Of Public Interest: The Singapore Art Museum Resource Room (2015)

Images courtesy of the Singapore Art Museum

Of Public Interest: The Singapore Art Museum Resource Room (2015) - Installation

Opened on 20 August, 2015
Exhibition from 21 August, 2015 to 27 March, 2016

part of President's Young Talents 2015, Singapore Art Museum
at Singapore Art Museum at 8Q
8 Queen Street, Singapore 188535

Of Public Interest was a project that moved 4,500 volumes from the Singapore Art Museum’s (SAM) resource room into the space of a gallery.

The Singapore Art Museum Resource Room is a collection of catalogues, brochures and books that the institution has amassed since its inception in 1996. A number of these materials were acquired specifically for the resource room, but most of them were gifted to the institution by individuals and partner organisations. This resource room was open for access as a reference library until 2008, when the museum’s administrative offices moved out of the main building into a neighbouring complex.

For his President’s Young Talents commission, Zihan decided to reopen this body of information for public access over the duration of the exhibition. Together with a team of 25 volunteers, these books were catalogued and sequenced chronologically according to their date of publication. They have also been colour-coded according to the location of the publisher and presenting institution.

Presented as an installation-in-flux, the work functioned as a reference library open to the public. The public was invited to shape the collection for the duration of the exhibition from August 2015 to March 2016, subject to the following conditions:

Each visitor was allowed to withdraw one book from the collection. Public access to this book was restricted for the duration of the exhibition. These books were shrink-wrapped and placed in a separate area of the installation.
Each visitor was allowed to loan one book to the collection. This contribution was in effect for the duration of the exhibition. These books were accessible to other visitors and placed in a separate area of the installation.

At the end of the exhibition, there were a total of 84 public withdrawals and 14 public contributions. These interventions, along with a form that lists their name, gender and the reason for their withdrawal / contribution of the title are archived below. The withdrawn books were reinstated to the SAM Resource Room, and contributions were returned to their respective lenders.

The artist intended to foreground the evolving priorities and concerns that were reflected in the institution’s collection of books and ephemera, and for the space to critically reflect on the role of the art museum as a centre for the dissemination and transmission of knowledge.

Exhibition Assistant - Tysha Khan

Public Withdrawals:

'Channels and Confluences', 20/8/15, Loo Zihan, 32, Male

'The Dictionary of Art, No. 34', 20/8/15, John Cheong, 29, Male

'The Magical World of Czech Illustrators for Children', 20/8/15, Tyco Tat, 37, Male

'Cheong Soo Pieng: Visions of Southeast Asia', 21/8/15, Victor Li, 32, Male

'East Meets West, Works of Wu Guanzhong', 21/8/15, Georgie, Female

'The Crisis Of Criticism', 22/8/15, Colin Low, 26, Male

'Entang Wiharso Trilogy', 22/8/15, Debby Lim, 30+, Female

'Insight Guide Singapore', 22/8/15, Jason Foo, 29, Male

'Living Colours', 22/8/15, Bernice Lau, 34, Female

'Singapore Eye, Contemporary Singapore Art', 22/8/15, LP, 20, Male

'Singapore Biennale 2011 Open House', 23/8/15, Becca D'Bus, 37, All

'A Story of the Image', 28/8/15, Kenneth Chee, 39, Male

'Bing 04', 28/8/15, Gary Lim, 47, Male

'Departures', 28/8/15, Priya K, 26, Female

'Kult, Animals', 28/8/15, Alexis Chok, 18, Female

'What is Contemporary Art?', 28/8/15, Thomas Tan, 41, Male

'The Dictionary of Art, No. 28', 8/9/15, John Savage, 25, Male

'Seven', 8/9/15, Zaki Razak, 36, Male

'Suara Rasa', 12/9/15, Petro, 40, Male

'Now! Asian Artists', 15/9/15, Esther, 58, Female

'Salted Fish', 13/9/15, Steph!, 26, Female

'Oh Chi Gyun', 15/9/15, Chia Zhi Hui Samuel, 19, Male

'Mobile Landscape', 18/9/15, Jamie Ando, 20, Female

'The Dictionary of Art, No. 19', 19/9/15, Frosso Mastroholia, 24, Female

'Malay Sketches', 19/9/15, Jae Andrew Lim, 24, Male

'John Wesley', 22/9/15, Jo Lee, 21, Neuter

'书论十一辑', 26/9/15, Keith, 27, Male

‘Women Artists in Singapore', 28/9/15, Wendy E, 22, Female

'Kurt Schwitters', 30/9/15, Vanessa Hannes, 27, Female

'Andy Warhol', 2/10/15, Avantika, 20, Female

'Ben Nicholson', 4/10/15, Lena, 20, Female

'Louise Bourgeois', 6/10/15, Annabelle Aw-Hutchinson, 37, Female

'Nanyang Academy Of Fine Arts 56th Diploma Show', 16/10/15, Ming Wong

'Love Trail', 29/10/15, Nasha Brooks, 31, Feminist!

