Challenges and opportunities of producing participatory art in Singapore: a case study of the preproduction for unseen art initiative’s ‘Edible Art Club’

Abstract

This paper examines participatory art and its growing popularity in contemporary art practices in the Singaporean art scene. It focuses specifically on the relationship between local creatives and State (and State-affiliated) funders, which has remained as one of the most significant determining factors in the development of the socio-political potential of the arts locally.

Driven by the shared motivation between many who have been captivated by participatory art and Critical Cultural Studies scholars to explore concrete ways of materially shifting the conditions of ownership over the means of cultural production, the researcher conducted an ethnographic case study following the production of a participatory art project titled Edible Art Club, co-produced by a local arts platform named Unseen Art Initiatives. This was done to gather critical and qualitative insider information on the dynamics between parties from both groups.

By approaching the production process for Edible Art Club and other participatory art projects by Unseen Art Initiatives which were also made possible with the support of State (and State-affiliated) funders as an extended site of mediation between both groups, this thesis attempts to shed light on limitations and opportunities that come into play at different stages of production—specifically those revolving around the prevailing air of censorship and the prevalent use of econo-pragmatic language in Singapore. In this manner, the hope is that more will be understood about how to improve mediation State (and State-affiliated) funders and members of the local art community so that they can both continue contributing to the expansion of opportunities for audience-participants to take ownership over such projects.

Overall, the findings of this study reaffirm that while State (and State-affiliated) funders do generally possess and maintain predominant influence over the production of participatory art projects in Singapore. At the same time, these findings also reiterate that when the relationship between such funders and members the local art community is examined detail, the complexity of, exceptions to, and opportunities to negotiate the commonly assumed dynamics of power between the two become more apparent.