Dr Adrian Tan

I am an artist-researcher whose academic interests lies in art history, research methodologies and cultural studies. I am currently working on a project on performance art practices in Singapore in the 1980s to 1990s, where the social role of artists and their practices are examined in relation to cultural developments in Singapore during the years of nation-building.

My PhD at NTU School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) focused on ‘Making Art Public’ in Singapore, where an art historical and urban studies framework was used to analyse case studies of exhibitions, art events and activities at National Museum Art Gallery (NMAG) and public spaces in the city-state between 1979 and 1995. My research focus areas include performance art, museum studies, archival studies, and cultural production in public space.

I co-run ‘The Artists Company’ (TAC) with Dr Jennifer Ng, and we are an artists’ collective that collaborate, explore concepts of labour and question the role of an artist in society through projects across the UK and Singapore.

I hold adjunct lecturing appointments at NTU’s School of Humanities lecturing on ‘Cities, Bodies, Memories, Art, and Everyday Life in Contemporary Singapore’ and 'Introduction to Museum Studies' while holding adjunct appointments at LASALLE, University of Arts Singapore.

I worked in curriculum planning at the Arts Education Branch (MOE) and taught Visual Art at Junior College and Secondary School levels for a decade before becoming a full-time artist. Earlier content that I taught include Studio Practice, Study of Visual Arts, Theory of Art and the Extended Essay. Having pursued my Ph.D., I have taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels where courses that I taught/are teaching include: Contextual Studies, Research Writing, Research Methodologies and Curatorship. 

My research interests include:

• Arts and Visual Arts Education
• Participatory Art and Socially Engaged Practices
• Performance Art and the City
• The Archive as an Artistic Practice in Southeast Asia
• Artistic interventions and Site-specific Art in the Public Sphere
• Cultural Practices and the intersection of Art, Public Spaces and Policy

I am interested in research projects that involve these methodological approaches that include tools that I have used in my research:

• Archival Research and the Analysis of Documents
• Ethnographic Methodologies and the study of Collectives
• Case Study Approaches 
• Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

2017 - 2021: Doctoral Research into artists collective 'The Artists Village' between 1988 and 2018. 

Two questions underpinned my research: (1) What forms of artistic interventions have taken place in spaces that have seen rapid urbanisation, modernisation, and socio-cultural development? (2) What functions do contemporary art and public art serve in post-colonial nation-states as seen through art and other related fields? These questions are explored in the critical examination of ‘The Artists Village’, an artists’ collective who situate their artistic practice in the city-state of Singapore. Through this research into their artistic interventions in the Southeast Asian city, my fieldwork involved artworks and projects produced in ‘the everyday’ and in public spaces. Such a study involved intersecting the study of art with my other research interests in urban studies, spatial theory, sociology and philosophy. 

Selected essays, book chapters and books

2021 Report, “Balancing Performance Art in Singapore”, (September) Platform 14, Vol 2: Balancing Acts

2020 Chapter, “Notes on Performance and Action Art in Singapore”, Art – Action 1998 – 2018 (Richard Martel, Publisher Les Presses Du Reel)

2020 Editor, "GRAVITAS", (collaboration on PG Lee's Solo Exhibition) Supernormal, Singapore

2019 Co-editor, “Questioning Museums: Art Institutions in Singapore” and Author of Introduction, NTU School of Art, Design and Media in Collaboration with NTU Centre of Contemporary Art

2019 Essay, “The Artists Village: Openly Intervening in the Public Spaces of the City of Singapore” Open Philosophy Journal, Walter de Gruyter GmbH

I am interested in a cross-disciplinary approach to research.

My academic profile has been strongly anchored on an intersectional study of art with my other research interests in urban studies, spatial theory, sociology and philosophy. As a result of this approach, my academic work is focused on examining the role of artistic practice within Singapore society and space, focussing on bridging the gap between studies of a scholarly nature and ‘the everyday’ forms of cultural production by artists in our community.

With this, I am interested in supervising students who are exploratory and diverse in their outlook and approach, where the utilisation of various research tools can be explored.

As a visual artist, I am a mixed media and installation artist who has collaborated with various social bodies in projects throughout the years. I am an artist’s education facilitator at the National Gallery of Singapore, collaborating on workshops, tours and content for the education team. I have collaborated with Ng Teng Fong Hospital (NTFGH), Thye Hua Kwan (THK) Moral Society, The National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and Singapore Tyler Print Institute (STPI). In 2018, I co-founded The Artists Company (TAC)- a grouping of artists working with collaborators to conduct workshops, art auctions and performance art in Your Mother Gallery and other art spaces. TAC was invited to be part of the Australia and New Zealand Art History Conference (AAANZ) in Melbourne where we presented a paper on our artistic intervention. TAC has continued to build on the collaborative energies in producing a series of public art performances in Objectifs Singapore, with Artcommune Gallery and working closely with Power Play, Wu Wei Performance Art Series, artist Tang Da Wu and CODA Culture in contemporary art projects and events.

As an artist and co-founder of "The Artists Company", some of the projects we worked on include:

2020 "Power Play 2020: Invisible Lines", Arts House, Singapore

2018 “An analysis of The Artists Company (TAC)’s Participatory Art Project Got Your Name Or Not”, Aesthetics, Politics & Histories Conference, Art Association Australia & New Zealand (AAANZ), Melbourne, Australia

2017 "Our Children", Esplanade, Singapore

2016 "Survey: Space, Sharing, Haunting", The Substation, Singapore

Some of the community and public participatory art projects that I have initiated and helmed with artists from The Artists Company (TAC) and the National Arts Council (NAC) include:

2019 "Sensilla" as part of “EATEN: A Capsule Museum for Future Possible Past Beings”, Gillman Barracks, Singapore

2018 "Got Your Name Or Not?", Your Mother Gallery, Singapore

2016 "Meet-the-People Session", OH!pen Call, Potong Pasir, Singapore 

2016 "One by One Metre Space", Flaneur Gallery, Singapore 

I supervised a team of students who proposed a prototype that contributed to the National Heritage Board (NHB)'s goal of re-imagining the traditional craft, Rangoli, into a wellness app that could reach out to the younger populace.

2017 Research Scholarship, Nanyang Technological University

2016 and 2018 National Arts Council (NAC) Presentation & Participation (P&P) Grant

2003 Overseas Specialist Award Scholarship (Fine Art), Ministry of Education