Past Talk
In Dialogue with Charles Lim Yi Yong and Dr Elizabeth Wijaya 08.01.2022
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Event has ended
8 January 2022, Saturday
3PM – 4PM
About The Public Programme
Join Charles Lim Yi Yong in conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Wijaya, Assistant Professor of East Asian Cinema at the University of Toronto, as they reexamine the artist’s ongoing project SEA STATE and its most recent expansion, Staggered Observations of a Coast, now on view at STPI Gallery.
Since 2005, Charles Lim Yi Yong’s ongoing project SEA STATE examines the biophysical, political and psychic contours of Singapore through the visible and invisible lenses of the sea. Staggered Observations of a Coast extends on this vigorous enquiry. For half a year, Lim sailed all along the east coast anchorage of Singapore, taking note of the wave patterns and clouds. As the passage of time occurred, Lim observed the same points, noted the changes, and allowed his instinctual and tactile senses to take hold; opening himself to feel and “taste” the air to gauge the humidity. By scrutinising the information from multiple entry points, the artist begins to “see” the invisible space, a construction of “nothingness” within an endless project for renewal.
About the artist
Charles Lim Yi Yong
Residencies in 2019, 2020
Charles Lim Yi Yong (1973, born and based in Singapore) employs drawing, photography, film, performance, installation and field research to explore how contemporary global capitalism impacts the sea. In particular, he closely engages with the complex histories, infrastructures and political aspirations that shape Singapore’s ever-shifting coastlines. This sheds light on how the marine environment is not a passive territory, but an active force that interacts with culture, commerce, and geopolitics.
A former Olympic sailor, Lim’s relationship with open waters is grounded in physical experience, which guides the way he interprets environmental realities and fluxes. This sensitivity feeds into projects such as SEA STATE (2005–ongoing)—a series of ten chapters exploring global debates on climate change, land reclamation, resource use, and transnational borders in the context of Singapore. Across chapters, meticulously accumulated materials—ranging from photographs and videos to maps, interviews and even plant species—are encountered as multimedia installations of varying scales.
Lim obtained his BFA from Central Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design, London in 2001. His work is held in multiple collections including the Singapore Art Museum, and M+, Hong Kong.
Notable exhibitions include Sea Lane – Connecting to the Islands (2022–2023), 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; Stealing the Trapeze (2017), Johann Jacobs Museum, Zurich; SEA STATE (2016), NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore; Open Sea (2015), Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon; Moving Images (2015), M+, Hong Kong; and The Part in the Story Where a Part Becomes a Part of Something Else (2014), Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including the 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022); Words at an Exhibition (2020), 65th Busan Biennale; Homo Faber (2016) 3rd Aichi Triennial; The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed (2016), 20th Biennale of Sydney; Still (the) Barbarians (2016), EVA International, 37th Ireland’s Biennial, Limerick; transACTION (2016), 11th Sonsbeek Exhibition, Museum Arnhem; Visions and Beyond (2014), 2nd Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennial; and Little Water (2013), 3rd Dojima River Biennale, Osaka. Lim represented Singapore at All The World’s Futures (2015), 56th Venice Biennale.
Lim has had two residencies at the STPI Workshop in 2019 and 2020, resulting in the exhibition Staggered Observations of a Coast (2021–22).
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