The Artists Village

Signboard leading to 61-B Lorong Gambas, The Artists Village (1988–1990). Photo by Koh Nguang How.

The Artists Village (TAV) is a Singapore-based contemporary art group.[1] TAV began as Singapore's first art colony, founded by contemporary artist Tang Da Wu in 1988.[2] Apart from Tang, prolific performance artists such as Amanda Heng and Lee Wen were also closely associated with TAV.[3]

TAV is best known for its engagement with societal changes and issues through late-1980s and 1990s Singapore, often through performance art, installation art, and process-based work.[4][5] TAV is historicised as producing significant shifts in the history of Singapore's contemporary art.[4][5] TAV's original space from 1988 to 1990 was a chicken farm at Lorong Gambas in Ulu Sembawang, which has since been redeveloped.[3]

Members were among the earliest contemporary artists in Singapore to practice installation and performance art. At the Village, younger artists were informed about artistic developments unfolding internationally, often mentored by Tang.[6] Exhibitions, happenings, and symposia were organised at the Village, and collaborations were embarked upon with the then-National Museum Art Gallery and the National Arts Council's Singapore Festival of Arts.[7]

In 2008, the Singapore Art Museum held the retrospective, The Artist Village: 20 Years On, a 20th anniversary exhibition that sought to examine the "tensions, disjuncture and collision of the individual and collective memories of TAV" as a collective that had "engendered radical shifts in contemporary art throughout the 80s and 90s".[5]

  1. ^ "The Artists Village". The Artists Village. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  2. ^ Kolesnikov-Jessop, Sonia (17 August 2010). "Singapore's Once Unruly Young Artist, Still Poking at Social Norms". New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  3. ^ a b Seng, Yu Jin (2009). "Re-visiting the Emergence of The Artists Village". The Artists Village: 20 Years On (PDF). Singapore Art Museum and The Artists Village. p. 13.
  4. ^ a b Scarlett, Ken (November 1992). "The Shock of the Unexpected: Innovation in Singapore". Art Australia. 55: 10.
  5. ^ a b c Kwok, Kian Woon (2009). "Introduction: Locating and Positioning the Artists Village in Singapore and Beyond". The Artists Village: 20 Years On (PDF). Singapore Art Museum and The Artists Village. p. 1.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference colony was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "The Artists Village Chronology". The Artists Village: 20 Years On (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.