We are pleased to welcome artist Priyageetha Dia on our first Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Programme.

Priyageetha Dia works with time-based media and installation. Her practice looks into speculative narratives on Southeast Asian plantations as sites for recovering stories of resistance. Her research interests include building nonlinear narratives through digital semiotics, migrant histories and our relationship with the non-human.

Recent exhibitions include the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala (2022-2023); La Trobe Art Institute, Australia (2022); National Gallery Singapore (2020); and Art Science Museum, Singapore (2019). She was an artist-in-residence at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore in 2022 and the SEA AiR-Studio Residencies at the Jan van Eyck Academie in the Netherlands in 2023.   
 

About SMU Libraries Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Programme

The Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Programme with SMU Libraries is developed in line with the Libraries’ strategic direction to cultivate connections and diverse learning experiences, and advance research. The AiR programme aims to support artistic research by providing time, space and resources, and to contribute to the cultural and intellectual life on campus, especially by inspiring curiosity and fostering critical thinking and creativity, through the resident’s interactions with the university community. Located in the arts and heritage district, the programme is well positioned to serve as an incubation hub supporting the city’s art ecology.

The inaugural residency cycle invites a Singapore-based artist whose practice aligns with SMU’s three priorities in Digital Transformation, Sustainable Living, and Growth in Asia. The residency duration spans one semester from August to November 2023. The resident will receive a stipend, access to Libraries’ resources and a working space. The resident will be required to involve themselves in the university community through activities, and to engage the public at large through public programmes. There is no commitment for the resident to produce art during or after the residency.

Artwork image credit: Priyageetha Dia, video still of LAMENT H.E.A.T (2023). Commissioned by Singapore Art Museum for SAM Contemporaries: Residues & Remixes 2023.