Priyageetha Dia, Ngoc Nau, Saroot Supasuthivech: Passages

NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore) presents the second-cycle exhibition of SEA AiR—Studio Residencies for Southeast Asian Artists in the European Union (EU). Entitled Passages, this exhibition is a culmination of a three-month residency undertaken by artists Priyageetha Dia (Singapore), Ngoc Nau (Vietnam) and Saroot Supasuthivech (Thailand) at Jan van Eyck Academie (Netherlands), Rupert (Lithuania) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany).

Bringing back their experiences from diverse contexts in the EU to Singapore for this exhibition, Passages speaks of the artists’ journeys across geographical and cultural boundaries from one continent to another; the cultural exchanges that take place during this time; and the continuous development of ideas as they return to their home countries to create new works for the exhibition. Employing new media technologies to aid their storytelling, each artist creates speculative narratives that traverse time and space, shifting between the past and present. While distinct in their artistic research and practices, their works evoke memories and explore meanings in liminal spaces, reverberating in their journey from one passage to the next.

Priyageetha Dia’s research interest lies in the plantations of Southeast Asia and their colonial histories, including those of migrant labour and structures of production and power. She explores gaps in historical records that are not only text-based, but also non-textual ones such as photographs, artefacts and oral interviews. Her four-channel sound installation Sap Sonic is a sonification of images from the photo album of the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company, a rubber planting company, from the archives of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Beyond their visual representations, the images bear witness to the power dynamics between the coloniser and labourers as well as the hierarchy between nature and machine. Reframing this landscape from a visual to a sonic one, Sap Sonic serves as an aural gateway to the plantations as it delves into the lived yet unspoken lives of those who work on and inhabit the plantations, both human and nonhuman. Accompanying the work, Sap Script is a text installation in white latex paint, referencing rubber sap, on a black, obsidian-like background. Its typeface echoes the slender and linear structure of rubber trees, distorted to resemble the waveform of sound waves. Through the intangible, unseen nature of sound, Sap Sonic probes aspects of the visual world; expanding the agentive possibilities of the uncounted and the underheard.

Upon her arrival in Vilnius, Lithuania, for her residency, Ngoc Nau was drawn to Soviet-era architectural elements in the city, such as the Soviet brutalist architecture of the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports. She also became intrigued with the iconic image of a Lenin statue being removed, with its legs severed, from the city centre square in 1991. This imagery became a point of departure for her exploration into multifaceted aspects of post-Soviet realities in her own country. Portraying contemporary life amidst the remnants of socialist architecture and monuments using 3D animation and visual effects, Nau’s video installation, Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, demonstrates the transformative power of technology in reshaping our perceptions of reality. Central to the work is a constructed representation of the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Palace of Culture and Labour in Hanoi, Vietnam, that serves as a stage for five hip-hop dancers embarking on a symbolic journey. As they interact with elements drawn from historical references in Vietnam and Lithuania, the dancers bridge the gap between historical artifacts and contemporary experiences. Echoing the ebb and flow of ideologies, their passage brings about new meanings when past memories evolve in the face of shifting landscapes.

Saroot Supasuthivech’s multimedia installation, Spirit-forward in G Major, charts the transformative journey experienced by Thai expatriates in Germany, told through a metaphoric cycle of life, death and rebirth. The work’s narrative unfolds in four parts. “New Beginnings” uses therapeutic dialogues to depict the initial migrant experience. “A Surreal Interlude”, based on interviews conducted with Thai monks and nuns in Berlin, transports viewers into a realm of magic and mortality inspired by Grimm’s fairy tales. The third segment focuses on a Thai music score Sai Samon, the oldest documented. Finally, “A Glimpse Beyond” dives into a poetic meditation on death and the afterlife, told from the viewpoint of the deceased. This poignant culmination is an exploration into a liminal reality between the familiar and the surreal, encapsulating the interplay of tradition, adaptation and preservation within an evolving cultural landscape.

Passages will be held through Singapore Art Week 2024, with a public programme taking place on January 20, 2024. Details of the programme will be updated on NTU CCA Singapore’s website.

SEA AiR, developed by NTU CCA Singapore and funded by EU, is a joint programme between Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and EU Delegation to Singapore that positions Singapore as a hub for artistic exchange between the EU and Southeast Asia. The three Cycle 2 artists were among those nominated by arts professionals from Southeast Asian countries and a Selection Committee comprising Ute Meta Bauer (Chair), Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore and Professor, NTU School of Art, Design and Media; Hicham Khalidi, Director, Jan Van Eyck Academie; Monika Lipšic, Residency Curator, Rupert; Dr Karin Oen, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, Art History, NTU School of Humanities; Christoph Tannert, Artistic Director, Künstlerhaus Bethanien; and Eszter Nemeth, former Deputy Head of Mission, EU Delegation to Singapore.

About the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
Situated within Singapore’s premier art precinct Gillman Barracks, NTU CCA Singapore is a pioneering institution that has been instrumental in shaping the contemporary art landscape in Singapore and beyond. With a focus on fostering creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, the Centre’s programmes have consistently challenged the status quo, encouraging artists to explore new realms of artistic expression. For more information, visit ntu.ccasingapore.org.

About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
A research-intensive public university, NTU Singapore has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Engineering, Business, Science, Medicine, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and Graduate colleges. NTU is also home to world-renowned autonomous institutes—the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering—and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

*Images above: [1] Screenshot of Priyageetha Dia’s work on an archival image from the Sumatra Caoutchouc Company photo album (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The image is further processed by making direct “graffiti” edits, which manipulates how the sound notes are read between the bright and dark areas of the image. Courtesy of the artist. [2] Ngoc Nau, Virtual Reverie: Echoes of a Forgotten Utopia, 2023. Video still. Courtesy of the artist. [3] Saroot Supasuthivech, Spirit-forward in G Major, 2023. VR still. Courtesy of the artist.*