In the lead-up to the May Symposium (21 - 23 May 2010), i will post some details about the speakers and the subjects of their talks over the next couple of weeks. Lee Weng Choy 11am, Sunday 23 May at the Auckland Art Gallery. a country of last whales — who reads art criticism anymore?A priest, a filmmaker and an art critic are on a radio talk show discussing censorship. Sounds like the opening of a joke, and I wish that it were — or that I could find the right punch line. But, yes, it’s something that really did happen. I was the critic in question, and the programme took place years ago in Singapore. Some listeners called in to say things like, if there wasn’t censorship, there would be riots on the streets. I couldn’t roll my eyes fast enough — thankfully, you can’t detect facial expressions on the radio. But, no, I wasn’t snarky in riposte. I was polite to everyone, albeit categorical in my criticisms: censorship is always arbitrary; it is about the high-handed power to silence speech, rather than the high- minded protection of minors.   My presentation in Auckland, however, will not concern itself, not directly at least, with censorship. When thinking about the question of “exhibition”, one of the main themes of the symposium, my response is to think about the “public” (and all the main players in this arena are evoked in my anecdote: the moral guardians, artists, intellectuals, the state, the media, and the audience at large).  Although on this occasion, I’m more interested to discuss that public that comes after the exhibition: those people who read about exhibitions. So who reads about art these days? Is there a republic of readers of criticism? Does criticism still have any relevance? How does art writing — from reviews to criticism, to histories — shape artistic and curatorial practice today? Very large questions, admittedly, but I’ll keep my focus tight, looking at the little art pond that is the contemporary scene in Singapore.Lee Weng Choy is an art critic based in Singapore; he is director of projects, research and publications at the Osage Art Foundation, and is a consultant lecturer with the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Singapore. Weng Choy has lectured on art and cultural studies, convened international conferences, and written widely on contemporary art and Singapore. His essays have been published in Art AsiaPacific, Art Journal, Broadsheet, Column, eyeline, Forum On Contemporary Art & Society, Journal of Visual Culture, Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985, and Yishu. Weng Choy also serves on the academic advisory board of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and is president of the Singapore Section of the International Association of Art Critics. From 2000 to 2009, he was artistic co-director of The Substation arts centre.  Presented with the support of National Arts Council Singapore.May Symposium

In the lead-up to the May Symposium (21 - 23 May 2010), i will post some details about the speakers and the subjects of their talks over the next couple of weeks.

Lee Weng Choy
11am, Sunday 23 May at the Auckland Art Gallery.

a country of last whales — who reads art criticism anymore?

A priest, a filmmaker and an art critic are on a radio talk show discussing censorship. Sounds like the opening of a joke, and I wish that it were — or that I could find the right punch line. But, yes, it’s something that really did happen. I was the critic in question, and the programme took place years ago in Singapore. Some listeners called in to say things like, if there wasn’t censorship, there would be riots on the streets. I couldn’t roll my eyes fast enough — thankfully, you can’t detect facial expressions on the radio. But, no, I wasn’t snarky in riposte. I was polite to everyone, albeit categorical in my criticisms: censorship is always arbitrary; it is about the high-handed power to silence speech, rather than the high- minded protection of minors.

 

My presentation in Auckland, however, will not concern itself, not directly at least, with censorship. When thinking about the question of “exhibition”, one of the main themes of the symposium, my response is to think about the “public” (and all the main players in this arena are evoked in my anecdote: the moral guardians, artists, intellectuals, the state, the media, and the audience at large).  Although on this occasion, I’m more interested to discuss that public that comes after the exhibition: those people who read about exhibitions. So who reads about art these days? Is there a republic of readers of criticism? Does criticism still have any relevance? How does art writing — from reviews to criticism, to histories — shape artistic and curatorial practice today? Very large questions, admittedly, but I’ll keep my focus tight, looking at the little art pond that is the contemporary scene in Singapore.

Lee Weng Choy is an art critic based in Singapore; he is director of projects, research and publications at the Osage Art Foundation, and is a consultant lecturer with the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Singapore. Weng Choy has lectured on art and cultural studies, convened international conferences, and written widely on contemporary art and Singapore. His essays have been published in Art AsiaPacific, Art Journal, Broadsheet, Column, eyeline, Forum On Contemporary Art & Society, Journal of Visual Culture, Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985, and Yishu. Weng Choy also serves on the academic advisory board of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and is president of the Singapore Section of the International Association of Art Critics. From 2000 to 2009, he was artistic co-director of The Substation arts centre. 

Presented with the support of National Arts Council Singapore.

May Symposium

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