About ICAS

LASALLE exhibition hall with sculptures, mixed media and paintings displayed across wide open space under bright gallery lighting.
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+65 6496 5134
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LASALLE exhibition hall with sculptures, mixed media and paintings displayed across wide open space under bright gallery lighting.

The Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS) is the curatorial division of LASALLE.

Situated at the McNally Campus, ICAS’s five galleries present a curation of local and international exhibitions, as well as collaborations with students, staff and alumni. ICAS provides curatorial expertise and resources in the areas of exhibition development, display and mediation, publishing and education, and manages the LASALLE College of the Arts Collection.

Founded as the Earl Lu Gallery in 1986 at St Patrick’s Arts Centre, ICAS is committed to exchanges between artists and LASALLE students. Through experimental art projects and publications, the institute fosters public appreciation, debate and critical viewing of contemporary art. Projects are realised in close collaboration with artists. They reflect Southeast Asia’s cultural diversity, and connect with new directions in international art.

History

Colourful hanging lantern-like installations with bold cartoon imagery and vivid patterns fill a LASALLE gallery space.
TRANSMISSION:LAB's Electricity by PHUNK Studio (2010)
LASALLE gallery with dark reflective flooring, featuring a glowing white cube installation where a person stands inside.
Countershadows (tactics in evasion), Chen Sai Hua Kuan (2014)
LASALLE installation with illuminated text panels reading poetic lines, a projected hand image, and a bench in the dimly lit gallery.
Tremble Tremble, Jesse Jones (2017)
Two visitors walk among large sheets of printed text and images spread across the LASALLE gallery floor in an installation.
Dissolving margins, Eng Kai Er, Camille Henrot, James T Hong, Tara Kelton, Darius Ou (2018)
LASALLE installation of suspended chairs casting shadows, with glass panels, fabric and stone arranged in a sculptural display.
Situationist Bon Gun, Tang Da Wu (2013)

During the first two decades, the gallery also developed the LASALLE Collection, acquiring significant paintings and sculptures by Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng, Lim Cheng Hoe, Seah Kim Joo, Chua Ek Kay, Jimmy Ong, Ang Kiu Kok, Sutee Kunavichayanont and the founder of LASALLE, Brother Joseph McNally, among others.

From 1996 to 2003, the gallery was directed by Binghui Huangfu, who curated major exhibitions of international contemporary art, with an emphasis on visual arts from Asia. Highlights include In and Out, Text & Subtext: International Contemporary Asian Women Artists Exhibition and Site + Sight: Translating Cultures and Compound Eyes: Contemporary Visual Art from China.

The programme was refocused under the directorship of Eugene Tan from 2003 to 2008, during which time the gallery staged solo exhibitions by international artists including Antony Gormley, On Kawara and Lim Tzay Chuen. In keeping with the gallery’s increased focus on research emerging from LASALLE, it was renamed the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore in 2004 and in 2007, it published a comprehensive publication on contemporary art in Singapore.

Succeeding ICAS Directors include Milenko Prvački (Acting, 2008 to 20010), Charles Merewhether (2010 to 2013) and Bala Starr (2013 to 2019).

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