The 5th Singapore Biennale – The Curatorial Team

The SB2016 curatorial model retains the collaborative framework from SB2013, but sharpens the focus with a curatorial team that combines a depth of expertise in Southeast Asian, as well as East and South Asian contemporary art. The SB2016 curatorial team will work closely with Dr. Susie Lingham, who will be taking on the role of Creative Director for SB2016 when she relinquishes her role as Director of SAM at the end of March. As Creative Director, Dr. Lingham performs the key role in shaping and facilitating curatorial discussions, and will oversee all SB2016 creative content, including curatorial, intellectual, branding, as well as public and educational programming content.

The SB2016 curatorial team consists of SAM Curators Ms. Joyce Toh, Ms. Tan Siuli, Mr. Louis Ho, Ms. Andrea Fam and Mr. John Tung, as well as four Associate Curators who are invited by SAM to work collaboratively together.

The four Associate Curators are Ms. Suman Gopinath – based in Bangalore, India; Ms. Nur Hanim Khairuddin – based in Ipoh, Malaysia, Mr. Michael Lee from Singapore, and Ms. Xiang Liping – based in Shanghai, China. With the individual strengths and expertise that they bring to the table, the Associate Curators will jointly work with the SAM curatorial team to invite around 60 artists to exhibit their works during SB2016.

Creative Director
Dr. Susie Lingham’s work is many-faceted: as a writer-artist, art theorist and art educator. Susie received her Diploma in Fine Art from NAFA in 1990, graduating with the Merit Award for outstanding performance. She holds an MA (Honours) in Writing from University of Western Sydney, a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching Higher Education from NIE/NTU, Singapore, and a DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy) in Literature, Religion and Philosophy from the University of Sussex, UK. Susie was the Director of the Singapore Art Museum from 2013 to 2015, overseeing the presentation of 13 contemporary art exhibitions. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Professor at the Visual and Performing Arts academic group at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. She has also taught at universities and art colleges in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, including her alma mater, NAFA.

Curators
Tan Siuli is Co-Head of the Curatorial team at the Singapore Art Museum. She was a Curator-Mentor in Curating Lab 2012, a co-curator of the Singapore Biennale 2013.

Joyce Toh is Co-Head of the Curatorial team at Singapore Art Museum and oversees its Philippines collection and Publications portfolio.

Louis Ho is Curator at the Singapore Art Museum, where his focus is on the art of Malaysia, Myanmar and Brunei.

Andrea Fam is an Assistant Curator with the Singapore Art Museum where she oversees the Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos collections and assists in the Acquisitions portfolio.

John Tung is an Assistant Curator at the Singapore Art Museum and overseas the Thai, Hongkongese, and Chinese contemporary art portfolio with an additional focus on film and moving images.

Suman Gopinath is an independent curator based in Bangalore, India. She studied Fine Arts Administration and Curating at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, UK.

Michael Lee is an artist, curator and publisher based in Singapore. He researches urban memory and fiction, especially the contexts and implications of loss.

Nur Hanim Khairuddin is an artist and independent curator based in Ipoh, Malaysia. She graduated from UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) in Selangor, Malaysia with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art in 1994.

Xiang Liping is a doctoral candidate of the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou. From 1999 to 2001, she was a lecturer at the Zhejiang Normal University.