{{short description|Singaporean contemporary artist and educator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox artist | name = Susie Lingham | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1965}} | birth_place = Singapore | death_date = | death_place = | field = | training = Diploma in Fine Art (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 1990);
MFA (University of Western Sydney, 2000);
PgD (National Institute of Education, 2001);
PhD (University of Sussex, 2008) | movement = Contemporary art | awards = | website = | known_for = Writing, performance art, sound art, installation art }}
'''Susie Lingham''' (born 1965) is a Singaporean contemporary artist, writer, curator, art theorist, and educator.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|last=Huang|first=Lijie|date=1 December 2015|title=Wahyuni Hadi and Dr Susie Lingham talk women, power and culture|work=The Straits Times|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/wahyuni-hadi-and-dr-susie-lingham-talk-women-power-and-culture|url-status=live|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628090135/https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/wahyuni-hadi-and-dr-susie-lingham-talk-women-power-and-culture|archive-date=28 June 2020}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Lum|first=Chee-Hoo|title=Contextualized Practices in Arts Education: An International Dialogue on Singapore|publisher=Springer|year=2013|isbn=978-981-10-1165-8|location=Singapore|pages=xxxii}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Huang|first=Lijie|date=20 January 2014|title=A heart for the arts|work=The Straits Times|url=https://www.nie.edu.sg/docs/default-source/news-document/30510434.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=0|url-status=live|access-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200626181310/https://www.nie.edu.sg/docs/default-source/news-document/30510434.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=0|archive-date=26 June 2020}}</ref> Her practice often incorporates writing, sound, performance, and installation, synthesising interdisciplinary ideas related to the nature of the mind across different fields, from the humanities to the sciences.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|date=2014|title=Dr. Susie Lingham|url=https://www.nafa.edu.sg/showcase/awards/profile/dr.-susie-lingham|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200728094633/https://www.nafa.edu.sg/showcase/awards/profile/dr.-susie-lingham|archive-date=28 July 2020|access-date=28 July 2020|website=Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts}}</ref>
From 1991 to 1994, Lingham was the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Singaporean artist-run initiative and space, 5th Passage, alongside artist Suzann Victor.<ref name=":332">{{cite journal|last1=Legaspi-Ramirez|first1=Eileen|date=March 2019|title=Art on the Back Burner: Gender as the Elephant in the Room of Southeast Asian Art Histories|journal=Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia|volume=3|issue=1|pages=25–48|doi=10.1353/sen.2019.0002|s2cid=166232952|doi-access=free}}</ref> In August 2013, Lingham was appointed as the Director of the Singapore Art Museum, becoming the institution's third Director and the first woman to helm the role since its opening in 1996.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":0">{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Mayo|date=3 July 2013|title=New director for SAM|page=52|agency=TODAY|issue=2|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/today20130703-2.2.58.2.2?|access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref> She would step down from the position in March 2016, moving on to take the role of Creative Director for the 5th Singapore Biennale in 2016.<ref name=":82">{{cite news|last1=Huang|first1=Lijie|date=19 December 2015|title=Susie Lingham to leave SAM|agency=The Straits Times|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/susie-lingham-to-leave-sam|access-date=9 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609030912/https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/susie-lingham-to-leave-sam|archive-date=9 June 2020}}</ref>
She is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Technology for the Arts, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lingham |first=Susie |date=2021 |title=A Larger Reality |url=https://www.mccy.gov.sg/-/media/Mccy-Ca/Feature/Resources/Journals/Cultural-Connections-Vol-6/Dr-Susie-Lingham.pdf |journal=Cultural Connections |volume=6 |pages=120}}</ref>
