Ahmad Mashadi

Senior Curator, Singapore Art Museum (Singapore)
Born in Singapore in 1966. Graduated from Singapore National University in Economics and joined Singapore Art Museum as curator of its inaugural exhibition in 1996. Curatorial projects include “SENI Singapore 2004,” 49th Venice Biennale (2001), and 26th Sao Paulo Biennial (2004). Specializes in contemporary art in Southeast Asia. Lives in Singapore.

Singapore Biennale 2006

Curatorial Team: Ahmad MASHADI (SAM/NHB, Singapore)

Ahmad Mashadi is currently Senior Curator at Singapore Art Museum. He was coordinating curator for Home Fronts, a component within the recent SENI Singapore 2004, an international contemporary visual arts festival of Southeast Asian and Asian art, featuring over 90 artists from 14 countries and regions. He was also vice-chairman of the curatorial committee for Nokia Singapore Art 2001, a biennial exhibition series developed since 1999, aimed at displaying the latest contemporary art developments in Singapore. He has curated many exhibitions, including Landscapes in Southeast Asian Art, Visions and Enchantment, and Trimurti. He also curated Singapores first participation in the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001 as well as the Singapore representation in the recent 26th Sao Paolo Biennial in 2004 and 10th Indian Triennale in 2000.

 

Art in the city (2001)

Source: Sharon M Tan

Originally published at GetAsia.sg

From now till February 3, the city of Singapore is one big art gallery, thanks to the initiatives of the biennial Nokia Singapore Art 2001 (NSA01).

Sponsored by Nokia for the second time running, and jointly organised by the National Arts Council and the Singapore Art Museum, Nokia Singapore Art is meant to be a national showcase for the best Singapore's visual arts.

"This year's theme of Histories/Identities/Technologies/Spaces: Singapore Art Today is aimed at getting people excited about the notions of history," said Ahmad Mashadi, the senior curator of programmes at Singapore Art Museum, "and we are also introducing CyberArts for the first time in NSA."

The festival hopes to have a broad reach across the various art disciplines, but, in essence, it still serves to express, to question and to share. Collaboration is also a major player, where artists work together with the free exchange of ideas.

Said Koh Pek Hoon, deputy director of corporate communications with NAC: "Beyond the main exhibition venues, we try to make it an 'in conjunction' type thing. We try to incorporate or include what others are doing, like when they have already planned their own events that fits in with our theme, we'll ask them to join us."


The main exhibition will feature 141 works by 133 artists, and will be spread across four main venues - Singapore Art Museum, MITA ARTrium, Singapore Calligraphy Centre and Sculpture Square. Everything else will come under 'Affiliate and In-Conjunction Exhibitions'.

A section of the Singapore Art Museum is dedicated to CyberArts. "This is the first time we are doing this and we are interested to see how we can sustain such a feature," said senior curator Ahmad Mashadi. The works for the CyberArts section were selected based on two criteria - how it explores virtual space and virtual action.

One upper gallery at SAM has been converted into a LAN gaming station loaded with the popular game Counterstrike, with one difference. This version of the game incorporates urban Singapore landscapes such as HDB estates and void decks.

The Affiliate Exhibitions can be found in various art institutions as well as outdoor spaces. You can find Deriving Spaces in a section of Chinatown, specifically around the vicinity of Plastique Kinetic Worms on South Bridge Road. Curated by Vincent Leow and Lim Kok Boon, it's an exhibition of art installations and photographs. The other affiliate art spaces are at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, City Hall Chambers, Alliance Francaise and Ying Fo Fui Kuan on Telok Ayer Street.


The In-Conjunction Exhibitions can be found at numerous commercial art galleries around the city, such as Earl Lu Gallery on Goodman Road, Artfolio at Raffles Hotel, Bhaskar's Art Gallery on Campbell Lane, as well as at the gallery spaces of Hotel Gallery Evason on Robertson Quay.

Each weekend, starting December 15, there will be a series of talks and forums at the Singapore Art Museum and Sculpture Square. Covering a variety of subjects, from Chinese calligraphy to contemporary art practices, from video presentation to Chinese seal carving, these are free and open to the public.

Nokia Singapore Art 2001 is on till February 3, 2002. The main exhibition is hosted in gallery spaces at the Singapore Art Museum, MITA ARTrium, Singapore Calligraphy Centre and Sculpture Square, as well as selected outdoor spaces within the city.

 

"Asian Art: Prospects for the Future"

International Symposium 1999

The purpose of this international symposium is to make an overall assessment of the situation in Asian art at the end of the 20th century and discuss its prospects in the 21st century within the increasingly globalizing international art scene, based upon the results of exhibitions of Asian art that have been held in Japan and overseas. A total of 18 people from ten countries (Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden, and Thailand) will serve as panelists, and it is hoped that they will carry out lively discussions from a broad variety of angles. We sincerely hope that you will all come and participate in this perfect opportunity for reconsidering the contemporary art of Asia in 1999.


August 20 (Fri.), 1999

[ Session One ] 10:00-13:10
Discussion: "Examining Asian Contemporary Art in the '90s, Part 1: Regional Reports"

[ Session Two ] 14:30-17:30
Discussion: "Examining Asian Contemporary Art in the '90s, Part 2: Perspectives of the Presenters"

August 21 (Sat), 1999

[ Session 3 ] 14:00-17:00
General Debate:"In a Global Context: Asian Art in the 21st Century"

Panelists:

Australia:
Thana Devenport

China:
Leng Lin

India:
Ranjit Hoskote

Indonesia:
Jim Supangkat

Japan:
Akiko Miki, Tsutomu Mizusawa, Hideki Nakamura, Fumio Nanjo, and Akira Tatehata

Korea:
Seo Seongrok

Malaysia:
Niranjan Rajah

Singapore:
Ahmad Mashadi

Sweden:
David Elliott

Thailand:
Apinan Poshyananda


Venue:
The Japan Foundation Forum
Admission:
Free of Charge (Capacity: 150 people)
Reservation Method:
Send you name, address, telephone/fax number, position, and birth date by fax or post.
Reservation Deadline:
August 12 ( Thu.), 1999
Note: Japanese-English simultaneous translation provided.