Chun Kaifeng
Residency period
3 July – 30 November 2017
About
Singapore artist Chun Kaifeng deals with things that linger in the background of the built environment. His practice is premised upon a close observation of those everyday fixtures and ordinary elements that populate the contemporary urban landscape. Absorbed, reconfigured, and abstracted through a rigorous sculptural language, familiar items such as benches, railings, lightbox signs, and trash bins resurface in the gallery space as objects that, in the artist’s own words, possess a mysterious “sense of insularity”.
Chun Kai Feng (b. 1982) is an artist, curator, exhibition designer, and educator. He graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and received a Master from the Glasgow School of Art, United Kingdom. His works have been exhibited extensively in Singapore and have been included in group shows at Frac des Pays de la Loire, France and ifa-Galerien, Berlin, Germany (2015). He received the National Arts Council Young Artist Award in 2015 and has been Artist-in-Residence at Ruangrupa Art Lab, Jakarta, Indonesia and Ateliers Internationaux, Frac des Pays de la Loire, France.
Focus
During his residency, Chun will pursue his exploration of the inconspicuous fixtures of the urban environment shifting from a detached approach to a more active engagement that involves connecting with the public agencies in charge of the design, production, and installation of such elements. He is also contemplating to create a performance piece which will lend voice to a range of common objects.
Public programmes
Read More
Residencies OPEN offers a rare insight into the often-introverted sphere of the artist’s studio. Through showcasing discussions, performances, installations, and works-in-progress, Residencies OPEN profiles the diversity of contemporary art practice from around the globe and the divergent ways artists conceive an artwork with the studio as a constant space for experimentation and research.
This edition of Residencies OPEN takes place on the occasion of Art After Dark x Gillman Barracks 5th Anniversary Celebrations, and features Chun Kaifeng (Singapore), Sonya Lacey (New Zealand), Kartik Sood (India), and Richard Streitmatter-Tran (Vietnam).
Read More
“Fun is the feeling of finding something new in a familiar situation.”
—Ian Bogost, Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games (2016)
Viewing art and the world as a metaphorical playground can provide the basis to orient creative thoughts and processes. A Playground Needs Only to Be Interesting is an explorative exercise to lay out playful contexts and gather unexpected associations. The programme consists of a presentation about Singapore playgrounds by writer Justin Zhuang interspersed with Cake Theatre’s recitations of Playground Manifesto, a selection of artists’ statements collected and “remixed” over the years by artist Chun Kaifeng.