Arts Picks: The Utopia Of Rules, Verse and a travelling gallery

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The Utopia Of Rules

Amid the glut of Singapore Art Week (SAW) events, a show that has not had much airtime is The Utopia Of Rules, which opens at 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road on Jan 17.

It is a tight, conceptual show that brings together 15 artists – including Heman Chong from Singapore, American Josh Kline and Hong Kong artist Kwan Sheung Chi – who examine bureaucracy and how it impacts artists’ practices and people’s lives.

Part of the interest is in the eclectic mix that curators Kathleen Ditzig and Hera Chan have amassed. There are video works – like Kwan’s In Defence Of Kwan Sheung Chi, in which he stages a press briefing to denounce critics of his art – but also batik, mixed-media installation works incorporating plants and award trophies, and architectural blueprints.

National University of Singapore senior lecturer Margaret Tan’s illustration of a “smart apron”, which she pitched in 2003 for a digital arts awards competition, is a curiosity.

Today, one might be tempted to read its indication of a “string tied around neck to check vital signs” and a “computer mainframe sewn into apron” satirically. But Tan has said it is a sincere creation bearing in mind the needs of foreign domestic helpers who are often passed over by technological advances.

Curator Ditzig describes the show as “experimental, ambitious and international”, as well as a secret love letter to Singapore and its art community, which includes artists and the state.

“With the pivot towards automatisation, we felt it was high time to think about how artists have creatively addressed the systems and logics that run our lives.”

The show title is taken from American anthropologist David Graeber’s 2015 book, a railing against excessive rules and form-filling that render both enforcers and followers of rules impotent and stupid.

National University of Singapore senior lecturer Margaret Tan’s Smart Apron illustration is a futuristic imagination of what investing in foreign domestic helpers might look like.PHOTO: MARGARET TAN

Where: 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road MRT: Great World/Fort Canning When: Jan 17 to 26, noon to 6.30pm Admission: Free Info:

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