ADM Grad Show 2013 : Searching Deep?

ADM Grad Show 2013

5th May 2013.
I was almost a student at ADM years ago but fate landed me in NUS Architecture instead. The Art Design and Media School at NTU is holding its Grad Show from the 10th to 19th of May. People with a keen eye for art, design, animation or pretty things should go take a look at the plethora of works put up by the students of NTU ADM.

ADM Grad Show 2013
ADM Grad Show 2013

Identity seem to the key inspiration for the many works under both Photography and Visual Communications display….perhaps in the face of what some critics pointed out as a cultureless Singapore, the students are looking deep into their own culture such as dialect groups, the kid in themselves, their surroundings as well as religion and interests for some answers....answers of what Singapore or who they are which are manifested in their works.

ADM Grad Show 2013 - Fu Zijia

Works that interest me include Fu Zijia’s trio of works that tackles Singapore’s ambitious and maniac-style urban development....whipping out the old and replacing the new. The aesthetics are definitely very dynamic and disturbing pleasing.

ADM Grad Show 2013 - Lim Hui Xian

For the photography section, I am attracted to Lim Hui Xian’s work which depicts several famous landmarks across the world such as the Taj Mahal in Agra, India and Notre Dame in Paris, France. The work address the strange familiarity visitors and non-visitors have towards these famous landmarks as we encounter them in all kinds of media such as postcards mentioned in the description of the work. Nonetheless, I personally the execution could have been stronger and well-thought out than its current form as the concept is has great potential.

ADM Grad Show 2013 - Sarah Choo

You probably have seen her works before. The works of the young talented Sarah Choo were displayed at the grad show as well. It was a triptych depicting 3 different figures in what seemed like a common grey box-like space. This grey, seemingly mundane space then fades into the context such as a teacher’s office, a workshop and a clinic, the simple and theatrical fading effect immediately alerts you about how we would impose our own associations on the figures base on their surroundings. Despite its simplicity, I thought the work has a clever social critique about how people perceive other people. As a son of a mum who didn’t have the privilege of getting an education and works in a canteen who faces discrimination on a daily basis, this cannot be any less relevant for me.

ADM Grad Show 2013

On a lighter note, as a foodie, I am also attracted to works such as La Rette which is supposed to be “friendly” cutlery that would influence your eating habits such as subtly affect how much you eat (for the better). Then there is the Art of Tea, another beautiful piece about the beverage I enjoy.

ADM Grad Show 2013

As you look around the exhibition, you probably would realize a certain trend towards the “nostalgia”, “vintage”, “clean”, “retro” aesthetics in a number of works. I generally felt that the aesthetics possessed by most of the works are rather decent. However, I was hoping to see more critical works.

ADM Grad Show 2013

The Brag Book is amusing.

ADM Grad Show 2013
ADM Grad Show 2013
ADM Grad Show 2013
ADM Grad Show 2013

Despite so, the grad show is still worth a look and its held at the pleasant Art, Design and Media Building designed by CPG Consultants at NTU which you could reach via 179 from Boon Lay station or a shuttle bus (I think).

P.S a number of my architecture friends are wondering if anyone knows what CPG stands for.

ADM Grad Show 2013

Ancestral tablets being used.

ADM Grad Show 2013
ADM Grad Show 2013

A mixture of installation and performance art.

ADM Grad Show 2013

ADM Grad Show 2013
10th – 19th May 2013.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media

1 comments:

  1. Hi Xin Li, I hope you enjoyed the exhibition put up by the graduating batch of students from ADM. One of the works featured in your blog post belongs to me (Postcards from the Internet) and I appreciate your thoughts in response to it.

    This series is in fact an exploration of the photographic medium and how it has changed the way we see the world. The obsession with photo taking has somehow replaced the importance of experiencing the space around us. Digital photography has allowed more photos to be taken without the need to economize, yet this characteristic has also developed a sense of complacency over the medium in users. This project was created using found images extracted from the internet, thus the title. The question here lies in the homogeneity in the manner people took photos of such places, how every photo looks the same and how is one's photo different from the other? Everyone has a camera, but does that make everyone a photographer? Why do we then still take photographs of objects/places that we have already seen before? These are the topics that were lingering in my mind as I question the role of photography now, which I believe is a concern of many other photographers as well.

    There are ways this project in which this project could be brought forward and I will definitely continue to explore the issue of photography's ubiquitous status.

    Thank you once again for sharing this on your blog and feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding my work.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

 

the moose & snowman

the soft toy. the soft toy.

makan corner

Follow Us on Facebook

Total Pageviews