Wednesday 21 August, 8:30pm SGT (12:30pm UTC), on Zoom

Art Commandos (1988) was a month-long event that took performance art to the streets of Singapore, transforming locations like Sentosa, Orchard Road, Raffles Place, and Newton Food Centre into dynamic stages. This presentation looks at how the public performances of Art Commandos transformed the perception of performance artwork from a ‘foreign’ art form into one that can be integrated into the public spaces and consciousness in Singapore. The presentation will focus on the moments of improvisation in the performances and the organisation of the event itself, looking at how Art Commandos navigated and challenged the structures in Singapore that sought to render the performance art forms and artists marginal.

Goh Wei Hao is a PhD candidate in King’s College London. He researches on contemporary art in China and Singapore, focusing on the study of queerness and post-humanism in performance artworks. He also works as a freelance curator, having curated exhibitions and programmes in Beijing, London and Singapore.

Discussant:

Shu-Mei Huang, National Taiwan University.

This seminar is co-organised with the King’s College London, Faculty of Arts & Humanities.