The Brightness by Natee Utarit (Photo: Richard Koh Fine Art)
Start off the new year with a retrospective mind and be inspired by what the new decade has to offer. These exhibitions revolve around the topics of history and time, which will help you reconcile with your surroundings and environment.
GAP: a distinct to reality — A Showcase of Thai Contemporary Photography
In the second edition of Crossing SEA, a research-based exhibition initiated by Deck, the gallery presents a group exhibition on Thai contemporary photography curated by Ark Fongsmut and featuring the works of Thai shutterbugs Miti Ruangkritya, Piyatat Hemmatat, Surat Setsaeng and Nat Bowornphatnon. This exhibition questions to what extent reality can be presented by photographic images, with topics ranging from pollution and Bangkok’s infamous traffic jams to Thailand’s Narcotic Act.
Deck, Gallery 1 and 2, 120A Prinsep Street, Singapore. Until Jan 22. For more info, see here.
Déjà Vu: Your Past Is My Future
To inaugurate its 10-year anniversary celebration in Singapore, Richard Koh Fine Art kicks off the year with a highly anticipated exhibition by Thai artist Natee Utarit. Last year, the artist exhibited a series that referenced Buddha’s spiritual journey and relics at Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples, Italy. In Déjà Vu: Your Past is My Future, new context for imagination is introduced through Gautama Buddha’s Dhamma preaching journey. Through his imagination, Utarit demonstrates the illusory line between the narratives of East and West, and reveals how fluid history can be via flows, fluctuations, assimilations and transformations in tandem with social forces and prerequisites for life.
Richard Koh Fine Art, Blk 47, Malan Road, #01-26 Gillman Barracks, Singapore. Jan 10 to 24. For more info, see here.
2219: Futures Imagined
This exhibition is a thought-provoking journey into possible future worlds created through a series of immersive installations, meditative spaces, films, paintings and sculptures. Inspired by the work of Singaporean writer and poet Alvin Pang, 2219: Futures Imagined focuses on small, human-scale acts of innovation and contemplation rather than diving into the clichés of science fiction. Split into five acts, the exhibition explores the extensive environmental change, technological advancements, oceanic ecosystems and ancestral customs. In conjunction with Art Week 2020, a series of in-gallery artist interventions featuring Adeline Kueh, Zarina Muhammad, Yanyun Chen and Priyageetha Dia will be held from Jan 11 to 19. They will guide visitors to explore how rituals and handiworks are handed down from generation to generation.
ArtScience Museum, 6 Bayfront Ave, Singapore. Until April 5. S$18. For more info, see here.
This article first appeared on Jan 6, 2019 in The Edge Malaysia.
