IdeasCity Singapore

Open Call
Application deadline: Monday, December 9, 2019

NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and the New Museum announce a collaboration for NTU CCA Ideas Fest 2019–20, the Centre’s platform to catalyze the exchange of ideas and encourage thinking outside the box. Reflecting on current challenges in urban and social development, the second iteration of this transdisciplinary platform is guest-curated by IdeasCity, at the invitation of NTU CCA Singapore. IdeasCity is the New Museum’s civic platform that explores the future of cities with art and culture as a driving force. 

Taking place from February 15 to 23, 2020, this collaboration, titled IdeasCity Singapore, will feature a residency and public program on the theme of solidarity with nature—exploring bonds and connections between the built environment, the natural world, and social movements. IdeasCity Singapore will take place at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, joined by satellite programs and partnerships in Singapore and across Southeast Asia. 

IdeasCity Singapore’s residency program invites 20 to 30 emerging practitioners to develop projects examining the future of Southeast Asia as shaped by climate crisis, economic policy, and urban development. IdeasCity Singapore welcomes applicants for residency participation through an open call, with applications accepted on a rolling basis until December 9, 2019. The residency includes honoraria, meals, and accommodation for those traveling to Singapore. Submission guidelines and more information are available at ideas-city.org/singapore/open-call/.

The culminating public program on February 22, 2020, will feature conversations, lectures, performances, presentations, and workshops addressing local, global, and planetary concerns that define Singapore and Southeast Asia today, as well as the future of communities around the globe. This free public event hosted by NTU CCA Singapore will convene visionary leaders and new voices, whose bold ideas explore ways to live in solidarity with nature.             

About NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
A leading international art institution, NTU CCA Singapore is a platform, host, and partner creating and driven by dynamic thinking in its three-fold constellation: Exhibitions; Residencies Programme; Research and Academic Education. A national research centre for contemporary art of Nanyang Technological University, the Centre focuses on Spaces of the Curatorial. It brings forth innovative and experimental forms of emergent artistic and curatorial practices that intersect the present and histories of contemporary art embedded in social-political spheres with other fields of knowledge.

NTU CCA Ideas Fest is a platform to catalyze critical exchange of ideas and encourage thinking outside the box. It is a bottom-up approach linking the artistic and the academic with community groups and grassroots initiatives, and coincides with the exhibition The Posthuman City. Climates. Habitats. Environments (November 23, 2019–March 8, 2020) at NTU CCA Singapore.

About IdeasCity
IdeasCity is a collaborative, civic, and creative platform that starts from the premise that art and culture are essential to the future vitality of cities. This international initiative provides a forum for designers, artists, technologists, and policymakers to exchange ideas, identify challenges, propose solutions, and engage the public’s participation. The initiative was cofounded at the New Museum by Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director, and Karen Wong, Deputy Director. Previous international IdeasCity programs have taken place in Istanbul (2012), São Paulo (2013), Athens (2016), Arles (2017), and Toronto (2018). 

About the New Museum
The New Museum is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to contemporary art. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists from around the world. From its beginnings as a one-room office on Hudson Street to the inauguration of its first freestanding building on the Bowery designed by SANAA in 2007, the New Museum continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.

IdeasCity Singapore is conceived and organized by Vere van Gool, Gabe Gordon, Nicholas Liong, Gregory Ng Yong He, and Karen Wong at the New Museum, as well as Ute Meta Bauer, Karin Oen, Magdalena Magiera, Leong Min Yu Samantha, and Ze-Tian Lim at NTU CCA Singapore.

NTU CCA Ideas Fest 2019–20 is guest-curated by IdeasCity, 
New Museum, New York.
This project is generously supported by the Cultural Matching Fund, Singapore.