Shangri-La Art Podcast

Theatre Director Lewin Bernard and Curator Deborah Lim has a conversation with Jay Ho on the occasion of ‘Oumuamua's Tale, his second solo exhibition, presented by Chan + Hori Contemporary as part of the Singapore Art Week January 2022 at Gillman Barracks in Singapore. Music by Kinemesis_Music at Pixabay

Curator Clara Peh has a conversation with Ivan David Ng on the occasion of Roads Around A Mountain, his first solo exhibition, presented by Chan + Hori Contemporary as part of the Singapore Art Week January 2022 at Gillman Barracks in Singapore. Music by Kinemesis_Music at Pixabay

SUBLINGUA, SUBMACHINES is the experimental arm of Ivan and Pauline Despi’s studio The Acid House, with an artistic philosophy to change how animations, film and visuals can be experienced by audiences. Fuelled by collaborations across different genres, their artwork titled Dream Weavers for NEW WEAVE comprises a community weaving collective dreams into a grand tapestry - drawn from the idea of the t’nalak weave of the T’boli tribe that receives divine designs through their dreams.

Rezaliando and Fizah Rahim helm a team at MACHINEAST that has swayed brands such as NIKE and IBM to their distinctive style. With personal links to Padang, Sarawak and the regions that host weaving centres for the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers programme, memories of childhood, histories and home traditions were part of MACHINEAST’s considerations for their creative practice. Spanning the commercial and artistic, these powerhouses work across cultural contexts to represent Southeast Asia on a global scale.

Working towards a more convincing illusion, three-dimensional artworks by LOUDSQUEAK have a filmic quality to them that captures colour, light, shadows and motion. Made up of particles in a digital weave, they bring to mind pixels and serve as greater statements of who we are as people, how we interact with those around us and how we divide ourselves into different groups based on social, economic or other defining qualities. Trained as a software developer who adds layers to his artworks, learn about his analytical yet free-flowing approach to making art.

A fascinating deep dive into the mind of SHAHRIL AZUAR JIMIN, the first CEO of the Maybank Foundation moved from law to running factories to insurance to eating leaves in Sawahlunto, which all served as defining moments. Identifying weaving as an aspect that ties the countries of ASEAN together, he speaks about the importance of dignity and the empowerment that has been created for both weavers and artists.

STEVE LAWLER is an artist, curator and organiser all rolled into one but - more than anything else - he is a connector of people. Having brought together a creative community of international illustrators, graphic designers, artists and animators through projects and events across his career, his personal challenge is to engage with viewers who are not familiar with art. Intimately associated with visual culture in Singapore, he has moved from disseminating free zines via kult magazine to addressing social issues through creativity via EYEYAH and organising GIF fest.

Shangri-La Art Podcast: NEW WEAVE is a special mini-series that accompanies the NEW WEAVE exhibition held at the National Museum of Singapore from 22 January to 22 February 2021. Spearheaded by the Maybank Foundation and Chan + Hori Contemporary, NEW WEAVE was an invitation extended to nine animators and artists from Singapore to Los Angeles to put a digital spin on the ancient art of weaving across Southeast Asia. Broadcast on a giant screen, the artworks dominated the venue with hypnotising looped visuals, colours and forms in virtual space. Khai Hori and Deborah Lim unpack the stories of individuals linked to the exhibition through five unexpected conversations of how we connect as people through cultures, practices and ideas.

Episode 23 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. AJAY GOVINDA MENON, host of the Poetry Slam in Singapore, speaks with CHRIS MOONEY-SINGH, poet extraordinaire and co-founder of the Poetry Slam in Singapore, on reviving the rabab - once a leading instrument in Sikh sacred music - and his whirlwind path to Singapore. They introduce a selection of local poems, complete with sound effects, resonant voices and high production value.

