Starting this Friday (29 Nov), the Centre for Contemporary Art's (CCA) inaugural programme will bring together artists, curators, art critics, and scholars to imagine and contribute to the thinking and envisioning of the potential for the CCA.

Titled "Free Jazz", the series will continue till 18 Dec. 2013 at CCA, Block 43 Malan Road.

There is no entrance fee.

A focal point of Gillman Barracks, the new Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) opened officially on 23 Oct. 2013.

See below for the "Free Jazz" Programme List.

 OFFCUFF - Bani Haykal, Mohamad Riduan, Shahila Baharom, and Wu Jun Han performing on the opening night.

CCA opening night: Artist Lee Wen performing "We here spend time #2", a collaborative action conceived by Jason Wee and Lee Wen in collaboration with Angie Seah, Karl Kerridge, and Jordan Rais.

"Free Jazz" Programme List

Friday 29 November 2013, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Introducing the CCA curatorial team – A panel of presentations by Ute Meta Bauer, Lee Weng Choy and Anca Rujoiu that gives an overview of the curators’ previous projects and areas of interest.

Ute Meta Bauer is the CCA’s newly appointed Founding Director.  Bauer was an Associate Professor for Visual Art, the founding director of the Programme in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) and director of the MIT Visual Arts Programme. For over 25 years Bauer has worked as a curator of exhibitions and presentations on contemporary art, film, video, and sound, with a focus on transdisciplinary formats.

Lee Weng Choy is the designated Senior Curator and Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Residency Programme of CCA. He is a well-known art critic, curator and author who has published widely on contemporary art and culture. He was the Artistic Co-Director of The Substation from 2000-2009 and serves currently as President of AICA Singapore.

Anca Rujoiu is CCA’s Curator for Exhibitions. She was previously the curator at FormContent (UK) from 2010-2013.

Wednesday 4 December 2013, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Curatorial Exchanges – A paired presentation with Cosmin Costinas and Ade Darmawan on the local specificities and challenges in working in the region.

Based in Jakarta, Ade Darmawan is as an artist, curator and Director of ruangrupa. He is also the executive director of Jakarta Biennale 2013.

Based in Hong Kong, Cosmin Costinas is the Executive Director and Curator of Para/Site Art Space. He was the Curator of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Netherlands (2008-2011), and editor of documenta 12 Magazines, Kassel/Vienna (2005-2007).

Friday 6 December 2013, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Screen & Space and Performance & Place – A talk by Mark Nash in conjunction with a screening of excerpts from artist Zai Kuning’s work-in-progress documentary project on the Mak Yong.

Mark Nash (PhD) is an independent curator and writer and, until recently, Professor and Head of Department of Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art London.

Zai Kuning is one of the pioneering experimental artists in Singapore who has redefined what it means to engage in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary art forms. Zai's artistic work in the last two decades has shifted between sculpture, drawing, installation, performance, movement, music and sound.

CCA opening night: Artists Lee Wen and Angie Seah performing "We here spend time #2"

Tuesday 10 December 2013, 6.30pm – 8.00pm

The Bienniale Intervention – What do Bienniales do, and what they can do? A conversation between Bige Örer and Ute Meta Bauer.

Bige Örer is the Director of the Istanbul Biennial. She has worked on the coordination of cultural and artistic projects for the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts since 2003. Örer also works as an independent expert in the European Union’s department, which evaluates cultural funds.

Wednesday 11 December 2013, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Digital Publishing – A talk by Geert Lovink followed by the launch of a new issue of Article: the Singapore Biennale Review 2013 (publication of the International Association of Art Critics, AICA Singapore) followed by a conversation with Lee Weng Choy, CCA's designated Senior Curator and President of AICA Singapore.

Geert Lovink is a media theorist, internet critic and author of Zero Comments (2007) and Networks Without a Cause (2012). Since 2004 he has been a researcher in the School for Communication and Media Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) where he is the Founding Director of the Institute of Network Cultures.

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism – A talk by Nikos Papastergiadis (Professor at the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne) with a focus on contemporary art as a form of the cosmopolitan imaginary, followed by with a free improvisation of music and movement performance by the Bani Haykal trio.

Nikos Papastergiadis is Professor at the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. His current research focuses on the investigation of the historical transformation of contemporary art and cultural institutions by digital technology.

Bani Haykal writes/experiments with music and fiction, spanning various mediums, informed by his interest in sociocultural and political shifts.

Visit CCA's website here and the CCA Facebook page here for more information. 

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