'Singapore Cultural Statistics 2003-2007', 30/10/15, Ling, 27, Female

'A Brief History of Curating', 1/11/15, Vanessa Lim , 26, Female

'Tate Modern', 1/11/15, SR Ong, 29, Male

'Harvest, The Lasalle 9th Graduation Diploma Show', 2/11/15, Kate, 21, Female

'In & Out', 5/11/15, Yvonne Sim, (I'd rather not say), Female

'Understand Contemporary Art', 5/11/15, Emmanuel Cedric, 20, Male

'Art Taipei 2011', 6/11/15, Teo Jing Yi, 17, Female

'Conversation With Myself', 6/11/15, Lan Heng, 17, Female

'Telling the Singapore Story', 6/11/15, Joshua Chen, 17, Male

'Younger than Jesus', 14/11/15, Devorah Devries, 43, Female

'Movement 1, Haroon Mirza', 16/11/15, Alex Maciver, 30, Male

'1 Black Malaysia #001', 19/11/15, Ethan Yong, 12, Male

'Dale Chihuly, Japan 1990', 19/11/15, Brenon Loh, 12, Male

'Same But Same Yesterday', 19/11/15, Gabriel Russel Quek, 12, Male

'Poetry in Motion', 20/11/15, Haolie, 19, Male

'Sue Williamson: Selected Work', 25/11/15, Lee Byung Hee, 41, Female

'Majulah! The Film Music of Zubir Said', 30/11/15, Bay Ming Ching, 25, Male

'Coexisting Differences: Women Artists in Contemporary Korean Art', 4/12/15, Philana Woo, 30, Female

'Landscapes in Chinese Style', 7/12/15, Annie, 38, Female

'Fernando Amorsolo', 8/12/15, Wayne Eastman, 60, Male

'Looking at Culture', Contributed: 20/8/15, Withdrawn: 8/12/15

'Contemporary Islamic Art from Indonesia', 19/12/15, Natasha Virzana, 25, Female

'Parkett, No. 49/1997', 20/12/15, Lan Gen Bah, 67, F/M/O

'Thay Hinh Doi Dang, A Transformative Disguise', 24/12/15, Divya, 18, Female

'The Dictionary of Art, No. 12', 2/1/16, Nick Modrzewski, 27, Male

'Liu Kang: Essays on Art and Culture', 2/1/16, Haziq Nordin, 22, Male

'Vasan Sitthiket, Lost Info', 2/1/16, Joshua Hetzel, 22, Male

'Yoshitaka Amano', 6/1/16, Ernica Ong, 80, Female

'Yeon Tae Kim, 2000-2004', 7/1/16, Joy, 17, Female

'Inventing The Individual', 16/1/16, SWT, 26, Male

'Gender-Sensitive And Feminist Methodologies', 22/1/16, Michelle Ong, 23, Female

'Still Crazy After All These Years', 1/2/16, Grace Koh, 20, Female

'Part Time Artist, Copy-Paste Extraordinaire', 9/2/16, Zoe Tan Ye, 39, Female

'Explore Earth From Above', 10/2/16, Pascale, 34, Female

'Separating Myth from Reality', 16/2/16, Louise Goolnik, 62, Female

'Exhibition of Contemporary Arts', 20/2/16, Nad, 20ish, Female

'Mondriaan Compleet', 27/2/16, Roeland, 41, Male

'Concept of Painting by Preecua Thaothong', 10/3/16, Dhitipong Dowpiset, 33, Male

'Conditional Love', 10/3/16, Rose Rigely, 48, Female

'From the Sea to Youth + Ash & Dust', 13/3/16, Alex Truong, 23, Female

'What Makes a Great Exhibition?', 14/3/16, Cayley, 23.97, Meh

'Australian Art in the Art Gallery of New South Wales', 20/3/16, James Manolios, 27, Male

'Modernism: Designing A New World 1914-1939', 21/3/16, Rozana Lee, 47, Female

'What About Converging Extremes?', 25/3/16, Crispin T, 19, Male

'Return - Recent works of Franklin Chow', 25/3/16, Kan Shuyi, >25, Female

'Selected Articles by M.R. Chahrarot Chitrabongs', 25/3/16, Carin, 19, Female

'Muar: Tributaries and Transitions', 26/3/16, Pak Juan Koe, 45, Male

'ABC for the MIddle-Aged Middle Classes', 27/3/16, Eden Low, 18, Female

'Contemporary Australia Women', no date, Laurel Mckenzie, 67, Female

'Sweet Dreams: Contemporary Art & Complicity', no date, Danna, 24, Female

Public Contributions:

'Be Serious, Lat', 20/8/15, Ulfahzatul Tysha, 22, Female

'Cristiano Pintaldi', 20/8/15, Tina Nixon, 50, Female

'The Denial of Death', 20/8/15, Joy Abigail Ho, 21, Female

'The Artist's Voice', 20/8/15, Grace Tan, 36, Female

'Vehicle Issue_01-2001', 20/8/15, Vincent Leow, 53, Male

'Hide/Seek', 20/8/15, Louis Ho, 37, Male

'Dear Vol 1: Lost & Found', 23/8/15, Yanda, 29, Male

'The Art of Ren Jianhui', 4/10/15, Ren Jianhui, 59, Male

'Re:Discovery', 10/11/15, Seow Yuih San, 36, Female

'L'Etranger', 22/11/15, Guo Jie Si, 42, Male

'Paradis Sans Promesse', 6/2/16, Chloe Powell, 33, Female

'Our Elusive Here', 3/3/16, Tan Shir Ee, Female

'Zul: Sonically Exposed', 3/3/16, Tan Shir Ee, Female