Monumental work by S'pore artist greets visitors at Paris art fair

PARIS — Listen up — Singapore’s artists are in town and are making the effort to be heard loud and clear.

This is best exemplified by homegrown artist Chen Sai Hua Kuan’s monumental artwork Ling Ting 2 (Listening No. 2), which holds pride of place at the steps of the Grand Palais, site of the annual Art Paris Art Fair, which runs from March 26 to 29.

At 4.5m high and 5m wide, steel and enamel interactive sculpture allows the public to speak into a mouthpiece and hear themselves.

“The idea is all about speaking to oneself. We listen to too many people too many times. We should listen to ourselves more,” explained Chen Sai, who was inspired by the children’s makeshift telephone toys using tin cans while preparing for his first solo exhibition in Singapore back in 2012. A proposal was developed for the Esplanade’s Concourse space but it was never completely realised until now.

Aside from Ling Ting 2, the 39-year-old also has a series of still photographs titled The Rise And Fall, which is an offshoot of a video installation work from the previous Singapore Biennale in 2013, which compared the sunrise and sunset of Singapore and Ecuador.

Both works are sold by iPreciation, one of eight Singapore galleries in attendance. The fair, which features 145 galleries from 20 countries, has put the spotlight on Singapore and South-east Asia this year. Aside from the galleries’ participation, there will also be a roundtable discussion as well as a special programme curated by Iola Lenzi, which features 14 videos by artists from the South-east Asian region.

Among the artists whose works are to be found at the fair are Lee Wen, Tang Da Wu, Milenko Prvacki, Wang Ruobing, Tay Bak Chiang and Boo Sze Yang. Chan Hampe Gallery is featuring works by Dawn Ng while among Singapore Tyler Print Institute’s lineup are Han Sai Por and Heman Chong.

The fair is a partner event of the Singapore In France Festival. The three-month event, which is set to be officially launched on March 26, is a key international SG50 event and also held in celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.