Singapore’s Changing Art Scene

I’ve always had an interest in Singapore because of it’s island country stature and it’s unique culture.  So when I saw an article in the New York Times on Singapore’s growing art movements I knew I had to look into it.  Apparently, Singapore has a reputation of being a pretty conservative country, strict to its “traditional Confucian values like filial piety, hierarchy and social order.”  Since a bad scoring in literacy, Singapore has stressed its educational system, now producing a high number of literate students well versed in math and science. But something was lacking, their creative outlets and artistic freedom.  This city-state has a set of  vague censorship laws charged with, “safeguarding consumer and public interests.”  Since these laws are wide ranging and ever-changing, this poses a challenge to museum and exhibit curators.  One show described in the article was littered with signage warning of sensitive material, though this does not stop students from participating in art galleries.  The amount of money and resources Singapore has poured into their art scene is paying off, both as an educational piece for students and visitors, but also as a venue for a range of art from Southeast Asia.  The city is trying to break away from their law and civic based roots and add art into the mix, symbolically replacing its Supreme Court and City Hall buildings with a huge art venue, the National Gallery.  The biggest challenge they face is still stressing their traditional values in their students, while infusing creativity, the goal is to add art in, not to replace an existing value completely with it.

While Singapore may struggle to contend with the Hong Kong art scene and lack the history of other large art hubs such as New York or London, it has seen a great increase in art interest in the past decade.  The fact that Singapore’s government is a driving force behind the art movement means large stipends for art related development.  It also appears that not much resistance is being given against art despite the wide array of censorship laws, but rather just an increased awareness of how an artwork might be offense, either sexually, religiously, or socially.  The test will be of time and a evolution of artwork.  Will artists become more and more active in their art?  Will more and more contemporary pieces be shown?  Will the censorship laws become more lenient or strict?  Time will only tell.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/opinion/singapores-artistic-experiment.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

http://artradarjournal.com/2013/06/08/singapore-art-scene-booming-5-gallerists-opinions/

https://www.nationalgallery.sg/see-do/exhibitions

Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Qatar Art

I recently read an article on the contemporary art of Qatar and their museums.  The article interviewed on e of the leading women in the Middle Eastern art world, Sheikha Al Mayassa.  Sheikha is a chairperson to Qatar Museums, whose purpose is, “to be a cultural instigator for the creation generation.”  Sheikha is responsible for bringing contemporary art from other countries into her own, such as Damien Hirst’s work, Takashi Murakami’s and Richard Serra’s.  She encourages her own countries budding artists as well, each artist is encouraged to make whatever work they desire, however, she simply asks they do not insult Qatar’s culture or traditions in the process.  Despite artists she has brought in being viewed as controversial, Sheikha Al Mayassa intends the controversy to inspire discussion rather than offense.  Sheikha believes art is without boundaries, that it should conform merely to the idea of respect for others.  This reaches into her view on which art to acquire for Qatar’s museums, taking the “best of the best” from different cultures.

 

It is interesting to find out that Qatar is one of the most voracious art buyers in the world.  Damien Hirst’s show, Relics, has been shown there, which requires a great deal of capital.  It seems that Qatar hosts a high Muslim religious faction who find some of Hirst’s figures unsettling and disrespectful. Shekiha Al Mayassa is pushing through however, determined create a culture program more contemporary than the traditional notions of a more conservative Islamic state.  This series of events happening in Qatar and around Sheikha Al Mayassa intrigue me because they are being driven by a patron more than artists themselves.  In all the cases where we have heard of art being determined good by one person with all the capital, it seems it is also happening here, but perhaps with more consideration.  I question whether Sheikha’s approach is plausible and if it will be effective in keeping Qatar’s traditions while also becoming one of the curatorial leaders in the art world.  Will her efforts one day be seen as we see the Western “old masters” today?  Or will she be glorified as someone who distinguishes art in a respectful language over all else?

Here are of few links I found intriguing on the subject:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131021-qatar-the-art-worlds-big-fish

http://www.qm.org.qa/en/blog/exclusively-our-chairperson

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/08/arts/sheikha-al-mayassa-art-qatar/index.html