16 October 2022–19 March 2023 / Singapore
Learn more through the Singapore Biennale 2022 website
It is our pleasure to contribute to the Singapore Biennale 2022 – named Natasha – through a new collective project: Nina bell F. House Museum.
The exhibition is led by Amsterdam based artist Donghwan Kam, Leiden based cultural theorist Nuraini Juliastuti, NY based curator Sophia Park and Utrecht based organizer and researcher Ying Que.
The collective figure of Nina bell Federici (Nina bell F.) stems from the Casco Art Institute team’s shared admiration for the artistic, black, feminist and political engagements of Nina Simone, bell hooks and Silvia Federici. Nina was born in the context of the Site for Unlearning (Art Organisation) project, convened by the Dutch artists Annette Krauss and Casco, and lives on through ongoing studies and projects at the Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons. Under this framework, Donghwan Kam, Nuraini Juliastuti, Sophia Park, Ying Que and others in and around Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons come together to present Nina bell F. House Museum at SB2022. It consists of two multi-site installations, an archival project and a series of workshops.
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Donghwan Kam presents Fermentation House, a series of miniature house sculptures installed across several Biennale venues, including the Tanjong Pagar Distripark, the Southern Islands and 22 Orchard Road. The work was developed based on Kam’s interest in exploring how domestic acts—such as cooking, distilling and fermenting—are inherently related to time. Kam also presents Names of Water, an installation with audio elements that explores the correlation between branding and the taste of commodified water.
Presented as a mixed media installation, which uses refrigerators, tables and chairs to emulate a familiar home environment, the archival project chronicles the development of Nina bell F. and presents contributions from various artists and curators including Sophia Park and Nuraini Juliastuti. This archival project is led by Ying Que, an educator, facilitator and cultural worker currently living and working in the Netherlands.
The project also questions social norms and structures. A series of unlearning workshops taking place in the second half of the Biennale expound on the process of unlearning oppressive institutional habits in favour of practices for the commons. These workshops aim to inspire participants to think beyond institutional frameworks.
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More information on the artworks:
- Nina bell F. House Museum Featuring works by Donghwan Kam, Nuraini Juliastuti, Sophia Park, Ying Que with others in and around Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons. 2022. Mixed media installation, second-hand refrigerators, tables and chairs, and archival items. Dimensions variable. Singapore iennale 2022 Commission.
- Names of Water. 2022. Water dispensers, posters, sound. Dimensions variable. Singapore Biennale 2022 Commission.
- Fermentation House. 2022. 21 wooden houses, pottery jars, fermented soybean, salt, drinking water, pepper and charcoal. Wooden houses: 25 × 25 × 25 cm (set of 7); 35 × 35 × 35 cm (set of 7); 45 × 45 × 45 cm (set of 7). Singapore Biennale 2022 Commission.
Image description: (1) Banner photo contains various archival Casco materials, booklets and an abstract drawing of a face. (2) Side photo is an excerpt of the flyer for Nina bell F. House Museum at Singapore Biennale 2022 with a drawn house and the title. Credit: (1) Donghwan Kam, photo, 2022. (2) Seokyung Kim, design, 2022.