== Education and personal life == Lingham was born in 1965 to a Peranakan Indian father and a Punjabi mother, the youngest of the five children.<ref name=":3" /> Lingham would decide on an education in art over literature,<ref name=":3" /> obtaining her Diploma in Fine Art from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1990, graduating with the Merit Award for outstanding performance.<ref name=":6" /> Lingham then pursued a master's in writing at the University of Western Sydney from 1996 to 2000, also obtaining a postgraduate diploma in teaching higher education in 2001 from the National Institute of Education, Singapore.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /> She later pursued a doctor of philosophy in literature, religion and philosophy at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2008.<ref name=":3" />
== Career ==
=== Early artistic career (1990s) === From 1991 to 1994, Lingham and fellow artist Suzann Victor served as co-founders and co-artistic directors of 5th Passage.<ref name=":332" /> From 1991 to 1994, 5th Passage was based at Parkway Parade shopping centre, and would support performance art, installation, music, photography, and design,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nurjuwita |first=Dewi |date=28 August 2018 |title=Q&A: Suzann Victor on paving her way as a female Singaporean artist in the 1980s |url=https://www.lifestyleasia.com/sg/culture/art-design/qa-suzann-victor-shares-paved-way-female-singaporean-artist-1980s/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608200522/https://www.lifestyleasia.com/sg/culture/art-design/qa-suzann-victor-shares-paved-way-female-singaporean-artist-1980s/ |archive-date=8 June 2020 |access-date=9 June 2020 |website=Lifestyle Asia}}</ref> also organising public readings and forums.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Weng Choy |url=https://www.academia.edu/1330638 |title=Looking at Culture |date=1996 |publisher=Artres Design & Communications |isbn=9810067143 |editor-last=Krishnan |editor-first=S.K. Sanjay |location=Singapore |chapter=Chronology of a Controversy |editor-last2=Lee |editor-first2=Weng Choy |editor-last3=Perera |editor-first3=Leon |editor-last4=Yap |editor-first4=Jimmy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608200204/https://www.academia.edu/1330638/Chronology_of_a_Controversy |archive-date=8 June 2020}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=William |title=Theatre and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Singapore |date=2001 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=0819564710 |location=Middletown, CT |pages=154–155 |chapter=Queering the Stage}}</ref> In particular, 5th Passage focussed on issues of gender and identity, and on the work of women artists.<ref name=":2" />
After sensationalised news reporting of ''Brother Cane,'' Josef Ng's performance artwork staged at 5th Passage in 1994, the collective was evicted from Parkway Parade.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Lingham |first=Susie |date=November 2011 |title=Art and Censorship in Singapore: Catch 22? |url=http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/76/ArtAndCensorshipInSingaporeCatch22 |journal=ArtAsiaPacific |issue=76 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608094941/http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/76/ArtAndCensorshipInSingaporeCatch22 |archive-date=8 June 2020 |access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref> Later in 1994, 5th Passage received a ten-month offer to curate shows at vacant shop units in the Pacific Plaza shopping centre, which the initiative took up.<ref name=":332" /><ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Huang |first=Lijie |date=28 July 2014 |title=Artist Suzann Victor keeps pushing boundaries to connect with the public through art |agency=The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/artist-suzann-victor-keeps-pushing-boundaries-to-connect-with-the-public-through-art |access-date=8 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608192612/https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/artist-suzann-victor-keeps-pushing-boundaries-to-connect-with-the-public-through-art |archive-date=8 June 2020}}</ref> Lingham would also design the set for the Eleanor Wong play ''Wills And Secession'', which was staged by TheatreWorks in 1995.<ref name=":3" /> Around a year after 5th Passage's programmes at Pacific Plaza, the founder-directors of the initiative left for further studies and the group disbanded, with Lingham leaving for Australia.<ref name=":4">{{Cite tech report |last1=Yap |first1=June |date=2016 |title=Singapore: Censorship, Institutions, and Alternatives |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316990701 |page=14 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.11965.05603}}</ref>
