A national research centre of Nanyang Technological University, the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore positions itself as a space for critical discourse and encourages new ways of thinking about Spaces of the Curatorial in Southeast Asia and beyond.
A national research centre of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore positions itself as a space for critical discourse and encourages new ways of thinking about Spaces of the Curatorial in Southeast Asia and beyond.
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore) is a national research centre of the Nanyang Technological University. From 2013–21, the Centre was unique in its threefold constellation of exhibitions, residencies, and research and academic education, engaging in knowledge production and dissemination. In its former exhibition hall, the Centre featured leading artists presenting their work often for the first time in Asia or Southeast Asia, which made it one of the few spaces in Singapore to present contemporary art from around the globe. Its ongoing residencies programme facilitates the production of knowledge and research, engaging and connecting artists, curators, and researchers from Singapore, Southeast Asia, and beyond, across disciplines. NTU CCA Singapore positions itself as a space for critical discourse and encourages new ways of thinking about Spaces of the Curatorial in Southeast Asia and beyond. Located within Singapore’s visual arts precinct Gillman Barracks, the Centre’s dynamic public programmes serve to engage with various audiences through lectures, workshops, open studios, film screenings, Exhibition (de)Tours, and Stagings. As a research centre, it aims to provide visiting researchers and curators a comprehensive study on the contemporary art ecosystem in Singapore and the region.
Frameworks
NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore’s overarching research framework informs and connects the Centre’s various activities.
Communities of Practice. 2024–Present
Conceived as seedbed for experimentation, Communities of Practice is a shapeshifting research platform that brings forth communities at the intersection of artistic practices. Holding a communal space where artistic research can develop through interdisciplinary collaborations, exchanges, and processes of co-creation, Communities of Practice situates NTU CCA Singapore within the research-driven core of Nanyang Technological University by configuring the Centre as an interdisciplinary body and advancing its role as convener, capacity builder, and leading-edge incubator in the arts sector.
Climates.Habitats.Environments. 2017–2024
Changes in the environment influence weather patterns and these climatic shifts impact habitats, and vice versa. Precarious conditions of habitats are forcing migration of humans and other species at a critical level. The consequences of human intervention are felt on a global scale, affecting geopolitical, social, and cultural systems. The framework, Climates. Habitats. Environments., intends to discuss and understand these realties through art and culture in dialogue with other fields of knowledge.
Place.Labour.Capital. 2013–2017
Employed as NTU CCA Singapore’s first cycle of research, residency, and exhibition activities, this framework took Singapore, the world’s second-largest trading port and the economic epicentre of Southeast Asia, as a point of departure to investigate the notion of place, the intersection between locality and the global, labour, and flows of capital. Unfolding across four broad sections of “The Making of an Institution,” “The Geopolitical and the Biophysical,” “Incidental Scripts,” and “Incomplete Urbanism,” this framework drew connections across disciplines and merging theory with practice. Place.Labour.Capital. takes a reflective look at the art institution, and serves as a means to review the parameters of its own position in the present globalised art world and knowledge-production economies.
Location
GILLMAN BARRACKS
Set in a former military barracks dating back to 1936 and surrounded by lush tropical greenery, Gillman Barracks was launched in September 2012 with a vision is to be Asia’s destination for the presentation and discussion of international and Southeast Asian art.
Gillman Barracks is now home to leading international and home-grown galleries, national research centre NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) Singapore, art organisation Art Outreach, as well as an enticing array of cafes, bars and restaurants.
Today, Gillman Barracks is a place for art lovers, art collectors, and those curious about art. It is one of the focal points of Singapore’s arts landscape, and contributes to the development of visual art in the region and beyond.
Team
Ute Meta Bauer Acting Director
Principal Research Fellow
Ute Meta Bauer is a Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU). She is currently the Acting Director and Principal Research Fellow at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore); and is the Chair of the Masters in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices (MA MSCP) programme. Having served as the Founding Director of NTU CCA Singapore for over a decade, her work as educator and curator over the past years has focused on Climates. Habitats. Environments. At the Centre, she curated and co-curated The Oceanic (2017/2018), Trees of Life. Knowledge in Material (2018), and The Posthuman City (2020). In 2022, she served as curator for the Singapore Pavilion at the 59th Biennale di Venezia, featuring artist Shubigi Rao. Her recent large scale projects include the 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022), co-curated alongside David Teh and Amar Kanwar, and the artistic direction of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024. She is a Trustee of the Art Foundation TBA21 and a member of the Governing Council of n.b.k. Berlin. Bauer was recently conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Art and Design by Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland.
