Plastique Kinetic Worms

The exterior of Plastique Kinetic Worms at 61 Kerbau Road, with its signboard subtitled as "A contemporary art space organised and managed by artists".

Plastique Kinetic Worms (PKW) was a Singapore-based artist-run space and contemporary art collective, co-founded in 1998 by Singaporean artists Vincent Leow and Yvonne Lee.[1] PKW was one of the few artist-run spaces in Singapore when it opened in the late 1990s, with the 1990 closure of the Ulu Sembawang site of Singapore's first artist colony, The Artists Village, and the disbanding of artist-run space and initiative, 5th Passage, after 1994.[1] Originally organised around a collective of 10 artists, PKW's membership would vary, with around 15 to 20 members at various points of its active years.[2][3]

In his 2002 book, On the Mid-ground, international curator Hou Hanru would describe PKW as "the very centre of experimental activities of a new generation", a leading space for contemporary art in Singapore at that moment.[4] PKW was known for its broad aims to support contemporary art in Singapore, from providing opportunities for international collaborations to serving as a platform for younger Singapore-based practitioners.[5] Artists Juliana Yasin and Francis Ng for instance, would hold their first solo shows at PKW.[3][5] Ng would notably continue on to represent at the Singapore Pavilion for the prestigious 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, alongside Heman Chong and Tan Swie Hian.[6]

In relation to other artist-run spaces from the 1990s, PKW had clearer aspirations towards professionalisation,[7] with discussions surrounding the space more frequently tied to notions of funding, sponsorship, and state support of the arts.[5][8][9][10][11][1] PKW notably received a considerable amount of state recognition, a consistent recipient of major grant support from Singapore's National Arts Council.[8][1]

In March 2008, after a decade of operations, the third iteration of PKW's space at 61 Kerbau Road would close due to a lack of funds, though the group intended to continue operating as a collective without a physical space.[5][10]

  1. ^ a b c d Hong, Xinying (2010). "Plastique Kinetic Worms". National Library Singapore Infopedia. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Do not squirm at these worms". The Straits Times. 21 October 1999. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b Chin, Francis (19 May 1999). "Defaced for the sake of art". The Straits Times. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  4. ^ Hou, Hanru (2003). "Transparency, Complexity, Void and Action". In Yu, Hsiao-Hwei (ed.). On the Mid-ground. New York: Distributed Art Publishers. p. 199. ISBN 9628638823.
  5. ^ a b c d Cheong, June (24 May 2007). "Plastique Kinetic Worms to Close". The Straits Times. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Singaporean Artists To Participate In "Most Important Art Event In The World"". National Arts Council Singapore. 2003. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  7. ^ Chng, Nai Wee. "Plastique Kinetic Worms". Biotechnics (Singapore Art Archive). Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  8. ^ a b Oon, Clarissa (20 July 1998). "Art finds a haven". The Straits Times. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  9. ^ Yap, June (2016). Singapore: Censorship, Institutions, and Alternatives (Technical report). p. 14. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.11965.05603.
  10. ^ a b Tsekarman, Karman (24 May 2007). "No money, no Worms; Lack of funds forces art space collective Plastique Kinetic Worms to close". TODAY. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  11. ^ Chong, Terence (2018). The State and the Arts in Singapore: Policies and Institutions. Singapore: World Scientific. p. 363. ISBN 9789813236882.