5th Passage

For the 2010 video game, see Luxor 5th Passage.
View of the 5th Passage art space at Parkway Parade during Amanda Heng's performance of S/he at the Artists' General Assembly in 1993/4. Photo by Koh Nguang How.

The 5th Passage Artists Limited, commonly known as 5th Passage or 5th Passage Artists, was an artist-run initiative and contemporary art space in Singapore from 1991 to 1994.[1][2] As a registered, artist-led non-profit organisation, it was one of the earliest of its kind for early-1990s Singapore, with its initial space located at Parkway Parade, a shopping centre in the east of the city.[1][3] The "meteoric existence" of 5th Passage has been noted alongside other art collectives and alternative spaces existing in 1990s Singapore, such as The Artists Village, The Substation, Plastique Kinetic Worms, and Trimurti.[4][5][6][7]

5th Passage was co-founded in 1991 by Suzann Victor, Susie Lingham, and Han Ling, later joined by Daniel Wong, Henry Tang and Iris Tan.[1][6] The initiative's programming emphasised an interdisciplinary approach—it exhibited performance art, installation, music, photography, and design,[8] also organising public readings and forums.[2][9][1][10] Art critic Lee Weng Choy describes 5th Passage as an initiative that had "focussed on issues of gender and identity, and on the work of women artists".[9]

Within the history of Singapore's contemporary art, 5th Passage is often associated with its role in staging the 1994 performance work by Josef Ng, Brother Cane.[9] Sensationalised media coverage of the performance led to a ten-year suspension of funding for unscripted performance art in Singapore, and the eviction of 5th Passage from Parkway Parade.[9]

  1. ^ a b c d Legaspi-Ramirez, Eileen (March 2019). "Art on the Back Burner: Gender as the Elephant in the Room of Southeast Asian Art Histories". Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia. 3 (1): 25–48. doi:10.1353/sen.2019.0002. S2CID 166232952. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b Huang, Lijie (28 July 2014). "Artist Suzann Victor keeps pushing boundaries to connect with the public through art". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  3. ^ Low, Yvonne (2011). "Positioning Singapore's Contemporary Art". Journal of Maritime Geopolitics and Culture. 2 (1&2): 115–137.
  4. ^ Hsu, Fang-Tze (28 April 2014). "Escape or Advance: The Politics of Independent Art Spaces in Singapore". LEAP. 26.
  5. ^ Chong, Terence (2018). The State and the Arts in Singapore: Policies and Institutions. Singapore: World Scientific. p. 214. ISBN 9789813236882.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Low, Sze Wee; Mustafa, Shabbir Hussain (2015). "Some Introductory Remarks". In Low, Sze Wee (ed.). Siapa Nama Kamu? Art in Singapore Since the 19th Century. Singapore: National Gallery Singapore. p. 23. ISBN 9789810973841.
  8. ^ Nurjuwita, Dewi (28 August 2018). "Q&A: Suzann Victor on paving her way as a female Singaporean artist in the 1980s". Lifestyle Asia. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d Lee, Weng Choy (1996). "Chronology of a Controversy". In Krishnan, S.K. Sanjay; Lee, Weng Choy; Perera, Leon; Yap, Jimmy (eds.). Looking at Culture. Singapore: Artres Design & Communications. ISBN 9810067143. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020.
  10. ^ Peterson, William (2001). "Queering the Stage". Theatre and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Singapore. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. pp. 154–155. ISBN 0819564710.