The Padang Sessions

In this episode, award-winning filmmaker Royston Tan shares his perspective on Iskandar Jalil as a master potter and educator, and sheds light on how Iskandar’s art-making philosophy has influenced his filmmaking. This talk was recorded live in September 2017 at National Gallery Singapore in association with the exhibition "Iskandar Jalil: Kembara Tanah Liat (Clay Travels)". Disclaimer: The c...

Assistant Curator Jennifer Lam discusses the history and practice of collecting art in Singapore during the early 20th century, with reference to the Xiu Hai Lou Collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy.    This talk was recorded live in September 2017 at National Gallery Singapore in association with the exhibition "Rediscovering Treasures: Ink Art from the Xiu Hai Lou Collection"...

Contemporary ink artist Zhang Jian-Jun probes into China’s rapidly changing cultural and physical landscapes through his paintings, photography, videos and installations. This talk was recorded live in September 2019 at National Gallery Singapore as part of the Gallery's annual programme series Ink Masters . Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed are those of the speaker/s, and do not rep...

Artist Cheo Chai Hiang shares his personal connections to the social and cultural narratives of the Singapore River, and how this deep bond with his homeland has influenced his art practice.  This talk was recorded live in August 2018 at National Gallery Singapore , as part of the exhibition Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore . Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed are those of the s...

Accounts of pictorial photography have typically traced its beginnings from Europe in the 1890s to its supposed end in North America in the 1930s. This talk by Gallery curator Charmaine Toh considers the transfer of pictorial photography to Singapore and how values associated with Pictorialism were re-coded within the local context. Particular attention will be paid to the way photography was inco...

Learn more about London’s art scene in the 1960s and what it takes for a Singaporean artist to suceed in a foreign metropolis, in this dialogue between artist Mak Kum Siew and Jennifer K. Y. Lam (Assistant Curator, National Gallery Singapore). This conversation was recorded live in May 2018 at National Gallery Singapore , as part of the exhibition (Re)Collect: The Making of our Art Collection . Di...

Learn about the different sides of Filipino painter Juan Luna’s artistic practice in this talk by Clarissa Chikiamco (Curator, National Gallery Singapore). By comparing two of the artist’s masterpieces– Cleopatra and Les Ignorés (The Unknown Ones) –this talk examines Luna’s stylistic shift from history painting to realism during his time in Paris. This lecture was recorded live in January 2018 at...

This lecture by art historian and Professor Emeritus John Clark compares the different ways that Raden Saleh and Juan Luna approached creating art in a colonial context. It refers to two of their Salon paintings - The Arrest of Diponegoro and Spoliarium   - and examines how each made nationalistic statements about colonial rule while adhering to European norms. It also touches on how their li...

Listen to Gallery curators Goh Sze Ying and Joleen Loh as they examine approaches to seriality and form in the practice of artists Kim Lim, Midori Takada, Anne Truitt and Charlotte Posenenske. They will also discuss the contribution of women artists to the development of Minimal Art.  This lecture was made possible with the support of the U.S. Embassy of Singapore and recorded live in Decembe...

Despite the significant role that Asian artists and Asia played in contemporary art, nearly every discussion of Minimalism fails to account for this. This lecture by art historian Joan Kee offers a maverick view of Minimalism, addressing how and why Asia and Asian artists mattered in relation to one of the most important art movements in the 20th century, as well as how contemporary art can be a f...

The future of our museums and the search for new concepts in rapidly changing societies is an important issue in present museum debates. Social transformation processes, changes in communication and the transfer of knowledge, which have been extremely accelerated by the digital revolution and globalisation, are also visible in everyday museum life. Prof. Dr. Marion Ackermann, Director General of t...

How do artists bear witness to changes and shifts in their homeland, and why do they leave? Join Senior Curator Shabbir Hussain Mustafa in tracing the journey of multimedia artist Jose Tence Ruiz from Manila, where he was involved in the Kaisahan Social Realist movement, to his life in Singapore as a political cartoonist.  This conversation was recorded live in October 2018 at National Galler...

Join art historian Dr Pamela Corey as she surveys the works of diasporic Vietnamese artists that draw on themes of transnational history, such as competing nationalisms, contested historiographies, wartime trauma and diasporic migration. This talk offers new interpretations of their artworks, such as through the lens of craft, mass media and urban form, thus illuminating other art historical conne...

