While 2015 looks set to play host to a bumper crop of exciting shows—some commemorating, and some interrogating the past 50 years of Singapore’s independence—2014 was no slouch either. Among the exhibitions presented this past year, some of the most challenging and engaging are listed below, ranging from incisive solo exhibitions by established names to broad surveys of theme and medium by Singapore’s major art institutions.

Michael Lee（李鸿辉）, “Script for Unperformed Performance No. 1″, 2014

“Machine for Living Dying In” by Michael Lee at Yavuz Fine Art. A body of works as both an immersive installation and a (as well as a memento vivere) writ large, Michael Lee’s solo exhibition posed questions of living and dying in Singapore—specifically, their tendency towards a utilitarian abstraction that borders on the mechanical; in apartment block living, for instance, or the notion of balance between work, rest, and leisure. If life could be reduced to a series of mechanical operations, would it be a life worth living, or simply a slow, steady state of anticipating death?

Sai Hua Kuan’s contribution to “Nameless Forms” (大小眼 Dà xiǎo yǎn) (2013), a self-made camera obscura projecting an image of a found figurine (Photo – LATENT SPACES)

A diorama featuring a traditional Chinese myth at Haw Par Villa (Photo – Ho Rui An)

“Nameless Forms” curated by Chun Kai Qun at Latent Spaces. As opposed to passively bemoaning Singapore’s ever-present crunch on available gallery space and platforms for presenting contemporary art, Latent Spaces took it upon themselves to transform a dilapidated room in the Haw Par Villa theme-park--Boschian fever dream into an art space. As an added bonus, this first exhibition took the venue’s own transformation as its subject and material, providing a perspective on heritage and history that isn’t weighed down by a misty-eyed nostalgia for a kinder, gentler Singapore that was.

“Sound Latitudes Attitudes”《声音：海拔与态度》, Dennis Tan, “Perpusila”, 12 channel sound installation, dimensions variable, 2008

“Sound: Latitudes and Attitudes”, curated by Bani Haykal and Joleen Loh at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS). As a major survey of sound art in Singapore, the show brought together notable works of the occasionally overlooked medium, contextualized them with the aid of an archive of sound art (and sound in art) in Singapore’s history. Rather than endless rows of headphones (though there’re headphones aplenty) the exhibition also featured various permutations of scores, instruments and installations, innervated by a regular programof installation changes and live performances.

Rirkrit Tiravanija（里克力·提拉瓦尼）, “The tree of life, the eclipse and drink a Negroni to the future”, screen print, metal foil, cast paper, stainless steel pedestal, 3D printed object, paper: 269.4 x 269.5 cm (4 sheets), pedestal: 100.5 x 23 x 23 cm, object: 23 x 15.5 x 15.5 cm, 2013

“Time Travelers Chronicle (Doubt): 2014 – 802,701 A.D” by Rirkrit Tiravanija at STPI. An artist best known for relational artworks based on the common sociality of enjoying food building upon a toddler’s sagely offhanded reference to Spongebob Squarepants, collaborating with the Singapore Tyler Print Institute to produce a series of prints meant to work as time machines. What’s not to love?

Genevieve Chua（蔡艾芳）, “Tillandsia Usneoides fig.12″, white ink and giclée on Japanese kozo paper, 45 x 34.5 cm, 2014

“Parabola” by Genevieve Chua at Tomio Koyama Gallery. Just how much can be extrapolated from a single point of data? In the case of Parabola, the show began with the humble human pelvis, and in exploring its form and significance, ventured into our evolution as a species (with some presentiment of our eventual end) through formal extrapolations of the complex topology of the pelvis.

“Countershadows” at ICAS Installation view
《对影：逃避的策略》展览现场，新加坡当代艺术学院

“Countershadows (Tactics in Evasion)”, curated by Melanie Pocock at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore. How does one examine concealment and camouflage, when doing so brings attention to their concealment? Would such an examination negate their concealment, or would the discussion likewise become evasive? The show’s premise found expression not just in the selection of works it encompasses, including stimulating works by Sai Hua Kuan, Heman Chong, Jeremy Sharma and others, but also in the manner of the works’ display, distributed throughout the gallery in a manner suggestive of strange conceptual landscapes.

“Sensorium”《感官360度》, Li Hui, “Cage”, Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

“Sensorium 360°” at the Singapore Art Museum. Though perhaps over-reliant on the visual, and hampered by the relatively bare aesthetic traditions of senses beyond the traditional five, this wide-ranging exhibition still constituted a refreshingly bold undertaking, presenting artworks that escape from the traditional dominance of the visual in contemporary art, while also plumbing the aesthetic possibilities of senses such as proprioception (the sense of the relative positions of one’s body parts).

“Sensorium”《感官360度》, Mark Wong, “Memory Rifts”, Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

“Sensorium”《感官360度》, Eugene Soh, “The Overview Installation”, Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum

来源：randian