Episode 25 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. The fate of the lone migrant, travelling to the edge, recognising the frontier, mitigating it. BRADLEY FOISSET pulls the curtain to the first season of our Shangri-La Art Podcast with deep questions of purpose and personal compass. As artists, art lovers, curators, art workers and patrons, he reminds us of how little we know of ourselves, and how afraid we often are in seeking, let alone breaking frontiers unexplored before us all. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 24 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Would you place yourself in a well-known conflict zone to fill yourself with knowledge and fulfil your passions? It is Israel at the Batsheva Dance Company (BDC) that dancer and choreographer AHILYA KAUL finds herself connected with and constantly summoned back to learn and work directly with contemporary dance maestro Ohad Naharin. She shares with us how Gaga, the movement language of BDC has enriched her life's philosophies and those of many others. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 22 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Could an artist ever leave the thought of art, for a moment, especially when he is engrossed with lifelong passions, such as fishing? We speak with avid angler and artist SEBASTIAN MARY TAY on what it is like to fish and make art amidst a family whose DNA is deeply etched with a history of fish. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 21 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. DIPALI GUPTA makes videos and drawings with magic sticks and eggs, the kind that makes many people feel good, ecstatic even. A mother, homemaker and a woman who grew up in a culturally conservative environment, the artist activates her art to overcome taboos and uncomfortable conversations on sexuality in society. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 20 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. DUSADEE HUNTRAKUL published a book based on a true-life childhood story as told by his wife. His wife, young son and the son of a friend contributed drawings for this book. The book is titled Grandma, I Want A Penis. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 19 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. What do you do when since young, lived your life in multiple countries, immersed yourself in native cultures, speak multiple languages and then fall in love with art? Meet ALEXANDRA DOMART, a great friend of artists, curators, galleries and museums. Listen to understand why art matters to her. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 18 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. You move to Paris to live a dream and learn the language, then fate throws you a challenge, through a viewfinder. Paris based photographer MELISA TEO recollects personal encounters and epiphanies that led to the unconventional methodologies in her photographic work. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 17 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. To expand our horizon, we often have to make incisive yet often uncertain decisions. For critic REENA DEVI, the past year was spent observing and writing on the politics and economics of visual arts outside of home and into the world. What has this brought her and how has this changed her perspectives and approaches in decoding the often elusive art world? song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 16 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. His first formal school experience was at a university in Singapore. Listen to HUNTER PANTHER DEERFIELD, the Vermont native on his hands-on experience in assembling KIRTI, chasing after art, artists, curators and that all elusive book publishing deal. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 15 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. When you curate for an institution, could you simultaneously do so with the headspace of an 'outsider'? Having worked together in various large-scaled and ambitious projects, long-time friends and collaborators DAVID CHEW, RANDY CHAN and KHAI HORI reflect on curatorial depth and impressions in relation to ideas on sites, places, peoples and their own creative development. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 14 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Independent, self-funded and going at it solo. We speak with PEY CHUAN TAN, founder of the micro exhibition platform I_S_L_A_N_D_S at the 1970s built Excelsior Shopping Centre. How does such an initiative posit itself when sandwiched between a historic, yet modern city centre and amongst high profile, state-supported museums and art centers? song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 13 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Often overlooked, fine art handlers and freight specialists are often crucial to the sound and timely presentation of art in museums, art centers, galleries and homes of the most demanding artists and clients. We listen to BERNIE OO and NADIAH HAIRUDDIN to understand the craft and spirit beyond technicalities. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 12 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Affordable Art Fair Singapore director ALAN KOH takes us through his journey diving into the visual arts landscape and in making the ownership of art more approachable, affordable and available to art lovers of every type. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 11 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Muralist, painter, sculptor and best known for his transitory, large-scale public art pieces, artist SPEAK CRYPTIC shares ideas on living in tandem to reflections of musical beats. Bassist for the post-rock band I Am David Sparkle and author of the electro sounds known as Primary Motif, take a listen to what he has to share.

Episode 10 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. What does space mean for artists and why should artists do more to conceive their own? We speak with DR HOE SU FERN, academic, researcher and observer of how space has been managed and allocated for artists in Singapore. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 9 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. We hear from DATO' KHAIRUL ANWAR SALLEH on the role of education in Fine Arts from LASALLE, a little known Singaporean art school back in the 1980s, in setting the foundation for this artist turned CEO of Media Prima Television Networks, a Malaysian listed, fully-integrated media company with a complete repertoire of businesses in television, print, radio, out-of-home advertising, content creation and digital media. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 8 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. What exactly does law-trained, creative consultant and running candidate for Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) AUDREY LIM do as one of the movers of the Singaporean music scene? song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 7 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Focused primarily on the presentation of contemporary art from Myanmar, Singapore-based French gallerist and ex-academic MARIE PIERRE-MOL tells us why running an art gallery matters for her, for artists and for the public. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 6 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Before the rise of co-shared workspaces, legendary writers and philosophers were known to hub from cafes such as the famed Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots in Paris. From a local coffee shop or kopitiam as they are known as in Singapore, SYED MUHAMMAD HAFIZ, independent curator and PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) gives us a sneak peek on his research of what he refers to as the 'Singapore Artworld'. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 5 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Mid-career artist SHIRLEY SOH embeds her art within purpose, reflects on inter-generational scenarios and the self-reflexive impact from working with women inmates incarcerated at the Singapore prisons. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 4 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Lawyer turned artist, YEN PHANG observes the overlooked, our right to fallibility and how even the law is not as black and white as many think it to be from the confines of a jamming studio in Singapore. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 3 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. Singapore based artist ANDY YANG moved from work in applied arts to fine arts and shares with hosts Deborah Lim and Khai Hori how he operates from an 'island' of his own. opening song credit: Mundane by Andy Yang end song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 2 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. In reference to their work on the groundbreaking court case of Indonesian domestic worker Parti Liyani, Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) volunteer and independent researcher Dr STEPHANIE CHOK with fellow volunteer GUSTI SERUNI share their experience and viewpoints on art and social action. song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori

Episode 1 from the 16-hour Shangri-La Art Podcast live-stream. London based artist and poet TUCK MUNTARBHORN, kicks off the Shangri-La Art Podcast (SLAP) that featured a line-up of 25 continuous sessions totalling 16 hours. Originally live-streamed on YouTube on 21 Nov 2020 in conjunction with the first Singapore Gallery Weekend, the recordings are reproduced here as individual episodes. end song credit: Aggronaught by Khai Hori