Past Solo Exhibition
Galleries Curate: RHE | Suzann Victor: Of Waters 25.04.2021 — 11.05.2021
Information
Event has ended
25 April – 11 May 2021
About The Exhibition
Out of the anxieties of COVID-19, how has the art world banded together to find fluidity and an inspirited way forward?
STPI Gallery is pleased to announce Of Waters, a solo exhibition by prolific Singaporean artist Suzann Victor and curated by Marc Gloede. Of Waters is presented as part of Galleries Curate: RHE.
In the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic, an informal group of contemporary galleries from around the world came together to discuss how to navigate the new challenges of the crisis as it affected our artists, staff and businesses. This community was a source of support during the difficult period of the global pandemic, and an international ground-up network was formed despite being physically confined in our countries. As an expression of this unity, the group initiated Galleries Curate, a collaborative exhibition by twenty- one galleries to express the dynamic dialogue between our individual programmes. STPI is glad to work with local artist Suzann Victor for this project to present the artist on an international platform.
The exhibition Of Waters brings together three seminal works by the artist which highlight the artist’s interest and investigation into the element of water. With two gallery installations (where one is also presented online) and one print work, the exhibition invites the audience to experience the multifaceted practice of the artist and dive into an immersive experience.
Of Waters explores the different (sound) qualities that water contains. The physical installation and online presentation of Fire Water (2021) (in collaboration with Martin Kirkwood) offers a dark room in which the audience oscillates between different readings of the sound source. In stark contrast, Strike (2021) offers an archipelagic landscape of crystalline water containers that visitors can turn into a Glockenspiel. Finally, Portwine – Romance included (2015) is an encounter with the visual dimension of the element and this resonates with the artistic process.
With these three corresponding components of the exhibition, Of Waters allows a deeper understanding of the artist’s continuous interest in the element. Furthermore, the exhibition encourages the visitors to recalibrate their senses, reflect on their own preconceptions of water, and experience the multiple potentialities that are embedded in the element.
The online presentation of Fire Water on the Galleries Curate: RHE website will be available from 27 April to 11 May 2021 at galleriescurate.com.
About the artist
Suzann Victor
Residencies in 2014, 2017, 2022, 2024
Suzann Victor (b. 1959, Singapore, based in Sydney, Australia) works with performance, installation and painting to critically examine human perception, sensory experiences and natural phenomena. Recognised as a leading figure in Singapore’s contemporary art scene, Victor was the concept developer of the nation’s first artist-run initiative, 5th Passage, in the 1990s, and was the first female artist to represent Singapore at the Venice Biennale in 2001.
Victor uses a combination of readymade objects and materials drawn from the body and nature such as water, glass, light and movement. Her work often transforms exhibition sites into immersive environments, inviting viewers to use their own bodies and senses as investigative tools for encountering their surroundings. Still Waters (1998), a performance that interrogated structures of power particularly during a decade-long ban on performance art in Singapore, saw the artist interacting with ankle-deep water along a narrow drain passage in the Singapore Art Museum, sealed off by a retrofitted glass facade. In Rainbow Circle (2013), Victor engineered the appearance of double rainbows within the National Museum of Singapore, intimating their future as an endangered ecological relic to reflect on the urgency of environmental action.
Victor obtained her Diploma of Fine Art in Painting from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore in 1990, and her BFA, MFA and PhD in Visual Art from the Western Sydney University, Sydney in 1997, 2000 and 2008 respectively. Her work is held in many collections including the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; the Australian High Commission in Singapore, Singapore; and Western Sydney University, Sydney.
Notable exhibitions include SUNSHOWER (2017), National Art Center, Tokyo & Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Höhenrausch (2014), OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz; Modern Love (2014), Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore; Thermokline of Art (2007), ZKM Center of Art & Media, Karlsruhe; Interrogating Time (2006), National Museum of Singapore, Singapore; High Tide (2006), Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including the 9th Triennial of Contemporary Prints (2018), Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle; If the World Changed (2013), 4th Singapore Biennale; Turn and Widen (2008), 5th Seoul International Media Art Biennale; Handle With Care (2008), 9th Adelaide Biennale; Fever Variations (2006), 6th Gwangju Biennale; Plateau of Humankind (2001), 49th Venice Biennale; Collective Memories (1997), 6th Havana Biennale; and APT2 (1996), 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane.
Victor has had residencies at the STPI Workshop in 2014, 2017, 2022 and 2024. Her 2014 residency resulted in the exhibition Imprint (2015), and her 2022 and 2024 residencies resulted in the exhibition Constellations (2025).
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