It’s been a few weeks since the launch of n.e.w.s. in Singapore at the end of last July, and I’ve been meaning to write a short report to n.e.w.s. contributors and readers about some of the discussions those of us in Singapore had following the launch. But, as it often happens, after the one thing, there are the next several things, and you get very busy, and before you know it, weeks have passed by, and you’re still trying to follow-up ...

Here are a few images from the launch event last Monday. More soon ....

Rich Streitmatter-Tran at the n.e.w.s. launch in Singapore, 28 July

Mustafa Maluka, Rich, Ingrid Commandeur and Renée Ridgway

Lee Weng Choy and Renée

One project that I’m currently working on is called “Comparative Contemporaries”. It’s a website anthology, a collaboration between the Asia Art Archive, the International Association of Art Critics, Singapore, and The Substation. Five editors — Sue Acret, Patrick Flores, Ho Tzu Nyen, Ly Daravuth and Keiko Sei — each select what they believe are ten significant texts about contemporary visual art from Southeast Asia (I serve as the project manager). These selections, along with the editors’ introductory essays, will be published on the AAA’s website.

Biography

Lee Weng Choy is an art critic and artistic co-director of The Substation arts centre in Singapore.

Born in Malaysia in 1963, while still a toddler, he, along with the rest of the family, left Kuala Lumpur for Manhattan. A couple years later, they moved to Manila. After finishing high school, Weng Choy went back to the US to study physics, philosophy and literature, then came to Singapore in 1992.