- LEE Weng Choy is an independent art critic and consultant, based in Kuala Lumpur. He writes on contemporary art and c... moreLEE Weng Choy is an independent art critic and consultant, based in Kuala Lumpur. He writes on contemporary art and culture in Southeast Asia; his current projects include a collection of essays on artists, “The Address of Art and the Scale of Other Places”, which asks: what is art’s address?, how does art speak to us and how does it locate us in the world? Lee is also working on a series of written collaborations, “Friends with Disagreements”, which aims to ground ideas and issues in the contexts of relationships and personal histories, as well as an Instagram profile, “Regarding the Reader”, about why, what and how we read.edit
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While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft... more
While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft City’ symposium in person and instead, presented an audio recording in absentia. These reflections consider the role of place in the practice of art criticism, as well as the contrast between contemporary art and digital culture.
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... a discussion on Asian values, see, for instance, "Asian Ways: Asian Values Revisited," ed. Raul Pertierra, special issue of Sojourn: Journal of ... My formulation of "define and rule" and claims toauthenticity... more
... a discussion on Asian values, see, for instance, "Asian Ways: Asian Values Revisited," ed. Raul Pertierra, special issue of Sojourn: Journal of ... My formulation of "define and rule" and claims toauthenticity derives from Lucy Davis, "Making DifferenceSo Easy to Enjoy So Hard to ...
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... 3. special issue ed. by Joan Kee [Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 643-666. H Janadas Devan, "My Country and My People: Forgetting to Remember," Our Pisce in Time (Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society. 1999), 21-33.... more
... 3. special issue ed. by Joan Kee [Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 643-666. H Janadas Devan, "My Country and My People: Forgetting to Remember," Our Pisce in Time (Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society. 1999), 21-33. "Tan Sai Slong, "Who needs History? ...
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If you are coming from Plural, go to page 5 for the continuation of the conversation. Question: "Cryptocurrencies crashed earlier this year. Art star Takashi Murakami apologised to his collectors on Twitter because his NFT prices... more
If you are coming from Plural, go to page 5 for the continuation of the conversation.
Question: "Cryptocurrencies crashed earlier this year. Art star Takashi Murakami apologised to his collectors on Twitter because his NFT prices nosedived. Are NFT artworks still worth buying?"
Question: "Cryptocurrencies crashed earlier this year. Art star Takashi Murakami apologised to his collectors on Twitter because his NFT prices nosedived. Are NFT artworks still worth buying?"
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While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft... more
While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft City’ symposium in person and instead, presented an audio recording in absentia. These reflections consider the role of place in the practice of art criticism, as well as the contrast between contemporary art and digital culture.
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Islanded: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan featured work by contemporary artists from three islands in the Asia-Pacific region: New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan. Co-curated by Adam Art Gallery Director, Sophie... more
Islanded: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan featured work by contemporary artists from three islands in the Asia-Pacific region: New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan. Co-curated by Adam Art Gallery Director, Sophie McIntyre, Artistic Co-Director of the Substation, Lee Weng Choy and Director of The Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Eugene Tan, the exhibition critically reflected on the histories and the geo-cultural anxieties of these postcolonial societies, to explore how “island-ness” and being ‘on the edge’ plays a role in these countries’ imaginings and (re)inventions of themselves. While reflecting upon the differences and uniqueness of New Zealand , Singapore and Taiwan as islands, this exhibition also revealed certain shared concerns and anxieties. The artists’ works explore a range of issues relating to history, collective memory, migration, mapping and the construction of national identity. Artists featured included: Stella Brennan, Regan Gentry, A...
While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft... more
While the author has lived in Singapore for over 20 years, he has had a complicated relationship with the island city state. He did not receive permission from the authorities to enter Singapore and participate in the ‘Hard State, Soft City’ symposium in person and instead, presented an audio recording in absentia. These reflections consider the role of place in the practice of art criticism, as well as the contrast between contemporary art and digital culture.
With Singapore serving as the subject of exploration, The Hard State, Soft City of Singapore explores the purview of imaginative representations of the city. Alongside the physical structures and associated practices that make up our... more
With Singapore serving as the subject of exploration, The Hard State, Soft City of Singapore explores the purview of imaginative representations of the city. Alongside the physical structures and associated practices that make up our lived environment, and conceptualized space engineered into material form by bureaucrats, experts and commercial interests, a perceptual layer of space is conjured out of people’s everyday life experiences. While such imaginative projections may not be as tangible as its functional designations, they are nonetheless equally vital and palpable. The richness of its inhabitants’ memories, aspirations and meaningful interpretations challenges the reduction of Singapore as a Generic City. Taking the imaginative field as the point of departure, the forms and modes of intellectual and creative articulations of Singapore’s urban condition probe the resilience of cities and the people who reside in them, through the images they convey or evoke as a means for col...
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... a discussion on Asian values, see, for instance, "Asian Ways: Asian Values Revisited," ed. Raul Pertierra, special issue of Sojourn: Journal of ... My formulation of "define and rule" and claims toauthenticity... more
... a discussion on Asian values, see, for instance, "Asian Ways: Asian Values Revisited," ed. Raul Pertierra, special issue of Sojourn: Journal of ... My formulation of "define and rule" and claims toauthenticity derives from Lucy Davis, "Making DifferenceSo Easy to Enjoy So Hard to ...
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For the exhibition, The Artist, the Book and the Crowd, held in 2013 at The Substation Gallery, Ho Rui An, artist, writer and co-curator of the show, spoke with art critic Lee Weng Choy about the complex relations between literature,... more
For the exhibition, The Artist, the Book and the Crowd, held in 2013 at The Substation Gallery, Ho Rui An, artist, writer and co-curator of the show, spoke with art critic Lee Weng Choy about the complex relations between literature, contemporary art practice and criticism in Singapore.
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An interview with tv/radio journalist and writer Sharaad Kuttan, which draws a comparison between reading about art and listening to the radio about culture.
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The first part of the Regarding the Reader Instagram project presents a series of conversations with writers and editors on how they imagine or understand their readers. Here is an interview with Pauline Gan and Usha Chandradas of the... more
The first part of the Regarding the Reader Instagram project presents a series of conversations with writers and editors on how they imagine or understand their readers. Here is an interview with Pauline Gan and Usha Chandradas of the Singapore-based online art magazine Pluralartmag.com about how they got started, who their readers are, and their social media “strategies”.
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The first part of the Regarding the Reader Instagram project presents a series of conversations with writers and editors on how they imagine or understand their readers. My wager is that this is not the worst place to start when thinking... more
The first part of the Regarding the Reader Instagram project presents a series of conversations with writers and editors on how they imagine or understand their readers. My wager is that this is not the worst place to start when thinking about the reader.
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For over a year, I’ve been wondering how to engage with social media on questions of who reads about art, what they read, how and why. So I started this project. I’m still unsure how it will eventually take shape, and at the moment, I’m... more
For over a year, I’ve been wondering how to engage with social media on questions of who reads about art, what they read, how and why. So I started this project. I’m still unsure how it will eventually take shape, and at the moment, I’m talking with friends and exploring a few ideas, all of which will take some time to realise. In the meanwhile, let me share some thoughts on the theme.