What is the "HOME" culture in Singapore? While many jump straight to their living spaces, others may have distinctively different ideas. While some would tell you exactly what factors they consider necessary before they call any place "home". Matthew Ngui has been researching on the cultivation of "HOME" in Singapore and will make an issue out of this simple idea again, at the Sculpture Square from 31 October to 21 December.
HOME at Sculpture Square is Ngui’s second project exploring the concept of "HOME" in Singapore. The first was a production-oriented installation at the Substation.
Using the spaces at Sculpture Square, Ngui approaches the building and its spaces around as an integral part of his creative processes. Presently, the artist plans to use to use the exterior components of the chapel building and elements along Waterloo Street to "draw" an anamorphic line that will only reveal itself when viewed from a designated angle. Along with this, he also hopes to affect the interior space of the chapel with subtle renovations and a version of his famous "chair" piece at documentaX.
As part of Ngui’s creative process, he will also experiment with existing and new images of Singapore to filter the notion of "HOME" as the subject matter through various visual media.
The underlining idea behind Ngui’s HOME series is the element of relevance. It is also Ngui’s intention for the HOME series to stimulate views of Art’s relationship to society and as such, documentation of 8 selected past projects (completed, in-progress or rejected) will be presented in the lower gallery.
Matthew Ngui has lived and exhibited extensively both in Singapore and abroad for more than 10 years. He has participated in a prestigious playing field that includes the Bienal Internacional Sao Paulo 1996, and Germany’s documenta X 1997. He also represented Singapore during its first foray at the Venice Biennale in 2001. Matthew is one of the 19 Singapore artists who had won commissions to collaborate with architects in the production of artworks for the new North-East Line MRT stations. "The notion of home at first thought seems simple enough to explain. Yet when you pursue the topic, it could spiral and expand into unexpected grounds. Developing on his initial concept, Matthew is working closely with Sculpture Square on his second endeavour to realise his "HOME" series", says Ms Tay Swee Lin, Sculpture Square general manager.
IMAGE
Matthew Ngui
Chair (1997) detail,
installation at documentaX, Germany
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