PRESENTATION: Passages

Ngoc Nau, Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, 2023, video still. Courtesy the artisTSEA AiR is a new programme that aims to foster artistic exchange between Southeast Asia and the European Union, with Singapore as its hub. Developed by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore), the project is funded by the European Union and it offers emerging Southeast Asian artists a long-term engagement comprising a three-month residency in a EU country and the opportunity to create new works, inspired by the residency experience, that will be presented to the public in Singapore in a group exhibition curated by NTU CCA Singapore.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: NTU CCA Singapore Archive

As part of the SEA AiR programme, Priyageetha Dia had undertaken her residency at Jan van Eyck Academie, Ngoc Nau at Rupert and Saroot Supasuthivech’s at Künstlerhaus Bethanien through the summer. Bringing back their experiences from diverse contexts in the EU to Singapore for this exhibition, “Passages” speaks of the artists’ journeys across geographical and cultural boundaries from one continent to another; the cultural exchanges that take place during this time; and the continuous development of ideas as they return to their home countries to create new works for the exhibition. Priyageetha Dia’s research interest lies in the plantations of Southeast Asia and their colonial histories, including those of migrant labour and structures of production and power. She explores gaps in historical records that are not only text-based, but also non-textual ones such as photographs, artefacts and oral interviews. Her four-channel sound installation “Sap Sonic” is a sonification of images from the photo album of the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company, a rubber planting company, from the archives of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Beyond their visual representations, the images bear witness to the power dynamics between the coloniser and its labourers as well as the hierarchy between nature and machine. Reframing this landscape from a visual to a sonic one, “Sap Sonic” serves as an aural gateway to the plantations as it delves into the lived yet unspoken lives of those who work on and inhabit the plantations, both human and nonhuman. Accompanying the work, “Sap Script” is a text installation in white latex paint, referencing rubber sap, on a black, obsidian-like background. Its typeface echoes the slender and linear structure of rubber trees, distorted to resemble the waveform of sound waves. Through the intangible, unseen nature of sound, “Sap Sonic” probes aspects of the visual world; expanding the agentive possibilities of the uncounted and the underheard. Upon her arrival in Vilnius, Lithuania, for her residency, Ngoc Nau was drawn to Soviet-era architectural elements in the city, such as the Soviet brutalist architecture of the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports. She also became intrigued with the iconic image of a Lenin statue being removed, with its legs severed, from the city centre square in 1991. This imagery became a point of departure for her exploration into multifaceted aspects of post-Soviet realities in her own country. Portraying contemporary life amidst the remnants of socialist architecture and monuments using 3D animation and visual effects, Nau’s video installation, “Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia”, demonstrates the transformative power of technology in reshaping our perceptions of reality. Central to the work is a constructed representation of the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Palace of Culture and Labour in Hanoi, Vietnam, that serves as a stage for five hip-hop dancers embarking on a symbolic journey. As they interact with elements drawn from historical references in Vietnam and Lithuania, the dancers bridge the gap between historical artifacts and contemporary experiences. Echoing the ebb and flow of ideologies, their passage brings about new meanings when past memories evolve in the face of shifting landscapes. Saroot Supasuthivech’s multimedia installation, “Spirit-forward in G Major”, charts the transformative journey experienced by Thai expatriates in Germany, told through a metaphoric cycle of life, death and rebirth. The work’s narrative unfolds in four parts. “New Beginnings” uses therapeutic dialogues to depict the initial migrant experience. “A Surreal Interlude”, based on interviews conducted with Thai monks and nuns in Berlin, transports viewers into a realm of magic and mortality inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales. The third segment focuses on a Thai music score Sai Samon, the oldest documented. Finally, “A Glimpse Beyond” dives into a poetic meditation on death and the afterlife, told from the viewpoint of the deceased. This poignant culmination is an exploration into a liminal reality between the familiar and the surreal, encapsulating the interplay of tradition, adaptation and preservation within an evolving cultural landscape.

Photo: Ngoc Nau, Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, 2023, video still. Courtesy the artist

Info: NTU CCA Singapore Residencies Studios, Block 38 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks, Singapore, Duration: 1/12/2023-28/1/2024, Days & Hours: Fri-Sun 13:00-17:00 (1/12/2023-14/1/2024) & Mon-Sat 13:00-19:00 (19-28/1/2024), https://ntu.ccasingapore.org/

Screenshot of Priyageetha Dia’s work on an archival image from the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company photo album (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The image is further processed by making direct ‘graffiti’ edits, which manipulates how the sound notes are read between the bright and dark areas of the image. Courtesy the artist
Screenshot of Priyageetha Dia’s work on an archival image from the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company photo album (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The image is further processed by making direct ‘graffiti’ edits, which manipulates how the sound notes are read between the bright and dark areas of the image. Courtesy the artist

 

 

Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023. VR still. Courtesy of the artist
Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023. VR still. Courtesy of the artist

 

 

View of the fields with newly planted rubber trees, Hevea Brasiliensis. Part of the photo album about the Brussels and Pernantian plantations of the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company on the East Coast of Sumatra, 1910–1935. Courtesy Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
View of the fields with newly planted rubber trees, Hevea Brasiliensis. Part of the photo album about the Brussels and Pernantian plantations of the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company on the East Coast of Sumatra, 1910–1935. Courtesy Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

 

 

Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023, Video still. Courtesy the artist
Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023, Video still. Courtesy the artist

 

 

Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023, Video still. Courtesy the artist
Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023, Video still. Courtesy the artist

 

 

Ngoc Nau, Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, 2023, video still. Courtesy the artist
Ngoc Nau, Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, 2023, video still. Courtesy the artist