Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Master Narrative and the Lived City – Half a Century of Imagining Singapore
- Part I (De)-Constructing Master Narratives of the City
- Part II The Arts as Prisms of the Urban Imaginative
- Part III The City Possible in Action
- Conclusion
- Index
- Publications
4 - The Address of Art and the Scale of Other Places
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The Master Narrative and the Lived City – Half a Century of Imagining Singapore
- Part I (De)-Constructing Master Narratives of the City
- Part II The Arts as Prisms of the Urban Imaginative
- Part III The City Possible in Action
- Conclusion
- Index
- Publications
Summary
Abstract
While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft City’ symposium in person and instead, presented an audio recording in absentia. These reflections consider the role of place in the practice of art criticism, as well as the contrast between contemporary art and digital culture.
Keywords: Singapore, art criticism, art writing, place, contemporary art
I have lived in Singapore for over 20 years but, as I explain in a note below, my official relationship with the country has not been straightforward, to say the least. It was especially disappointing for me that I could not attend the ‘Hard State, Soft City’ symposium at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore in March 2016. I am grateful that the organizers were still interested in receiving my contribution, and I decided to share a more personal essay than if I were to present at the symposium. What follows is an edited version of the text of the short audio recording that I sent to be played in lieu of a symposium paper. For this publication, I have included notes to provide more context for readers less familiar with Singapore and my writing.
Meanwhile, the topic of place has become especially important to me and my work as an art critic. Perhaps this was always the case, and it is only lately that I am coming to realize it. You could say that I became an art critic because of Singapore. It has been in and through this island city state that I worked out my ideas about art and writing. While I had visited Singapore many times in my youth, it was in 1992 that I moved here, at first with the intention of staying a few years. Then, somehow I kept staying, and somehow this place became what I might call home. Although, as my friends know, there have been obstacles and complications.
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- Information
- Hard State, Soft City of Singapore , pp. 113 - 120Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020