Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions

Exhibitions have been crucial to the construction of modern Southeast Asian art history since the first Southeast Asian art exhibition in 1957. They are a primary means for canon building through tangible displays of artworks and published writings. Established in 2015, the National Gallery Singapor...

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Main Author: Hong, Grace Chu Yu
Other Authors: Michelle Lim
Format: Thesis-Master by Research
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137352
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1373522020-10-28T08:29:21Z Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions Hong, Grace Chu Yu Michelle Lim School of Art, Design and Media mlim@ntu.edu.sg Visual arts and music::Art history Visual arts and music::Art museums and galleries Exhibitions have been crucial to the construction of modern Southeast Asian art history since the first Southeast Asian art exhibition in 1957. They are a primary means for canon building through tangible displays of artworks and published writings. Established in 2015, the National Gallery Singapore (NGS) has quickly become the most influential institution for producing exhibitions of modern Southeast Asian art. The NGS’s exhibitions have been instrumental in shaping a new master narrative of modern Southeast Asian art history—one that has been posited as originating in nineteenth century colonialism and remains deeply informed by narratives of Western modernism. However, the role of the NGS’s exhibitions in the construction of a modern Southeast Asian art history has yet to be scrutinised beyond the museum’s publicised regional engagement—and in relation to the Singapore’s national agenda. This thesis examines the complexities and tensions of the NGS’s curatorial position through two significant exhibitions: "Between Declarations and Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia Since the 19th Century" (2015–2020), and "Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond" (2016). Through the close study of curatorial strategies and exhibition mechanics behind the display of artworks by two major Southeast Asian artists, Nguyen Gia Tri (b. 1908, Vietnam–d.1993, Vietnam) and Cheong Soo Pieng (b. 1917, China–d. 1983, Singapore), this study argues that the NGS’s exhibitions have cultivated a dominant narrative that ultimately suppresses the complexity and diversity of other Southeast Asian countries’ art histories towards the goal of positioning Singapore as the regional centre for Southeast Asia. Master of Arts 2020-03-18T06:16:19Z 2020-03-18T06:16:19Z 2019 Thesis-Master by Research Hong, G. C. Y. (2019). Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137352 10.32657/10356/137352 en This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Visual arts and music::Art history
Visual arts and music::Art museums and galleries
spellingShingle Visual arts and music::Art history
Visual arts and music::Art museums and galleries
Hong, Grace Chu Yu
Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions
description Exhibitions have been crucial to the construction of modern Southeast Asian art history since the first Southeast Asian art exhibition in 1957. They are a primary means for canon building through tangible displays of artworks and published writings. Established in 2015, the National Gallery Singapore (NGS) has quickly become the most influential institution for producing exhibitions of modern Southeast Asian art. The NGS’s exhibitions have been instrumental in shaping a new master narrative of modern Southeast Asian art history—one that has been posited as originating in nineteenth century colonialism and remains deeply informed by narratives of Western modernism. However, the role of the NGS’s exhibitions in the construction of a modern Southeast Asian art history has yet to be scrutinised beyond the museum’s publicised regional engagement—and in relation to the Singapore’s national agenda. This thesis examines the complexities and tensions of the NGS’s curatorial position through two significant exhibitions: "Between Declarations and Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia Since the 19th Century" (2015–2020), and "Reframing Modernism: Painting from Southeast Asia, Europe and Beyond" (2016). Through the close study of curatorial strategies and exhibition mechanics behind the display of artworks by two major Southeast Asian artists, Nguyen Gia Tri (b. 1908, Vietnam–d.1993, Vietnam) and Cheong Soo Pieng (b. 1917, China–d. 1983, Singapore), this study argues that the NGS’s exhibitions have cultivated a dominant narrative that ultimately suppresses the complexity and diversity of other Southeast Asian countries’ art histories towards the goal of positioning Singapore as the regional centre for Southeast Asia.
author2 Michelle Lim
author_facet Michelle Lim
Hong, Grace Chu Yu
format Thesis-Master by Research
author Hong, Grace Chu Yu
author_sort Hong, Grace Chu Yu
title Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions
title_short Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions
title_full Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions
title_fullStr Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions
title_full_unstemmed Reading modern Southeast Asian art history through exhibitions
title_sort reading modern southeast asian art history through exhibitions
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2020
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137352
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