Chu Chu Yuan
(Zhu Zi Yan) Chu Chu Yuan
(Zhu Zi Yan)Chu Chu Yuan is a visual artist, writer and cultural worker. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Malaya, Malaysia, in 1988. Since then she has been involved in a variety of engagements and disciplines, which includes full-time feature writing, book editing, teaching, and art administration (fundraising, publicity and programming) with The Substation, the oldest independent artspace in Singapore. She took part in her first public (group) art exhibition in September 1993, and from then onwards, she was involved in projects with the Artists Village and Fifth Passage, 2 artists-initiated collectives dating from the late 1980s in Singapore, and in the mid 90s was working with an independent grouping of women artists in organizing and carrying out site-specific projects in women-related sites in Singapore.
In her artwork, she employs a variety of media, using mixed-media drawings, installation, soft sculpture, performance, poetry and text, and is interested in making projects which involve active engagement with audiences and communities. She has participated in exhibitions such as Nokia Singapore Art (1999-2000), Women Beyond Borders (2001) and was artist-in-residence with The Substation, Singapore, from February to August 2001, working on the research-based project, Investigating Public Engaged Art, Singapore. In 2002, she co-organised and participated in Collaboration, Networking and Resource-Sharing: Myanmar in Yangon, Myanmar and participated in City Transformers, in Danzig, Poland. She has also participated in art events in Malaysia, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Germany and and 2 art residencies in Finland.
Chu Yuan began artistic collaborations with Jay Koh in 2000, with whom she has been working to develop and evolve a "methodology of expanded engagement". In their projects, Investigating Public Engaged Art: Singapore (2001), and Normadism/ Normalisation I in Myanmar (2002) and Normadism/ Normalisation II in Finland (2002), Voicing the City in Danzig, Poland (2002), Portraying Ourselves: Rauma residents on Rauma in Finalnd (2005) and Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts (NICA) in Myanmar (2003- present) they have been developing and evolving parts of their working methodology.
Born in Malaysia, 1965
Addresses:
Malaysia: 663, SK 4/4, Seri Kembangan, 43300 Selangor, Malaysia
Singapore: 66, South Buona Vista Road, #03-06, Singapore 116175
E-mail: zhiyen@gmx.net
1985-89 Bachelor of Arts (English, Hons.), University of Malaya, Malaysia
1992-93 Fine arts studies, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore
1996-97 Metabolic Theatre Laboratory, Singapore
2001 Artist-in-Residence, The Substation, Singapore
2005 Artist-in-Residence, Helsinki International Artist-in-residence Programme – HIAP, Helsinki, Finland
2005 Research programme, KUVA - Academy of Fine Arts of Helsinki, Finland
2005 Artist residency project: public art project with Lonnstrom Museum, Rauma, Finland
2005 Artist-in-Residence, IASPIS in Umea Univeristy, Umea, Sweden
Group Exhibitions/ Projects
2005 Portraying Ourselves: Rauma Residents on Rauma, public art project with participation of Rauma residents, Finland.
2003 Installation Art Workshop Series, NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar
2002 City Transformers: Engaged Art and Architecture of the City, Gdansk, Poland.
2001 Digiframe. Cologne, Germany
2000 Translation, Displacement, Actualisation. Gallery 68elf. Cologne, Germany
2000 Very-nars-sarri. Art Council of Central Finland & City of Jyvaskyla. Jyvaskyla, Finland.
2000 Nokia Singapore Art 2000. HOPE. CHIJMES, Singapore.
1998 All That Remains. The Substation, Singapore
1996 Weather Report, International Travelling Exhibition.
1995 Heimat. Kassel, Germany.
1995 Dilating Pupils. Gallery A & O, Berlin, Germany.
1994 Personae I: Confering on Woman. 5th Passage Artists Limited, Singapore.
1994 Surrogate Desires. 5th Passage Artists Limited, Singapore.
1993 -94 Artists' General Assembly. 5th Passage Artists Limited & Artists Village, Singapore.