=== Solo artistic career (2000s) === From 1999 to 2003, Lingham would work as an arts lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, and from 2008 to 2009, a senior lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.<ref name=":3" /> In 2001, Lingham would develop ''How to construct a valve on intensity?'' for The Necessary Stage, a performance production and sound work that sought to create "a 'listening space' [where] 'visuals' will be kept to a minimum."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2001|title=How to construct a valve on intensity?|url=https://tnsarchives.com/productions/4615/how-construct-valve-intensity|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200728124841/https://tnsarchives.com/productions/4615/how-construct-valve-intensity|archive-date=28 July 2020|access-date=22 October 2020|website=The Necessary Stage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lyon|first=Matthew|date=12 July 2001|title=[names changed to protect the innocent]: sex valve durmientes by the necessary stage|url=https://inkpotreviews.com/oldInkpot/01reviews/01revnamechansexvalvdurm.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022035016/https://inkpotreviews.com/oldInkpot/01reviews/01revnamechansexvalvdurm.html|archive-date=22 October 2020|access-date=22 October 2020|website=The Flying Ink Pot Theatre Reviews}}</ref> For Nokia Singapore Art 2002, Susie Lingham would perform ''Borders'' at the Singapore Art Museum, using images to explore the delineation between physical fact and idealised, nostalgic fiction, further investigating how artistic works blur the boundaries between private and public space.<ref name=":8" /> In 2002 she also wrote ''an equation of vulnerability'', a book produced in collaboration with Suzann Victor, published by the former Contemporary Asian Arts Centre, Singapore.<ref name=":1" />
In 2004, Lingham developed an interdisciplinary production, consisting of two parts: the performance ''If the Universe, between Circle and Ellipse, Slips'' and the sound and visual exhibition ''Sounds Like Mirrors''.<ref name=":8" /> The production featured a violet-hued hall of mirrors with soundscapes, a “staircase creature”, and a pair of illuminated talking heads in dialogue with two bodies in orbit around each other.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Chng |first=Nai Wee |author-link=Chng Nai Wee |title=Susie Lingham |url=http://biotechnics.org/2susie_lingham.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627091808/http://biotechnics.org/2susie_lingham.html |archive-date=27 June 2020 |access-date=28 July 2020 |website=Biotechnics (Singapore Art Archive)}}</ref> ''If the Universe, Between Circle and Ellipse, Slips'' (2004/13) examined the geometrics of the parabola and ellipse, functioning as a poetic comment on the reciprocal relationship between comprehension and creation.<ref name=":9" /> It was later presented as a text piece in the 2013 exhibition at The Substation, ''The Artist, the Book and the Crowd'', curated by Ho Rui An, Ang Siew Ching, and Karen Yeh.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|last=Pocock|first=Melanie|date=2013|title=The Artist, the Book and the Crowd|work=ArtAsiaPacific|url=http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/WebExclusives/TheArtistTheBookAndTheCrowd|url-status=live|access-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810182457/http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/WebExclusives/TheArtistTheBookAndTheCrowd|archive-date=10 August 2020}}</ref>
Her first solo show, ''Turn'', held in 2012 at The Substation, featured installations, drawings and poem-riddles on glass bottles.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite news|last=Martin|first=Mayo|date=18 January 2013|title=Susie Lingham's Turn and the delicate act of looking inward|work=TODAY|url=https://www.todayonline.com/blogs/forartssake/susie-linghams-turn-and-delicate-act-looking-inward|url-status=live|access-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427213418/http://www.todayonline.com/blogs/forartssake/susie-linghams-turn-and-delicate-act-looking-inward|archive-date=27 April 2014}}</ref>
