Singapore was also a hotbed of creativity in the Sixties, though its art scene at the time is sadly under-documented. “Several artists were experimental and bold and forced audiences to rethink their ideas and understanding of what art can or should be,” says Charmaine Toh, a curator at the National Gallery Singapore. Only recently did the gallery rediscover the first known examples of land art from the city a series of works by performance artist Tang Da Wu. One piece,
Gully Curtains, hadn’t been unpacked since the Eighties.
Wu was concerned to see Singapore’s landscape increasingly stripped of trees to build public housing. As a result of soil erosion, deep gullies scarred the land near his home. In response, he climbed into one of these muddy crevices and positioned seven pieces of cloth of different lengths inside it, adding jagged black marks indicating the depth of the ditch. He left the fabric there for three months, inviting nature to collaborate. The result was a