IMMATERIAL FRONTIERS​

The School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) announced the opening of IMMATERIAL FRONTIERS presenting the work of six leading media artists from Southeast Asia: Charles Lim (Singapore), Cheo Chia-Hiang (Singapore), Tad) Ermitaño (Philippines), Tengel (Philippines), Tintin Wulia (Indonesia), and Dinh Q. Lê (Vietnam​). 

Now on at NTU’s ADM Gallery until 14 December 2013, Immaterial Frontiers represents three generations of artists using a broad definition of media art that includes lo-tech DIY constructions, digital video, sculptural installations and interactive sound works. The exhibition addresses the concept of the ‘frontier’ as a physical, conceptual or ideological ground that defines the edge and beyond.  

Organized by guest curator ADM Assistant Professor Kenneth Feinstein, PhD, the works in Immaterial Frontiers consider the notion of boundaries as both expansive and limiting. For some artists, this is framed by the tension between the ‘local’ and the ‘transnational’. Questions of identity through the use of language in daily and official forms are also presented. In other works, artists have repurposed discarded materials in conjunction with open source technology, to bypass the limits of the dominant consumer culture and map out their own DIY culture. Sound installations in the exhibition test the frontiers of mass communication while other digital pieces question conventional political and geographical conceptions of the border.  Together, the artists in Immaterial Frontiers create a unique voice from a region that has traditionally been the borderland between the East and West.

A Parallel Event of the Singapore Biennale 2013, If The World Changed.