Dr Anna Lovecchio
Curator
Dr Anna Lovecchio (Italy/Singapore) is a curator committed to foster the processes of artistic research and create platforms for the production and circulation of knowledge, critical discourse, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Since 2016, she works at the NTU CCA Singapore where she has developed a broad range of programmes, including residencies, exhibitions, publications, and a podcast. Previously, she was Junior Curator at Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art in Genoa, Italy where she has worked on exhibitions by Tomás Saraceno, Tony Conrad, Susan Philipsz, Pino Pascali, Julieta Aranda, and Zhang Enli, amongst others. She was Executive Editor of the art journal Around Photography International from 2007 to 2008. She holds a PhD in the history of contemporary art from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a M.A. in Contemporary Art and Museum Studies from Tufts University, Boston, United States.
Jasmaine Cheong
Senior Assistant Director, Business Operations Management
Jasmaine serves as Senior Assistant Director, she comes with a wealth of 20+ years of experience in business operations across commercial and public sectors. Instrumental from inception stages, building operations from the ground up and scaling for growth. Proven track record in building and leading operational infrastructures, integrating key business functions to drive efficiency, compliance, and growth. Skilled in administration, financial oversight, procurement, facilities planning, contract and grant management. Known for managing diverse portfolios, , ensuring strategic alignment and operational excellence.
Eunice Lacaste
Programmes and Communication Associate
Eunice is a Filipino-Singaporean PhD Candidate at NTU-ADM researching on screens as exhibition spaces.
Ong Jing Ting
Programmes Coordinator
Ong Jing Ting joined NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore in 2024 as the Programmes Coordinator. She recently graduated from Nanyang Technological University, where she completed a bachelor’s degree double majoring in English Literature and Art History. In her free time, she enjoys art, reading and games, where she finds inspiration for her own creations.
Will Yeo Finance and Administration Associate
Will Yeo is a Finance and Administration Associate at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, providing operational and administrative support to the Senior Assistant Director. Will Yeo assists in financial processing, procurement, and day-to-day coordination to ensure smooth departmental operations.
Joshua Vince Gebert
Research Fellow
Joshua Gebert serves as Research Fellow at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University for the Climate Transformation Programme (2025–Present). Joshua is trained in architectural history and spatial planning in the Netherlands, developing a foundation in the intersections of culture, the built environment, and sustainability. He received his PhD in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore in 2024, where he drew on cultural geography and critical heritage studies to examine the politics of heritage in Indonesia. His doctoral research explored how cultural engagements and artistic practices by local communities can contribute to decolonisation.
Ng Mei Jia
Research Associate
Ng Mei Jia is currently Research Associate at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, managing the research projects Climate Transformation Programme (2024–2027), Developing and Evaluating Digital Tools for Participatory Climate Change Mitigation (2025–2026) and a research assistant on Climate Crisis and Cultural Loss (2021–2024), Environmentally-Engaged Artistic Practices in South, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (2021–2023), and Understanding Southeast Asia as a ‘Geocultural’ Formation (2021–2023). She was previously a Project Officer (Intangible Cultural Heritage) at the National Heritage Board, Singapore. Mei Jia holds an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore.
Angela Ricasio Hoten
Research Assistant
Angela Ricasio Hoten is a research assistant at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University supporting the research projects Climate Transformation Programme (2024–Present), Developing and Evaluating Digital Tools for Participatory Climate Change Mitigation (2025–Present) and previously the Environmentally-Engaged Artistic Practices in South, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (2023–2024). Angela holds a BA (Hons) in Environmental Studies and minor in Anthropology from Yale-NUS College, Singapore. She was also the undergraduate research assistant for ‘Lala Land: Singapore’s Seafood Heritage’ edited by Anthony Medrano, published by Epigram Books.
Support
NTU CCA Singapore is a non-profit institution that takes great pride in presenting internationally acclaimed, research-driven exhibitions, residencies, and extensive educational programmes.
Your generous gifts, regardless of amount, will go a long way as the Centre continues to strive for positive engagements through contemporary art, research, education, and artist residencies. As many projects and programmes are ongoing, your support is critical for us to succeed!
Singapore taxpayers’ donations are eligible for a 250% tax deduction, and every dollar you give qualifies for Culture Matching Fund. To donate, click here. Choose “Arts and Heritage” as the designation category. Choose “Centre for Contemporary Art” as the designation. Your generosity will go a long way in realising the Centre’s future plans.
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has about 35,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Business, Computing & Data Science, Engineering, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, Medicine, Science, and Graduate colleges.
NTU is also home to world-renowned autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centres such as the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).
Under the NTU Smart Campus vision, the University harnesses the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources.
Ranked amongst the world’s top universities, the University’s main campus is also frequently listed among the world’s most beautiful. Known for its sustainability, NTU has achieved 100% Green Mark Platinum certification for all its eligible building projects. Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a medical campus in Novena, Singapore’s healthcare district.
