shall be given the chance to analysis the plating aesthetic and the obsession of stay fish, typical of Chinese language tradition. He will even discover Finland’s fish tradition, consumption habits and business.
That is made attainable by Studio Residencies for South-east Asian Artists within the EU (SEA AiR), a brand new programme developed by the Nanyang Technological College Centre for Modern Artwork Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore).
It’s funded by the European Union (EU)’s International Coverage Devices.
Ms Citra Sasmita, 31, from Indonesia, and Mr Vuth Lyno, 39, from Cambodia, are the opposite two artists provided a three-month residency in an EU nation to hone their inventive observe.
The three have been chosen from a pool of 24 candidates nominated from curators and artists from South-east Asia. They have been chosen based mostly on the standard of their work and relevance of their proposals.
The opposite 21 candidates should be re-nominated and re-apply for the subsequent cycle. The choice course of shall be undertaken this yr, and residencies will occur in 2023.
Stated Mr Hoo: “That is overwhelming and I’m thrilled to have been chosen for SEA AiR. By way of this residency, I would prefer to train my concepts and share my initiatives with audiences with completely different cultural backgrounds and materials sensibilities. That is to germinate productive questions and trajectories.”
The artists have been introduced along with the associate establishments for the primary cycle of SEA AiR on the EU Delegation to Singapore at Raffles Metropolis Tower on Monday (Jan 10).
Ms Iwona Piórko, the EU Ambassador to Singapore, stated: “2022 marks the forty fifth anniversary of EU-Asean dialogue relations, and SEA AiR is a becoming begin to this milestone yr.
“SEA AiR brings collectively the EU, Singapore and South-east Asia via the humanities. It embodies the spirit of dialogue and change which can be hallmarks of the connection between our two areas.” SEA AiR seeks to place Singapore as a hub for inventive change between the EU and the South-east Asian area. It’s devoted to artists who haven’t had skilled expertise in Europe.
Artists chosen this yr are provided a three-month residency between March and June in Europe. They are going to be hosted by modern artwork establishments which can be companions of SEA AiR.
This yr, the three institutional companions are WIELS in Brussels, Belgium, the Helsinki Worldwide Artist Programme (HIAP) in Finland, and Villa Arson in Good, France.
These companions have lengthy histories of working residency programmes, and nurturing artists via curatorial mentorship, peer-to-peer dialogues and public engagements.
They will even profit from increasing their community via NTU CCA Singapore as a base to the broader South-east Asia, a area that has been traditionally under-represented in most inventive residency programmes in Europe. That is particularly significant because the EU and Asean enter 45 years of dialogue partnership.
After their residency, the artists will current their works to the Singapore public in a bunch exhibition curated by NTU CCA Singapore. This may occur towards the top of 2022.
Professor Joseph Liow, Dean of Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, NTU, stated: “We look ahead to seeing (the artists’) observe develop. SEA AiR is a wonderful platform for artists to domesticate world connections and work with prestigious European establishments.
“These partnerships verify NTU CCA Singapore’s function as a synergic centre that brings forth revolutionary and dynamic collaborations between South-east Asia and the EU.”
Ms Sasmita, who shall be hosted by WIELS, stated: “SEA AiR is a golden alternative to deepen my data, enrich my expertise, and develop my inventive observe.”
She goals to excavate pre-colonial Balinese tradition, and perceive how the views and aesthetic standards fashioned below colonial rule nonetheless persist.
Mr Hoo, who shall be hosted by HIAP, stated: “In contrast to my different pals, I’m nonetheless uncertain what I need to discover so I plan to go to HIAP with an open thoughts.
“I am undecided if I shall be exploring extra fish motifs in my observe. However I need to take this chance to consolidate my previous initiatives into a bigger cohesive observe, and discover a steadiness between object based mostly artwork making and analysis led initiatives.”