1993 Second Sculpture Seminar. National Art Gallery, Singapore.
1993 Intertiary Cultural Week. National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Solo Performances
2005 Performance Site: Myanmar "Borders: within without", NICA, Yangon, Myanmar
1999 Participating for an Active Community Fair. Suntec City Mall. The Working Committee. Singapore.
1999 The Re-membering Body. The Substation. Singapore.
1998 The Forgotten Body. The Substation. Singapore
1997 Utterances. The Substation. Singapore.
Group/ Duo Performances
2002 Nomadism/ Normalisation II: Performance with Jay Koh in Wasted Time for Performance. Taidehalle, Helsinki, Finland
2002 Nomadism/ Normalisation I:Performance with Jay Koh and talk in International Performance Workshop: Collaboration, Networking and Resource-Sharing: Myanmar, Yangon, Myanmar.
1997 Prodigal Songs. The Substation Theatre Festival. The Substation. Singapore
1997 Blue Monkish. The Substation/Tampines Cultural Centre. Singapore
1996 Blue Monkish. The Substation. Singapore.
2004 Artstream Myanmar, website on Myanmar arts and culture, collaborative project by NICA, Yangon, Myanmar with Perumal Studios, Singapore and Tampere Polytechnic, Tampere, Finland (project director and editorial advisor)
2004 Documenting Our Lives, Our Times project, resulting from photography workshops initiated and conducted by Nicholas Leong at NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar (project curator and manager)
2004 Writing Our Art Histories project, NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar (curator, researcher and programme director)
2004 The Open Academy Programme Year II (intercultural knowledge and resource-sharing), NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar (programme director)
2003 MNX (Mekong Networking & Exchange), NICA, Yangon, Myanmar; Chiangmai University Art Museum, Chiangmai, Thailand; About Art Related Activities, Bangkok, Thailand; Reyum Institute for Culture & the Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (project co-director and forum facilitator)
2003 Installation Art Workshop Series, NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar (curator, programme director and workshop facilitator)
2003 The Open Academy Programme (intercultural knowledge and resource-sharing), NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar (programme director)
2003 Young Adults Training Programme, NICA (Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar (programme director & trainer)
2002 To Go On: a Tribute to Kuo Pao Kun, The Substation, Singapore (Project and production manager).
2002 International Symposium on Public Engaged Art, The Substation, Singapore (Project curator and coordinator).
2002 Art Education Programme for Schools, National Arts Council, Singapore (Course facilitator for Public Engaged Art programme for schools)
2002 10th Anniversary Publication, Department of Neurology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore (Project manager and editor).
2001-02 Collaboration, Networking & Resource-Sharing: Myanmar, Myanmar (Project co-curator and coordinator).
2001-02 M-Spaces: Crossover or Assimilation, Nokia-Singapore Art 01, Millenia Walk, Singapore (Project Manager for exhibition & catalogue)
2001 Investigating Public Engaged Art, Artist-in-Residence Project, The Substation, Singapore (Project coordinator, curator and artist-researcher).
2001 Seminar on Engaged Art in Public Spaces, Danzig, Poland (Seminar conductor)
2001 Women Beyond Borders, Singapore (Facilitating artist assisting KK Hospital patients from Oncology Department).
2001 Open Ends Project, Singapore (Researcher and interviewer).
2001 Alternatives in Transition by William Lim (book publication), Select Books, Singapore (Book editor).
1997 Singapore Technologies book project, Wordmaker Design, Singapore (Proofreader).
1997 Dance Space, The Substation, Singapore (Programme and project coordinator).
1996 Raw Theatre, The Substation, Singapore (Programme and project coordinator).
1996 Outreach Programme, The Substation, Singapore (Programme and project coordinator).
1996 Space, Spaces & Spacing. Publication. The Substation, Singapore (Transcriber and sub-editor).
1996 Publication of The 3rd ASEAN Workshop, Exhibition & Symposium on Aesthetics, National Heritage Board (NHB), Singapore (Assistant editor).
1996 Women-Centred & Gender-Sensitive Experiences, Health Resource Kit. Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW) (Designer).