=== Museum directorship (2010s) === In August 2013, Lingham was appointed as the Director of the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), the third Director since its opening in 1996.<ref name=":6" /> Prior to her appointment, she was an assistant professor at the Visual and Performing Arts academic group at the National Institute of Education, Singapore.<ref name=":6" /> During her time as Director, she oversaw the 4th Singapore Biennale in 2013 and the corporatisation of the museum from November 2013, with the museum leaving the fold of the National Heritage Board to become an independent, non-profit company with an interest in promoting contemporary Southeast Asian art to the public.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":3" /> During her time in the role, she curated exhibitions such as ''After Utopia: Revisiting the Ideal in Asian Contemporary Art'' (2015) and ''5 Stars: Art Reflects on Peace, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Progress'' (2015/16).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Susie Lingham |url=https://gajahgallery.com/artist/susie-lingham/ |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=Gajah Gallery}}</ref>
Lingham later stepped down as Director in March 2016, taking on the role of Creative Director for the 5th Singapore Biennale, ''An Atlas of Mirrors'', in 2016.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":82" />
=== Continued artistic career (2020s) === In 2021, ''5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time'' was presented at Gajah Gallery, Singapore, an exhibition that brought together artists who had previously shown works with 5th Passage, including works from Lingham and Victor.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time |url=https://gajahgallery.com/exhibition/5th-passage-in-search-of-lost-time/ |access-date=13 July 2022 |website=Gajah Gallery}}</ref><ref name=":122">{{Cite news |last=Chia |first=Adeline |date=9 November 2021 |title=5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time |work=ArtReview |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/artreview-asia/20211109/282175064574425 |url-status=live |access-date=13 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718044307/https://www.pressreader.com/uk/artreview-asia/20211109/282175064574425 |archive-date=18 July 2022}}</ref> The exhibition sought to revive a consciousness of the various activities, ideals, and aspirations of 5th Passage.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":122" />
At the Gajah Gallery in 2022, Lingham held a solo exhibition titled ''Thought Sample Return'', presenting a series of "conceptual sculptures" exploring reasoning and consciousness in the human mind.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Thought Sample Return |url=https://gajahgallery.com/exhibition/thought-sample-return/ |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=Gajah Gallery}}</ref>
== Art ==
=== Turn (2012) === For her solo show at The Substation, Lingham examined the kinetic aspect of words and their potential as ideas, a 'brink' or 'turning point' that was explored via book art, paper works, glass sculptures, and diorama installations, many using poetic texts, numerology, associative wordplay, and inkblot imagery.<ref name=":10" /> A limited edition book, ''An Unkempt Metaphysical Alphabet and a Pseudorandom Pataphysical Alphabet'', had its pages displayed as a series of 26 Rorsarch inkblot-like formations that extend into pairs of words that interrogated each other, such as "Knot/Karma" and "Formlessness/Freedom."<ref name=":10" /> Inkblots were likewise seen in ''64 Shifts'', comprising circular pieces of paper stuck on the wall, curling like a tendril even as its individual pieces seemingly fold into itself.<ref name=":10" /> The exhibition opened with ''elsewhere|erehwsele'', a performance work featuring sound and poetry, choreographed movement, and vocals.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":10" />
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Lingham|first=Susie|title=Negotiating Home, History, Nation|publisher=Singapore Art Museum|year=2011|isbn=9789810881047|editor-last=Lenzi|editor-first=Iola|location=Singapore|chapter=A Quota on Expression: Visions, Vexations and Vanishings}}
== External links ==
* [http://biotechnics.org/2susie_lingham.html Susie Lingham] at Biotechnics (Singapore Art Archive) by Chng Nai Wee (archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20200627091808/http://biotechnics.org/2susie_lingham.html here]) * [https://tnsarchives.com/productions/4615/how-construct-valve-intensity How to construct a valve on intensity? (2001)] by Susie Lingham, with Alan Kao and Rizman Putra as part of ''[names changed to protect the innocent]: Sex Valve Durmientes'' presented by The Necessary Stage (archived [https://archive.today/20200728124841/https://tnsarchives.com/productions/4615/how-construct-valve-intensity here])
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingham, Susie}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts alumni Category:Singaporean women artists Category:Singaporean performance artists Category:Singaporean art curators Category:Singaporean women curators