Writer, artist and curator based in Singapore. Website under construction
Intro
I am an independent and interdisciplinary writer-artist, curator, and educator. With a focus on the nature of mind, my interdisciplinary work synthesizes ideas across different fields, from the humanities to the sciences.
Work
Appointed Creative Director of the Singapore Biennale 2016, An Atlas of Mirrors, I was Director of the Singapore Art Museum from 2013 to 2016, shaping its then new vision/mission, curatorial direction and acquisition strategy, and oversaw the development, organization and curating of 13 exhibitions, including After Utopia: Revisiting the Ideal in Asian Contemporary Art (2015) and 5 Stars: Art Reflects on Peace, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Progress (2015/16). Prior to these appointments, I was Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education/NTU, Singapore (2009-2013). I was conferred the Distinguished Alumni Medal 2014 by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
I hold a DPhil in Literature, Religion and Philosophy (University of Sussex, U.K.); an MA (Hons) in Writing (University of Western Sydney, Australia); and a PGDipTHE (NIE/NTU, Singapore), and have taught at universities and art colleges in Australia, Singapore and the U.K.
Short CV
Publications (Selected)
‘A Larger Reality’. Commissioned essay in ‘Culture and Crisis’ – Cultural Connections, Vol.
VI, 2021, pp 112-120. Published by Culture Academy, MCCY, Singapore.
‘Sotto Voce: What if we haven’t yet asked the right questions?’ Commissioned essay in
di’van, A Journal of Accounts, Art|Culture|Theory, December 2019, pp 34-45. Published by
University of NSW Art & Design, Sydney, Australia.
‘You, Other; I, Another: A Meditation on Otherness & Belonging; The Works of Art:
Living Realities & Shaping Perceptions’. 2-part essay for the exhibition You, Other; I,
Another. The Private Museum, Singapore, 17 May-22 July 2018. Curator and editor.
T.K. Sabapathy, Writing the Modern: Selected Texts on Art & Art History in Singapore, Malaysia &
Southeast Asia, 1973-2015. Edited, with section overviews, by Ahmad Mashadi, Susie
Lingham, Peter Schoppert and Joyce Toh, Singapore: Singapore Art Museum, January 2018.
‘Our Fractal Realities’. Essay in An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale 2016 catalogue,
ed. Susie Lingham, published by Singapore Art Museum, 2016, pp 14-17.
‘Our Geographies Map Our Histories: A Response to ‘Asian Art Research in Australia
and New Zealand: Past Present, Future’. Essay in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Art, Volume 16, 2016, Issue 2, pp 236-246. Published by Taylor & Francis online 10
November 2016 in http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/raja20/16/2.
‘The Crisis of Context: What holds heterogeneities together’. Essay republished in
Histories, Practices, Interventions: A Reader in Singapore Contemporary Art, eds. Jeffrey Say & Seng
Yu Jin, pp 105-117. Institute of Contemporary Art, LASALLE College of the Arts,
Singapore, 2016. First published in Text & Subtext. Singapore: Earl Lu Gallery, June 2000,
pp 164-75.
‘Turning the Curious Corners of Thought: The Synaesthetic Mind & Ways of
Knowing in the Arts’. Chapter in Contextualized Practices in Arts Education: An International
Dialogue on Singapore, ed. Chee-Hoo Lum, Springer Education Innovation Book Series, 2013,
pp 393-433. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-4560-55-9_38
‘A Quota on Expression: Visions, Vexations & Vanishings (Contemporary Art in
Singapore from the Late 1980s to the Present)’. Essay in Negotiating Home, History and
Dr Susie Lingham ~ Curriculum Vitae
3
Nation: Two Decades of Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia 1991-2011, Singapore Art Museum,
2011, pp 55-70.
‘Art and Censorship in Singapore: Catch 22?’ Feature article in Art Asia Pacific, Issue 76
Nov/Dec 2011, pp 100-109.
‘Mediated Thresholds: Between Ideal, Image and Experience’. Essay in Open House,
Singapore Biennale 2011 catalogue, Singapore Art Museum, 2011, pp 129-136.
‘The Surface from the Depths: Of Haptic Optics and the Fluid Dynamics of
Drawing’. Essay in Aversions, a publication on drawings by Singaporean artists, pp 140-148.
Osage, Singapore, 2009.
‘Navel: The Mark of a Vampire’. Essay in FOCAS (Forum on Contemporary Art & Society),
No. 2. Singapore: The Necessary Stage, July 2001, pp 49–83.
Conferences & Presentations (Selected)
International Forum: Exploration of the Turning Point & Revolutionary Development of
‘Anima Machine’. On the works of Korean artist Choe U-Ram’s solo exhibition [stil laif] at
the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan. Invited as panelist
speaker/discussant. 4 June 2017.
2017 NTUA Curators of the New Generation Open Call Programme. National Taiwan
University of Arts & Yo-Chang Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. Invited to be on the jurors’
panel, and to present at the conference ‘2017 New Curatorial Forum of Taiwan Art’.
22~23 Feb 2017.
Experimenter Curators’ Hub. Kolkata, India. Invited to be on the forum as participating
curator. 28~30 Jul 2016.
S.T. Lee Annual Lecture on Asian Art and Archaeology, the University of Sydney, Australia.
Keynote speaker. 14 Oct 2015.
Asian Art Research in Australia and New Zealand: Past, Present, Future. Symposium
presented by the Power Institute and Department of Art History, The University of Sydney.
Invited as respondent, and chaired one panel. 15~16 Oct 2015.
Of Mind and Measure: Heaven, Hell and Hologram. Lecture at the ArtScience Museum
symposium ‘Visualizing the Universe’, Singapore. 6 Sep 2014.
Art & Ideas: series of five public lectures, Art Appreciation Lecture Series, Singapore Art
Museum. 14 Feb ~ 13 Mar 2012.
Connect, Continue, Create: The 3 rd International Deleuze Studies Conference,
Amsterdam. 12~14 Jul 2010. Title of presented paper: Between Spider & Fly, Prehension &
Becoming.
Art Practice (Selected)
Thought Sample Return.
Solo visual art exhibition, presented by Gajah Gallery, Singapore. Conceptual sculpture,
including core samples of 33 volumes of 1990 Encyclopaedia Britannica; painting-drawings;
poem-riddles on glass Klein bottles. 28 July ~28 August 2022.
https://pluralartmag.com/2022/08/14/thought-sample-return-susie-linghams-
expeditions-into-inner-space/
https://artreview.com/a-guide-to-arts-and-culture-this-august/
5 th Passage: In Search of Lost Time. Artworks presented in group show, September 2021,
curated by John Tung. Presented by Gajah Gallery, Singapore.
Turn.
Solo visual art exhibition, presented by The Substation, Singapore. Drawing installations;
text; poem-riddles on glass Klein bottles and limited edition (55) artist’s two-in-one book: An
Unkempt Metaphysical Alphabet & A Pseudorandom Pataphysical Alphabet. 16 Nov ~ 1 Dec 2012.
http://www.todayonline.com/blogs/forartssake/susie-linghams-turn-and-delicate-act-
looking-inward
Detour. Visual Art Faculty Show, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore. Curator, conceptualized theme, and participating artist. Oct 2012.