CoBo has just published my new piece titled “5 Singaporean artists working with the theme of Bureaucracy”. Researching the Singaporean art system and the artists’ practice, I noticed the emergence of this set of preoccupations with organisation, repetition, boredom, archiving, censorship, procedures, rules – which definitely dismantles the romantic idea of the artist as we conceived it. Bureaucracy is so pervasive in society such as the Singaporean one, that becomes not only a conditio sine qua non for art to be happening, but also a subject in itself to reflect on. This article features artists Jack Tan, Terry Wee, Zihan Loo, Lim Tzay-Chuen and Lai Yu Tong.
Read MoreThird collaboration with the magazine Art Republik, which has just published my article on Epic Arts Cambodia. This is an outstanding art space in Kampot empowering disabled individuals through art. For this piece I spoke with Epic Arts co-director Sokny Onn.
Here is the link to the pdf version of the article
Here is the link to Art Republik’s website
Read MoreCoBo has just published my interview with gallerist Audrey Yeo, director of Yeo Workshop in Singapore. I realized the interview a few months ago and it was greatly inspiring to talk with such an important igniter of the Singaporean art scene.
Here is the link to the interview
Read MoreD_Railed magazine has just published my new article called “A New Book On Australian Contemporary Art Foregrounds Questions About Diversity” – the article is based on the polemics about the lack of diversity in the image of Australian art, ensued after the publication of a new book entitled Australiana to Zeitgeist: An A-Z of Australian Contemporary Art (2017). But is Australian contemporary art as white as it seems? And how is it perceived abroad? I address these question in the piece talking with artist Tony Albert, curator Natalie King and Sophia Cai, and of course Melissa Loughnan, the author of the book.
Speaking of books – this is my latest article submitted for July, as I’m devoting August to finish my own book on Singapore Contemporary Art. Since the first of August I have been diving deep into it, getting into a hyper-focused state whether I’m travelling on noisy Neapolitan trains, sitting in quiet Sorrentinian cafès in the garden, in waiting rooms, libraries or at my kitchen table at home. This is an important lesson I have learned from my friend Giovanna – you don’t need to wait the perfect conditions to do the work – just get concentrated, wherever you are. Soon I’ll probably write a post about my new mind state and routine, but for now…
Here is the link to the D_Railed article
Read MoreMy fourth piece for Culture360 – the webmagazine of the Asia-Europe Foundation – has just been published. It’s always a joy to see my words out there, also because I get to write about two of my favourite subjects: feminism and Indonesian contemporary art.
For this piece called “Feminism and women artists in Indonesian Contemporary Art” I have interviewed the amazing researcher Wulan Dirgantoro, art historian Farah Wardani and artist Samantha Tio (Mintio).
Read MoreFor the Hong Kong webmagazine and collectors’ platform CoBo I usually write about Indonesian and Singaporean artists, and the dynamics of their art systems. It goes without saying that the two art environments are highly connected. Sometimes an event or a show happens which remixes the way the two art systems interact, and that’s precisely what happened with the Super/Natural show in Yogyakarta, by Gajah Gallery.
In this piece I look at this pioneering operation, talking with the gallerist Jasdeep Sandhu and the two curators, trying to ponder what this show meant, and if it can have a legacy for the evolution of both the Singaporean and the Indonesian art systems.
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Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich is part of the show “Viva Arte Viva” by Christine Macel at the Venice Biennale. In this piece for CoBo – part of my report on this year’s Venice Biennale retrace the artistic vision of Pich to better understand how to look at his work in this international avenue.
Read MoreHere is my piece for CoBo on the Southeast Asian Pavilions at the Venice Biennale. This piece wasn’t easy to write and I have been quite critical – something I don’t usually like to be. But this Biennale really called for criticism, the way I see it.
Read MoreCoBo has just published my interview with British/Indonesian artist Sinta Tantra, who I visited at her studio at the British School in Rome, where she is doing a residency. As always, every interview is a chance to learn something and often times the words of artists resonate powerfully with my own life.
Here is the link to the interview
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