Arts Picks: Back doors and blacked-out pages in Heman Chong's online show

Installation shot from Peace Prosperity and Friendship, Heman Chong’s first solo exhibition at STPI Gallery. PHOTO: COURTESY OF STPI – CREATIVE WORKSHOP & GALLERY, SINGAPORE

OVR: Portals

From the back doors of foreign embassies to the redacted pages of a spy novel, Singaporean artist Heman Chong probes the furtive nature of geopolitical manoeuvrings.

In Foreign Affairs, the unassuming images of embassy back doors are repeated on canvases and curtains. The work was created in 2018, the same year Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi consulate of Istanbul, Turkey.

In Call For The Dead (2020), based on John Le Carre's 1961 Cold War novel of the same title, Chong redacted everything from the book except its verbs, then silk-screened the heavily blacked-out pages onto 83 linen canvases.

In Call For The Dead (2020) is based on John Le Carre's 1961 Cold War novel of the same title. PHOTO: COURTESY OF STPI

Both works, which were exhibited at Singapore gallery STPI earlier this year, will be accessible for a limited period in art fair Art Basel's curator-led online viewing rooms.

Where: Online Viewing Rooms

When: Next Thursday (June 17), 8pm, to Sunday, 6am

Admission: Free

Info: STPI's website


Slander!

Slander! by Jeremy Sharma. PHOTO: JEREMY SHARMA

The fourth edition of the Singapore Art Museum's travelling exhibition, Mini Mobile Museum, will feature Slander! by home-grown artist Jeremy Sharma, based on his research into Singapore and Malayan cinema between 1958 and 1963.

Sharma re-examines films from this period, sandwiched between the industry's post-war heyday and Singapore's independence. These include the 1959 film Korban Fitnah (Victim Of Slander), which was central to his 2017 deconstructive installation A White, White Day.

Artist Jeremy Sharma working on Slander!. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM

The exhibition, which is held in partnership with the National Library Board, will make its debut at Woodlands Regional Library and subsequently move to Jurong Regional Library and Tampines Regional Library.

Where: Woodlands Regional Library, 01-03, 900 South Woodlands Drive; Jurong Regional Library, 21 Jurong East Central 1; and Tampines Regional Library, 02-01 Our Tampines Hub, 1 Tampines Walk

When: Till July 25 (Woodlands); July 28 to Sept 12 (Jurong); and Sept 15 to Oct 31 (Tampines)

Admission: Free

Info: Singapore Art Museum's website


Seeds

June Lin (left) and Chen Wanyi will be performing in Seeds by Maya Dance Theatre. PHOTO: MAYA DANCE THEATRE

In this digital production, Maya Dance Theatre works with dancers with disabilities from Singapore, India, Indonesia and Australia.

Maya, which started its Diverse Abilities Dance Collective in 2018, teams these dancers with choreographers for works set to original music.

Seeds is conceptualised by Maya artistic director Kavitha Krishnan and the collective's programme leader Subastian Tan.

It will be preceded on Saturday (June 12) by a panel discussion on the ethics of collaboration across diverse abilities, featuring the likes of Tan and Access Path Productions founder Grace Lee-Khoo.

Where: Online

When: Next Thursday (June 17), 8pm, to Saturday, 11.59pm. Panel discussion on Maya Dance Theatre's Facebook page on Saturday (June 12), 3pm

Admission: $22 from Sistic's website

Info: Maya Dance Theatre's website

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