Innovative Curatorial Projects – Paris / Singapore
Theo.do.lites
18 April – 12 May 2013, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore
Theo.do.lites is an exhibition examining the project of modernity through artistic explorations of site-specific urban and rural realities in Asia and Europe, in the context of their conjoined yet deferred histories. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Raqs Media Collective, Uriel Orlow, Alexander Schellow, Charles Lim, Romain Kronenberg & Benjamin Graindorge, Marylène Negro, Tan Pin Pin, Daniel Hui, Masayo Kajimura, Massimilian & Nina Breeder, Debbie Ding.
If studies in city cultures often exhibit a critical nostalgia for an urban formation from the earlier stages of heroic modernity, we witness today a shift, revealing a sense of loss towards the promise of a vibrant future once offered by these early prototypical modernist cities. Rather than occupying the forefront of global developments, these cities are instead fast becoming a part of history. The works from Europe turn its eyes away from urban spaces towards unoccupied landscapes, reflecting a sense of disillusionment or a quest for a new spirituality. At the same time, works from Asia convey a suspicion towards its rapid urbanization in recent years, skeptical towards an idea of modernity that was never its own.
With an emphasis on moving images without being limited to it, Theo.do.lites reflects on these changes and presents the work of 14 contemporary artists from both continents and will offer a new appreciation of creative documentary aesthetics.
Curators: Kent Chan, Silke Schmickl
Artists: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Raqs Media Collective, Uriel Orlow, Alexander Schellow, Charles Lim, Romain Kronenberg & Benjamin Graindorge, Marylène Negro, Tan Pin Pin, Daniel Hui, Masayo Kajimura, Massimilian & Nina Breeder, and Debbie Ding
The exhibition is supported by the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS), National Arts Council Singapore, Singapore International Foundation, Institut Français Singapour, Goethe Institut Singapur, Locale, and Lowave.
About Lowave
Lowave is a platform for curatorial research based in Singapore and Paris. Its activities range from exhibition concepts, film programming and live performances, to artistic consultations, publications, and teaching. The singularity of Lowave's work is its international scope with a strong interest in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, highlighting emerging artists and the use of interdisciplinary and intercultural crossings.
Lowave was co-founded by its director Silke Schmickl in 2002 and consists of four main members including Mickaël Robert-Gonçalves, Jeremy Chua and Patricia Cartier-Millon, as well as a dense network of project-based partners. Lowave has collaborated with institutions such as Centre Georges Pompidou, La Cinematheque française, The British Film Institute, 3rd Guangzhou Triennial, Beirut Art Fair 2014, Pera Museum Istanbul, KIT – Kunst-im-Tunnel Düsselforf, The Arts House Singapore, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, and UNESCO.
Lowave Collection
Lowave's film and video collection has been built between 2002 and 2014 and features over 250 video artists and filmmakers from around the world. The label has contributed to an important number of international exhibitions, biennials, film and video festivals, as well as academic programmes. As Lowave's activities evolve, we have stopped our film distribution and our catalogue serves now as an archive that documents over a decade of film and video art history.
A selection of our DVDs is on sale at Re:Voir in Paris.
Readings
– Presentation of Singapour mon amour as part of In the light of history: Visions of a nascent nation conceived by Asian film archive Singapore in collaboration with National Gallery Singapore, 2016
– Silke Schmickl on body politics, video and the moving image at Beirut art fair 2014. Curator interview by Kriti Bajaj, in: Art Radar – Contemporary trends and news from Asia and beyond, 2014
– Nicole Brenez, Good vibrations. The french dvd label Lowave takes itself to the edges of film culture, in: Springerin, 2010
– Julie Crenn, In/Flux. Meeting with Katadiou Diallo, Dominique Malaquais and Silke Schmickl, in: Seismopolite. Journal of Art and Politics, 2013
– In lieu of absence. Taysir Batniji in conversation with Silke Schmickl, in: Ibraaz, Platform 003, 2012