Building an Interdisciplinary Campus Community Through Public Art
We believe that public art is integral to developing a distinct campus identity and sense of community. Public art are site-specific works that engage with their physical surroundings, creating a sense of communal belonging or identity; facilitating enjoyment of our physical surroundings and contributing to our well-being. As such, the NUS Public Art Initiative seeks to deepen the role of public art in holistic, interdisciplinary broad-based education, and enriching student life on campus.
The Public Art Initiative is led by the NUS Public Art Committee (PAC) appointed by the Office of the President in 2021. The PAC comprises NUS staff, faculty members and alumni who bring to the table expertise in public art, art history, curation, art practice, as well as techniques and technologies related to art making. The NUS Museum functions as the Secretariat for the PAC to coordinate, identify, integrate and engage with campus initiatives and stakeholders, and to manage the NUS Public Art Policy.
Encouraging Student and Community Engagement with Public Art
Public Art Internships for Students
A key avenue for student engagement with public art is the Public Art Internship. The Internship aims to consider objects and concepts from a critical and inter-disciplinary point of view, allowing students to enhance their personal curatorial research, administrative and project management skills. Guided by mentors from NUS Museum, interns learn more about public art, history, heritage, architecture and public art’s role in the built environment. Interns will have opportunities for research field trips and visits to artists’ studios.
Public Art Competition
The Student Public Art Competition invites NUS students to submit proposals for site-specific public art installations on campus. It aims to bring the NUS student community together through the process of creating art, fostering an appreciation for art and to raise the profile of public art across campus. The winning proposal receives a cash prize, construction budget, and the opportunity to work with the Curator & PAC Secretariat, CFA staff, Artist Mentor, and student volunteers to translate the proposal into an actual artwork.
The Inaugural Student Public Art Competition in 2021, administered by two students as part of their Public Art Internship, under the mentorship of the NUS Museum, saw 64 participants across NUS responding to the call for submissions. The participants, forming teams of up to 5, hailed from a range of faculties and schools, such as the College of Humanities and Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, NUS School of Computing, Yale-NUS College, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the College of Design and Engineering.
A total of 16 proposals were received for the competition, with Untitled (Ceilings) by Bryan Chia, Lu Yixin and Mary Ann Ng, emerging as the winning proposal. The team of students and alumni from the College of Design and Engineering received a cash prize of S$2,000, and were given the opportunity to translate their proposal into an actual public art installation. They were provided a construction budget, and worked with the Public Art Committee Secretariat, and Artist Mentor Wong Zi Hao, guiding the students in the production and implementation of the installation.
The suspended array of magnifying lens sheets that forms Untitled (Ceilings) creates surreal distortions that enable a kaleidoscope of endless views and possibilities, and the multitude of refractions celebrates diversity and multiple perspectives in an increasingly divisive world. Untitled (Ceilings) is about infinity and opportunities where humanity remembers to dream in a time of rapid change and uncertainty. The physical act of dreaming, as the head looks up to the sky, gives hope and boosts wellbeing.
The suspended array of magnifying lens sheets that forms Untitled (Ceilings) creates surreal distortions that enable a kaleidoscope of endless views and possibilities
Untitled (Ceilings) is about infinity and opportunities where humanity remembers to dream in a time of rapid change and uncertainty. The physical act of dreaming, as the head looks up to the sky, gives hope and boosts wellbeing.
Engaging in Interdisciplinary Collaborations for Learning and Teaching
We encourage the use of public art as a platform for interdisciplinary collaborations between artists and academics such as engineers, scientists, and technologists, creating fresh perspectives on the arts and academia.
The first of such collaborative efforts is an Artist-in-Residence programme at the College of Design and Engineering (CDE), in partnership with NUS Museum. Held in 2021, this programme saw five artists – Jason Ong, Tan Seow Wei, Debbie Ding, as well as Delia and Milenko Prvacki – working alongside academic staff to conceive and co-develop artistic trajectories of innovation for the development of public art onsite. More recently, the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) has launched an artist-in-residence programme, with Wong Zi Hao being CQT’s first artist-in-residence in April 2022 followed by multidisciplinary artist Grace Tan who began her residency in September 2022.
Developing art with systems thinking by Jason Ong (concept sketches)
These collaborations can also extend into the classroom. In February 2022, a lino-printing workshop by artist Tan Seow Wei was integrated into part of a Bioanalytics for Engineers module, co-developed by Dr Bina Rai from Biomedical Engineering and PAC Secretariat and Curator, Karen Lim. Through this collaboration, 44 students with limited experience in art gained valuable insights into artistic, social and contextual understanding of biomedical engineering, shaping their learning and impact in society. In turn, the students’ work will be incorporated into Tan’s own ongoing art work.
Lino-printing workshop by Tan Seow Wei for Bioanalytics for Engineers module, co-developed by Dr Bina Rai from BioMed Engineering and PAC Secretariat, Karen Lim
Students hard at work during a lino-printing workshop by Tan Seow Wei for Bioanalytics for Engineers module, co-developed by Dr Bina Rai from BioMed Engineering and PAC Secretariat, Karen Lim
Students hard at work during a lino-printing workshop by Tan Seow Wei for Bioanalytics for Engineers module, co-developed by Dr Bina Rai from BioMed Engineering and PAC Secretariat, Karen Lim
Students proudly display their work during a lino-printing workshop by Tan Seow Wei for Bioanalytics for Engineers module, co-developed by Dr Bina Rai from BioMed Engineering and PAC Secretariat, Karen Lim
Finished works from novice student artists at a lino-printing workshop by Tan Seow Wei for Bioanalytics for Engineers module, co-developed by Dr Bina Rai from BioMed Engineering and PAC Secretariat, Karen Lim
The PAC manages a Registry of public artworks on the NUS campus, tracking location, provenance, and protection of these artworks, with the individual faculties and departments who had commissioned the works looking into their maintenance and care. Besides existing public artworks, the PAC also sets out the official NUS Public Art Policy, which guides the acceptance, commissioning, and locating of new public artwork on campus and its programming. This effort forms the bedrock upon which the PAC’s public art advocacy efforts rests – being able to maintain and grow the collection of public artworks on campus for the benefit of future generations of NUS students, staff and public.
