Exhibitions 2019/20

NTU CCA Singapore announces its core Exhibitions Program for 2019/20

Arus Balik – From below the wind to above the wind and back again
March 22–June 23, 2019
with Ade Darmawan (Indonesia), ila (Singapore), Zac Langdon-Pole (New Zealand/Germany), Shubigi Rao (India/Singapore), Lucy Raven (United States), and Melati Suryodarmo (Indonesia)

Initiated from a conversation between Jakarta-based artist Ade Darmawan and curator Philippe Pirotte, the exhibition project Arus Balik reconsiders Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s epic book Arus Balik (1995). The book’s title could be translated into English as a “turning of the tide,” elaborating on the weakening of maritime culture of Javanese kingdoms in the early 16th century, the progressive Islamisation, and the beginning of Portuguese penetration on parts of the now Malayan and Indonesian peninsula and archipelago. The novel is a starting point for reflection on shifts in perspective, induced by geopolitical, cultural, social, and religious impulses, as well as natural forces. The exhibition Arus Balik aims to imagine the implication of histories and politics in processes of transition such as colonisation and decolonisation, for people and countries “below and above the wind.”  This literal translation of the Malay term that describe the geographical position of countries in the region is also used in historical dictionaries for “the western parts of the world unto the eastern countries” around the Malayan Peninsula.

Curated by Philippe Pirotte 


Venue and Programme Partner of 
Singapore Art Book Fair
June 28­­–June 30, 2019


Siah Armajani:
Spaces for the Public. Spaces for Democracy.
July 20–November 3, 2019

Considered a leading figure in public art, Iranian-born artist Siah Armajani merges architecture and conceptual art in his sculptures, drawings, and public installations. Informed by democratic ideologies and inspired by American vernacular architecture, his works include gathering spaces for communality, emphasizing the “nobility of usefulness.” His highly acclaimed public art and architectural projects have included bridges, gardens, and outdoor structures, that have been commissioned and presented worldwide. A retrospective featuring his artistic career spanning over more than five decades was recently on view at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and inaugurates in March at The MET, New York. Armajani’s exhibition at the NTU CCA Singapore is his first institutional presentation in Asia unfolding along a large scale installation, Sacco & Vanzetti Reading Room #3, a selection of models highlighting the artist’s ideas and interests that one could summarise as “art on civic scale.” 

Curated by Ute Meta Bauer


Climates. Habitats. Environments.
Art and design proposals addressing challenges of our time
November 23, 2019–February 23, 2020

Looking at imminent futures and considering innovations that reflect climate change and future habitats, this exhibition will present diverse perspectives on design that are sustainable and environmentally conscious, but also engage in a different understanding of community and communal space. How does design intersect and address these challenges that will become of our everyday? This project embarks on a journey of unpacking situations, proposals, and strategies to examine contemporary responses and scenarios. 

This exhibition will overlap with the second edition of NTU CCA Ideas Fest (February 13–23, 2020), bringing on board makers and collaborators from across Singapore and the region.

Curated by Ute Meta Bauer and Laura Miotto 


About NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore 
Located in Gillman Barracks, the NTU CCA Singapore is a national research centre of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and is supported by a grant from the Singapore Economic Development Board. The Centre is unique in its threefold constellation of research and academic programmes, international exhibitions, and residencies, positioning itself as a space for critical discourse that is dedicated to diverse forms of knowledge production, focusing on Spaces of the Curatorial in Singapore, Southeast Asia, and beyond. Climates. Habitats. Environments. is the topical research cluster connecting the Centre’s research & academic programmes, exhibitions, and residencies for the upcoming years.

About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
​​​​​​A research-intensive public university, NTU has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and its Graduate College. NTU’s campus is frequently listed among the top 15 most beautiful university campuses in the world and has 57 Green Mark-certified (equivalent to LEED-certified) buildings.​ Besides its 200-ha lush green, residential campus in western Singapore, NTU has a second campus in the heart of Novena, Singapore’s medical district.