Time Out (TO):

1. What is your job as a curator? How did you become a curator? How long have you been a curator?

 

Tan Sei Hon (TSH): 

• I have been working at the National Art Gallery (NAG) as a curator for about three and a half years now. 

• My former Uni mate who works at the gallery as a curator called me one day before the closing date informing me of vacancies available and inquired if I was interested. I submitted the necessary documents, came for an interview and was accepted 6 months later.  

• My job as a curator (and a civil servant) in a national institution entails many different responsibilities and roles. Besides research, planning, designing and writing for exhibitions involving the national collection or invited guest artists etc-and currently under the publications division of the gallery-I help to plan, contribute writings and edit NAG’s publications such as exhibition catalogues, books, promotional items, NAG’s magazine, SENIKINI etc. I am also a committee in NAG’s Tabung Bantuan Seni (Artist’s Art Fund) and I represent this agency as a committee in the Dana Industri Kreatif (Creative Industry Loan) under the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture. The curators at NAG frequently receive instructions from time to time from our superiors as well as from the ministry to initiate projects or execute programs that engage the public and artists, who are our clients. 

 

TO:

2.    How do you decide which exhibition/programme to run in an art gallery?

 

TSH: 

• Each curator submits exhibition proposals to be scheduled for 2-3 years in advance. The proposals are then discussed at curatorial meetings chaired by our Director-General Ambassador Dato’ Mohd Yusof Ahmad. After the problems, solutions or what not of the proposed exhibitions have been thrash out, it is either dropped, K.I.V or approved with amendments if any for the following year and beyond. 

 

TO:     

3.    How would you define the art scene in the country? Are people more perceptive to art nowadays? 

 

TSH:

• Busy and growing. Some times something really interesting happens. Mostly commercial.

• More people still need to be educated about the importance of arts (and not just the visual arts). We need to start them young, and cultivate this sense of appreciation, enjoyment or at least tolerance for diverse art –related ideas as well as artistic expressions.      

 

TO:

 5.    What type of qualifications do you need to become a curator?

 

TSH:

• At least a first degree in related fields is required if one is interested to work as a curator in a public institution. Experience or active involvement in the arts counts.

 

TO:

 4. What makes a good curator? What sort of things you need to consider when overseeing an exhibition/gallery?

 

TSH: 

• In my humble opinion, a ‘good’ curator is first and foremost a researcher-educator-communicator (its not as complicated as it sounds!) who deals with ideas materialized in both tangible and intangible forms which expresses/endorses a certain world view, ideology, personality and taste that may provoke/challenge the intellect, dismisses or affirms one’s biases, moves the heart or inspires the spirit/soul.

 

To be a ‘good’ curator, he/ she must first understand and appreciate the histories and developments of the arts -the social forces, the agents who initiated/ instigated the changes, the obstacles etc-and from there, based on the context from which the curator operates, generate diverse meanings and readings through the selected artworks in their curated exhibitions and published writings, that hopefully will engage the audiences. A few ‘good’ and some upcoming curators I would like to mention by name are: the late Redza Piyadasa, T.K Sabapathy, Hasnul J.Saidon, Nur Hanim Khairuddin, Wong Hoy Cheong, Niranjan Rajah, Beverly Yong, Adeline Ooi,  Susyilawati Sulaiman and Simon Soon. Hope those who are interested will look them up.    

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• Organizing an exhibition is similar to organizing an event. In a public institution such as the NAG, different departments such as the management, corporate communications, publications, exhibitions, education, collections and conservation and even the director-general, work together to support each and every exhibition in the gallery. Therefore, a curator needs to take into consideration that open communication and clear instructions are pivotal when overseeing an exhibition here.         

 

TO:       

6.    Do curators move from one art gallery to another? Where do curators get their funding?

 

TSH: 

• Yes they do, in the private sector. They get their funding from corporate sponsors, patrons and profits generated from sales and other sources.   

• Nope, in the public sector they probably don’t (and won’t!) Their source of funding comes from the taxpayers, via the yearly budget allocated under the ministry and sometimes from corporate sponsorships.   

 

TO:

7.    Has the role of curator changed throughout the years? Now that art is proliferating around the world, does the role of curatorship change as well?

 

TSH:

• I think curators have always needed to adapt to paradigm shifts in taste, perception and expectations as well as new technologies. But then, I am only speaking from my limited experience.  

 

TO:

8.    Curators are now required to work with new arts. How do you make contemporary art more appealing to the general audience?

 

TSH:

• Public education and promotion via policy.  

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• To make the arts in general (and not just contemporary art) appealing to the general audience, the powers-that-be today need to see the benefits of promoting modern artistic and cultural forms of expressions. The curators whether in the public or the private sectors cannot do it alone. In countries where the arts are a fundamental part of their social life and identity, the powers-that-be provides strong endorsement, financial backing and regular promotion. These will in the long run, draw more art-loving tourists and collectors into the country, as well as exposes the population to diverse and creative ways of seeing and thinking.  

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• Our traditional arts are rightfully, symbols of national pride and honor because it identifies us as inheritors of rich cultural heritages from some of the world’s great civilizations of the past. But our modern arts, which became official with the establishment of the National Art Gallery just one year after peninsula Malaysia achieved Merdeka-at the behest of our first Prime Minister (!)-points rather to where we wanted to go, develop and mature as an independent and multi-ethnic nation. Our modern arts- a testament of our independence-are earnest results of adaptation, exploration and experimentations inspired by the ideas and forms from the east, west and the indigenous- in short, true manifestations of 1 Malaysia. We should feel pride and a sense of ownership just as the Europeans, Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Indians, Indonesians, Pinoys, Thais, Singaporeans and other nationalities do of their modern and contemporary visual arts and culture.        

 

TO:

9.    What’s the correlation between the shows (that people curate) and the art gallery? Will exhibitions affect how the art gallery is perceived? 

 

TSH:

• Any exhibition badly put together will inevitably affect the image of its hosts whether in the public or the private sector. But, if there is a curator (or many curators) attached to an institution or gallery, he or she need to bear responsibility for any inferior work done because the curator (s) are paid to curate, which includes doing the necessary ground work, designing and execution of an exhibition as well as writing. One shouldn’t let one bad durian spoil the whole basketful, no?        

 

TO:

10.  What do you think of the current art galleries now? How do you see the role of public galleries like the National Art Gallery in terms of promoting art?

 

TSH:

• The private galleries (and residencies too) play a very significant role in promoting the visual arts and artists. You have to respect the risk they take as commercial entities, which could fail if not properly managed. The artists they represent benefits from their initiatives financially.

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• While public galleries such as the NAG as well state galleries (yes, each state in Malaysia runs a state gallery!) functions differently but many people including visual artists still hope to profit from them financially. Public institutions of art serve to promote and develop the national history or the grand narrative if you will, of Malaysian art that consist of both competing and diverse philosophies. Its presence is to provide a national platform with which diverse creative and artistic individuals can contribute or contradict but ultimately enriching the national art narrative as it expands.

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• Therefore, the artists whose works are in the national collection benefits in the long term as their efforts have been acknowledged and has become part of our national visual arts history.           

 

TO:

11.  Who are your favourite local artists? Any upcoming artists we should look out for?

 

TSH:

• I do not have any favourites. My job is to service the artists and public, who are the clients.  

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