Assistant Curator Zulfadhli Hilmi discusses the themes of spiritualism and nationalism in AD Pirous’ artwork Epitaph IV . The conversation explores the turn towards creating new languages and dialogues in art in the 1960s in Bandung and the rest of Southeast Asia. This talk was recorded live in September 2018 at National Gallery Singapore . Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed are those...

Join academic and ceramic artist Dr Suriani Suratman, who trained under Iskandar Jalil, in a conversation with Syed Muhammad Hafiz (Assistant Curator, National Gallery Singapore). Dr Suriani shares her personal insights on Iskandar’s teaching philosophies and how his teaching legacy continues to have an impact on the local art scene. This conversation was recorded live in January 2017 at National...

In this lecture, Senior Curator Seng Yu Jin examines different types of artists' collectives and how collectivism influences the ways artists think about and make art. Listen as he traces the shifts in the Singapore art scene from "organisational collectivism" that sought to professionalise art, to "exhibition collectivism" that championed group exhibitions, and "collaborative collectivism" that c...

Researcher Koh Nguang How joins Senior Curator Seng Yu Jin as they discuss on the late artist and cultural medallion recipient Chng Seok Tin- looking at her multi-hyphenated practices as artist, writer, and musician. This session was recorded live in May 2019 at National Gallery Singapore . Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed are those of the speaker/s, and do not represent the views o...

What can conservation and art history learn from each other? Gallery curators Clarissa Chikiamco and Roger Nelson are joined by conservator Mar Cusso in an exchange of perspectives on two paintings: a detailed 1930s portrait of a formally attired Burmese gentleman by Saya Myit and a 1940s dream-like depiction of a hunter by Emiria Sunassa. Both paintings, outstanding examples of the artists’ style...

The UOB Southeast Asia Gallery, along with the DBS Singapore Gallery, house National Gallery Singapore's long-term exhibitions. However, the displays in these two "permanent” galleries are anything but permanent: artworks are regularly removed so that they can be returned to the lender or sent for conservation, making space for new loans and acquisitions. Led by Gallery curator Cheng Jia Yun, this...

In this session, Gallery curator Clarissa Chikiamco discusses artist Constancio Bernardo's pursuit of abstraction in post-war Philippines, through his painting Bernardian Synthesis No. 1. This session was recorded live in May 2018 at National Gallery Singapore . Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed are those of the speaker/s, and do not represent the views of National Gallery Singapore....

Join Gallery curator Lim Shujuan in conversation with Richard and Arthur Low, the grandsons of Singapore artist Low Kway Song (1889–1982). Low was not only a forerunner who popularised oil painting and a prominent portrait artist commissioned by many famous personalities, but also a publisher and owner of a photographic studio. Learn little-known facts and anecdotes about him through his grandsons...

Gain insights into the contexts surrounding poet-painter Latiff Mohidin’s seminal  Pago Pago  series. This talk by Senior Curator Shabbir Hussain Mustafa places the artist within the Berlin art circles of the 1960s, as well as the cultural, political and art historical milieus of Southeast Asia. This conversation was recorded live in July 2018 at National Gallery Singapore . Disclaimer:...

In conversation with curator Charmaine Toh, award-winning multi-disciplinary artist Amanda Heng introduces her performance  S/he , as well as her broader art practice through the decades. Recounting her experiences with The Artists Village and Women in the Arts, the discussion provides a personal viewpoint on the history of socially-engaged art in Singapore.  This conversation was r...

Filipino artist Alwin Reamillo investigates the idea of nationhood and its surrounding narratives, through looking at artworks by Juan Luna, Felix Hidalgo, and Victor Edades in the UOB Southeast Asia Galleries. Together with Senior Curator Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, Reamillo also discusses figures in Philippine art history that have influenced his own artistic practice.   This conversation...

In this session, Singaporean artist and Cultural Medallion recipient - Goh Beng Kwan and Senior Curator Seng Yu Jin discuss how collage offered a way for Goh to explore new ways of art-making, through using an expanded range of materials and cultural sources. This conversation was recorded live in November 2018 at National Gallery Singapore . Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed are tho...