Boo Sze Yang, Chen Sai Hua Kuan, Ju Ming, Lee Wen, Milenko Prvacki, Tang Da Wu, Tay Bak Chiang, Tse Yim On, Wang Ruobing, Wee Kheng-Li | iPreciation at Art Paris Art Fair 2015

This year’s edition of Art Paris Art Fair places Singapore and Southeast Asia on the guests-of-honour platform, aiming to showcase the best art pieces from this region. Beyond its commercial platform, Art Paris Art Fair is dedicated to presenting and promoting art scenes of the east. In the past two years, Art Paris Art Fair introduced some of the best global contemporary art from Russia and China art to the Parisian and European audiences through its curated platforms. This year the focus will be on Singapore and Southeast Asian art. This is in conjunction with Singapore’s 50th birthday, where cultural programmes have been lined up in France for the Year of Singapore to celebrate 50 years of independence of the city-state.

One of these is a curated project under the aegis of Art Paris Art Fair: a monumental Singapore art commission for the Entrance Steps of the Grand Palais. Appointed curator Iola Lenzi has selected the interactive installation work of iPreciation’s Singapore artist Chen Sai Hua Kuan (b.1976), whose art piece entitled Ling Ting 2 聆听 (in Hanyu Pinyin, means ‘Listening’) will be the talked-about entrance piece at the Grand Palais.

On the significance of this prestigious space for the art commission, curator Iola Lenzi says, “…The location of the commission, the entrance forecourt of the Paris landmark the Grand Palais, is among the most sought-after and visible public spaces in the French capital…”

Consisting of two colossal speakers, Ling Ting 2 is an interactive sound sculpture that encourages self-discovery. When standing in the middle of the sculpture, the interconnected structure diverts the voice of the viewer to his/her own ears. It offers the viewer a singular experience allowing him/her off-track to think critically about just what it is that makes listening so powerful and so elusive. Our sonic environment is very complex in which sound is produced by nearly every action and movement. The identification of sound is an act of listening. At infinite levels, as John Cage discovered, sound needs special equipment or rooms to be noticed audibly. Ling Ting No.2 is playfully and engagingly conceptualized to create such an infinite space to inspire an act of listening – an intense listening experience that involves the sound of daily life of one’s own thought.

“… Singapore’s Hua Kuan Sai’s grandiose outdoor installation, Ling Ting 2 聆听 (‘Listening’) entices the audience bodily into a poised dialogue with him or herself. Viewers enter Sai’s piece erected at the entrance of the Grand Palais, Ling Ting doing its work to open up new spaces of hearing and contemplation. The interactive installation‘s visual appeal, with its sensually organic volutes like seashells clasped to the ear, draws the public in. The work produces a serene, enduring participative experience beyond the visual as it enlists sound, time, and space as well. This form of artistic construction, co-opting all the senses as well as audience and public space, is common to many artists of the region…..”

The National Arts Council and National Heritage Board support this project and the artist who will be presenting his work in Paris this March.

In view of the sophisticated French audience and European collectors, iPreciation aims to present the best of our key contemporary Singapore artists who occupy a significant place in Singapore’s contemporary art scene and history. The works in the show will feature pioneer contemporary artist Tang Dawu’s ink works; Cultural Medallion recipients Milenko Prvacki’s large abstract paintings and Lee Wen’s provocative performance photographs; new paintings of well-collected local artists Boo Sze Yang and Tay Bak Chiang; and conceptually-driven photography works by Wee Kheng-Li, Wang Ruobing and Chen Sai Hua Kuan. Apart from presenting the works of Singapore artists, iPreciation will also feature Hong Kong artist Tse Yim On’s playful pop-art pieces and Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming’s Taichi Series and Living World Series (whose work has been an inspiration to some of our artists). With the increased interest of International crowds and collectors in Southeast Asian contemporary art, this show will represent the great talents and energies that circulate our region.

Art Paris Art Fair is the springtime event for modern, contemporary art and design. It is dedicated to the promotion and discovery of the art scenes of the East. Art Paris Art Fair is an invitation to experience a new geography of the art world that passes through Moscow, Sarajevo, Beijing, Singapore… The fair brings together 140 international galleries from 20 countries in Paris, presenting a wide panaroma of modern and contemporary art including photography, design and art publishing. The fair is housed in one of Paris‘ grandest and most famous public buildings, the Grand Palais, constructed as a marker of French 19th century cultural and imperial power. Today the Grand Palais is home to public art and cultural expositions of the highest calibre. This event is under the patronage of the President of the French Republic, Monsieur Francois Hollande and the Minister of Culture and Communication, Madame Fleur Pellerin.