"In my performance work, I use a lot of meditational processes. The idea of using repetition is one of the ways of creating a meditative process. Hence, doing these small little circles and dots in my work involved this meditative process for it to manifest into what it is."
– Jason Lim
Jason Lim (1966, born and based in Singapore) works across sculpture, performance, photography and film to explore how body, matter and spirit are interconnected with the elements of nature. Shaped by his training as a ceramicist, Lim employs meditative and repetitive processes to engage with his materials in a heightened state of mind.
Beginning in the 1990s, Lim’s use of clay in his widely known durational performances has since expanded to include other media. Each performance in his Duet (2005–ongoing) series hones in on his deliberate exploration of a single material, such as thread, tape and honey, to create an atmosphere of decelerated time and silent contemplation. In Duet with Light (2005), for example, he moved and contorted slowly and purposefully within a darkened space, with a row of lit candles seared onto his arms with hot wax. Under the shadow of the banyan tree (2017–2019) is a series of site-specific performances and resultant installations that draws upon the resilient character of the fig species, as well as its significance in cultural traditions. Over several days, the artist would coil by hand the labyrinthine banyan form with over a tonne of unfired terracotta clay—an organic material that transformed gradually in smell and appearance over the span of its display.
Lim obtained his BFA from Central St Martins College of Art & Design, London in 1992 and his MFA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in 2003. His work is held in various collections including the National Gallery Singapore.
Notable exhibitions include Jason Lim (2022), Western Australia Museum Boola Bardip, Perth; Encounter under the banyan (2018), Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore; The Roving Eye (2014), Arter, Istanbul; Not Against Interpretation (2012), Singapore Art Museum; New Works in Ceramics (2011), National Centre for Craft and Design, Seaford; and Asia Body and Beyond (2010), Moderna Dansteatern, Stockholm. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including Curiosity and Rituals of the Everyday (2021), 1st Indian Ocean Craft Triennale, Fremantle Arts Center; 6th Kjerringøy Land Art Biennale (2018); JIWA (2017), 17th Jakarta Biennale; La-bas Biennale (2010), Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind (2007), 52nd Venice Biennale; and 4th World Ceramics Biennale (2007), Icheon World Ceramic Center.
Lim had his residency at the STPI Workshop in 2021, resulting in the group exhibition On Time: Adeline Kueh, Jason Lim, Ian Woo and Zul Mahmod (2021), curated by Marc Gloede.
