Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice
Exhibition
 

Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice is an open-ended exhibition that serves as a laboratory of ideas, exploring the indeterminacy and changeability of urban living.

Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice

29 October 2016 - 29 January 2017

Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice is an open-ended exhibition that serves as a laboratory of ideas, exploring the indeterminacy and changeability of urban living. Borrowing its title from eminent Singaporean architect William S.W. Lim’s book Incomplete Urbanism: A Critical Urban Strategy for Emerging Economies (2012), this multifaceted project takes Lim’s practice and the initiatives of the Asian Urban Lab that he started with colleagues in 2003, as a point of departure. It presents various researches into the spatial, cultural and social aspects of city life according to the publications Lim was involved with.

Acknowledging Lim’s contributions as a prolific urban theorist and catalyst of ideas, whose vision asks that we reconsider the traditions of Asian architecture for the “contemporary vernacular”, Incomplete Urbanism is a direct response to his critical ideas – a space is generated to encourage participation and agency.

Lim’s key ideas will be explored by commissioned projects from several contributors, including Dr Marc Glöde (Germany/Singapore), film curator, Visiting Scholar, School of Art, Design (ADM) and Media, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore; Laura Miotto (Italy/Singapore), Associate Professor, NTU ADM; Shirley Surya (Indonesia/Hong Kong), Associate Curator for Design and Architecture, M+, Hong Kong and NTU CCA Singapore Visiting Research Fellows; Dr Etienne Turpin (Canada/Indonesia), Research Scientist, Urban Risk Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States; and Sissel Tolaas (Norway/Germany), smell researcher and artist.

Incomplete Urbanism seeks to present a dynamic space to engage urban issues, through discussions, debates, a programme on classic Singapore films, workshops and other collective efforts.

Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice public programmes
Images
✕
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice, October 29, 2016 — January 29, 2017, Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
⟶
⟵
Contributors
Ute Meta Bauer
Ute Meta Bauer
Curator, Founding Director
Singapore

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.

Khim Ong
Khim Ong
Guest Curator
Singapore

Khim Ong is Head & Curator, Biennale and Residencies at Singapore Art Museum. Previously, she was Deputy Director, Curatorial Programmes at NTU CCA Singapore (2016–19) where she co-curated solo exhibitions of internationally acclaimed artists Tarek Atoui, Amar Kanwar, and Yang Fudong, and research exhibitions Trees of Life — Knowledge in Material (2018), Ghosts and Spectres — Shadows of History (2017), and Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice (2016). She is co-editor of the publication The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia) (NTU CCA Singapore and World Scientific Publishing 2020). Previously, Ong held curatorial positions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE and Osage Gallery, Hong Kong. Ong was curator of the Southeast Asia Platform at Art Stage Singapore in 2015 and was part of the curatorial team of Escape Routes, Bangkok Art Biennale 2020.