1996 XX Personae II. Kandang Kerbau Maternity Hospital. Singapore (Project administrator).
1996 Making Sense of Making Art workshop. The Substation. Singapore (Project curator and manager).
1995 Electronic Art Gallery project, Singapore Art Museum, NHB, Singapore (Researcher).
2005 Research trip to Dublin and take part in the Art in the City - Document 17, hosted by CityArts, Dublin, Ireland
2005 Presentation "€œSingapore Heartland Project", Res Artis Conference, Berlin, Germany
2005 Guest artist-critic, Tampere Polytechnic, Tampere, Finland (in Performance Art course)
2005 Artists in Multi-faceted Roles, talk delivered in Tampere Polytechnic, Tampere, Finland
2005 Artists in Multi-faceted Roles, talk delivered in University of Turku, organized by Environmental Art department, Pori campus, Finland
2005 Art & Knowledge: Encounters in Inter-cultural Projects, 2-day symposium organized by postgraduate students of KUVA Fine Art Academy of Helsinki, Finland
2005 Repositioning the Artist in Society, symposium at Tate Britain, London, UK
2005 Art Writing: Articulating the Art Encounter, 3 weekend writing course conducted in the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2003 Comparative Contemporaries: symposium and workshops on contemporary practices in Southeast Asia, The Substation, Singapore
2002 Locus 1: Interventions in Art Practices, Lopez Museum, Manila, The Philippines
2002 City Transformers: Engaged Art and Architecture of the City, Gdansk, Poland
2002 International Symposium on Public Engaged Art, The Substation, Singapore
2001 Seminar on Engaged Art in Public Spaces, Lasnia Centre for Contemporary Art, Danzig, Poland
2000 International Symposium on Xchange: Crossing Cultures, Theories and Practices on Engaged Art. Museum of Site. Hong Kong
2000 Artist Talk, Royal University of Fine Art, Cambodia
1988 - 1989 Writer, Metropolitan Publishing (now defunct), Singapore.
1989 - 1990 English Tutor, Mara College of Higher Education, Seremban, Malaysia.
1990 - 1991 Book Editor cum Publishing Coordinator, Select Books Pte Ltd., Singapore.
1994 - 1996 Development Officer, and then Programme Executive, The Substation Ltd., Singapore
1996 - 1998 Freelance project manager, Singapore
1998 - 1999 Office Administrator, and then Marketing Executive, Aspect Communications Pte Ltd (Asia-Pacific), Singapore
2000 - present Project Director, IFIMA (International Forum for Intermedia Art), Singapore/ Germany.
2003 - present Director, Programmes and Training, NICA (Networking & Initiatives for Culture & the Arts), Yangon, Myanmar.
Publications (Features/ Reviews on Artist's Work - selected)
focas (Forum for Contemporary Art and Society), ed. Lucy Davis. Issue No.4, 2002. Singapore.
The Straits Times, Life! March 2001. SPH. Singapore.
Text and Subtext catalogue. 2001. Earl Lu Gallery. LaSalle-SIA College. Singapore.
The Arts magazine, Dec/Jan 2000 issue, The Esplanade, Singapore
Art Asia Pacific, Vol. 3 No. 2, 1996, Fine Arts Press P.L., Australia
Freelance Writing/ Reviews Contributions
ID magazine, Metropolitan Publishing (S) Pte Ltd. Singapore.
d. magazine. Regent Pacific Media Pte Ltd. Singapore.
d & a magazine. SNP Ltd. Singapore.
Editing Work (selected)
M-Spaces: Crossover or Assimilation, IFIMA, 2005, Singapore
Soe Naing: A Little Human & Other Creatures (catalogue), NICA, 2005, Yangon
Alternatives in Transition, by William Lim, Select Publishing. 2001. Singapore.
"58" by Jay Koh, for Images of the World, Copenhagen Central Station, Danish Contemporary Art Foundation and Danish Contemporary Centre of Art. 2000. Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Tropical House by Robert Powell, Select Books. 1993. Singapore
Tiger! Tiger! by Mochtar Lubis. Select Books. 1991. Singapore
The Girl from the Coast by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Select Books. 1991. Singapore
Grants Received
2005 Rotary Club- NAC Training Grant, Singapore
2004 Asian Arts Council, New York, USA
2003 Lee Foundation, Singapore
2002 Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands
2002 Japan Foundation Asia Center, Bangkok, Thailand
2002 Lee Foundation, Singapore
2002 SIA-NAC Travel Grant,
The Tropical House by Robert Powell, Select Books. 1993. Singapore
Tiger! Tiger! by Mochtar Lubis. Select Books. 1991. Singapore
The Girl from the Coast by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Select Books. 1991. Singapore
Grants Received
2005 Rotary Club- NAC Training Grant, Singapore
2004 Asian Arts Council, New York, USA
2003 Lee Foundation, Singapore
2002 Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands
2002 Japan Foundation Asia Center, Bangkok, Thailand
2002 Lee Foundation, Singapore
2002 SIA-NAC Travel Grant,