Ocula Report Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber 15 Mar 2019 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula In Meiro Koizumi's three-channel video installation, The Angels of Testimony (2019), the central frame features an interview with Hajime Kondo about his time as a solider of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The conversation centres on war crimes perpetrated in China, including the beheading of Chinese prisoners for...
Ocula Conversation Diana Campbell Betancourt Diana Campbell Betancourt is a curator working predominantly across South and Southeast Asia. Since 2013 she has been the founding artistic director of the Samdani Art Foundation and chief curator of the Dhaka Art Summit in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a transnational art event that has grown in size and scale ever since its first edition in 2012. Backed by...
Ocula Report Chinternet Ugly at Manchester’s Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art 7 Mar 2019 : Mike Pinnington for Ocula China, home to 802 million internet users, is subject to sophisticated online censorship. This shrouded state of affairs, unsurprisingly perhaps, serves to reinforce stereotypes around conformity elsewhere. Any realm, digital or otherwise, subject to such strict scrutiny must necessarily be bland and uncritical, right? I was mulling over such...
Based in Singapore, Gajah Gallery explores the diverse socio-cultural interests of Asia through art from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China.
We represent established artists whose works are in the collection of regional museums and are shown at prestigious art events as well as emerging talents. The Gallery’s key strength is its closeness to its artists, enabling it to act as a short but solid bridge between artist and collector.
Established in 1996, Gajah Gallery today has an extensive network of resources and contacts encompassing artists, museums, auction houses, corporates and collectors. The Gallery holds exhibitions regularly, some of which have been collaborations with the Singapore Art Museum and the National University of Singapore Museum.
Gajah Gallery’s art consultation services include the commissioning of works for both public and corporate spaces. The Gallery conducts art appreciation and acquisition programmes, as weel as offers its space as a venue for both public and private events.
Ocula Photolog Art Basel in Hong Kong 2018 29 March 2018 'The sixth edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong brought together a uniquely global mix of galleries spanning six continents, outstanding artworks by established and new artists from across theworld and a singular gathering of international collectors and institutions.' –Art Basel in Hong Kong (29–31 March 2018).
Ocula Report Art Fair Philippines and the Manila Biennale: Between Art Fair and Bayan-ale 10 Mar 2018 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula Martha Atienza's single-channel video Our Islands 11°16'58.4 N 123°45'07.0'E (2017) shows an underwater procession based on the Ati-atihan festival, which emerged during colonisation in the 16th Century, and blends animist and Catholic symbolism. Filmed in the waters of Bantayan Island, where cross-dressing and role-playing intermingle with...
Ocula Report A Change of Scene: Art Stage Singapore 2018 9 Feb 2018 : Diana d'Arenberg for Ocula This year marked the eighth edition of Art Stage Singapore (26–28 January 2018), founded with the goal of bringing together galleries and art from Southeast Asia under the roof of the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The fair was, in its initial years, seen as Singapore's answer to Art Basel, but with a distinct regional...
Ocula Insight James Page on Yogyakarta Art Lab By Elliat Albrecht Initiated by Singapore-based Gajah Gallery in 2012, Yogyakarta Art Lab (YAL) is a foundry and production house located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. With a small staff expertly trained in a variety of metal production techniques, the lab's purpose is to engage international artists to experiment with new mediums in order to expand their practices....
Related Press Shanghai Hugo Boss Asia Art Award 2017 Exhibition ArtAsiaPacific* : 23 November 2017 In late June, the four finalists for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award 2017 were announced. The artists—Li Ming, Tao Hui, Yu Ji and Robert Zhao Renhui—were chosen from a pool of over 30 nominees for their standout exhibitions and artworks produced over the last three years, and for their potential future contributions to artistic discourse....
Related Press Indonesian Art Scene Revs Up 18 November 2017 When one is new to Jakarta, one makes the mistake of not telling the cab driver to travel via the toll roads. And so it is that while creeping through the city's tight tangled backstreets, the cab finds itself coming head-to-head with another car, both unable to give way because they are simultaneously surrounded by three dozen motorcycles.But if...
Related Press Jakarta Biennale: A new understanding of contemporary Indonesian art The Jakarta Post : 2 November 2017 This year's Jakarta Biennale will diverge from many of the curatorial practices of its predecessors.The Jakarta Biennale, which is set to open on Saturday at Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem in South Jakarta, will this year adopt Jiwa as its artistic concept.Jiwa is a concept that is almost impossible to translate into English, but for this biennale, it...
Related Press The Nature Museum THE INSTITUTE OF CRITICAL ZOOLOGISTS ArtAsiaPacific : 12 September 2017 Devised as a collaboration between artist Robert Zhao Renhui and playwright Joel Tan, the performance-lecture and exhibition The Nature Museum was a theatrical venture into museological waters. By adopting the roles of archivists of the Institute of Critical Zoologists, Zhao and Tan took their audience on an informal tour, encouraging one to drift...
