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Shubigi Rao

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Shubigi Rao
Born1975 (1975) (age 49)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
NationalitySingaporean
EducationBA English Lit (University of Delhi, 1996);

BFA (LASALLE College of the Arts, 2006);

MFA (LASALLE College of the Arts, 2008)
Known forInstallation art, video art, film, drawing, etching, writing, publishing
MovementContemporary art
Websitehttps://www.shubigi.com

Shubigi Rao (born 1975) is an Indian-born Singaporean contemporary artist and writer known for her long-term, multidisciplinary projects and installation works that often use books, etchings, drawings, video, and archives.[1][2] Her interests include archaeology, libraries, neuroscience, histories and lies, literature and violence, and natural history.[2] Rao has exhibited internationally, presenting work at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, 10th AsiaPacific Triennial in 2021, 10th Taipei Biennial in 2016, the 3rd Pune Biennale in 2017, the 2nd Singapore Biennale in 2008, as well as the 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2018.[1]

In 2018, Rao received the Juror's Choice Award at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize for her work, Written in the Margins (2014–2016), the first instalment of her ongoing 10-year project on the destruction of books and libraries, titled Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book.[3] In 2024 Rao won the Singapore Literature Prize in Creative Nonfiction for her book, 'Pulp III: An Intimate Inventory of the Banished Book', after having previously won the same prize in 2020 for Pulp II: A Visual Bibliography of the Banished Book. The first volume from the Pulp project was also shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2018.[4]

Rao curated the fifth edition of South Asia's biggest visual arts event, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which was initially planned to take place from December 2020 to April 2021, before being postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19.[1][5][6][7] Alongside Kochi-Muziris Biennale founder and artist Bose Krishnamachari, Rao was featured on the 2019 and 2020 editions of the ArtReview Power 100 list, which charts the most influential individuals working in contemporary art.[8][9]

In 2022, Rao represented Singapore at the 59th Venice Biennale with the project Pulp III: A Short Biography of The Banished Book, with Ute Meta Bauer as curator for the artistic team.[10][11]

Education and personal life

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Rao was born in 1975 in Mumbai, and grew up in the Himalaya. She is currently based in Singapore.[1] In 1996, Rao obtained her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Delhi. She would later obtain her Diploma in Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts (First Class) and Master of Fine Arts (First Class) from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore in 2005, 2006, and 2008 respectively.[2]

She previously lectured part-time in Art Theory and was a MFA Dissertation supervisor for the Faculty of Fine Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts.[2]

Career

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From 2003 to 2013, Rao assumed the role of a fictitious male scientist named S. Raoul and presented his work at scientific conferences and group art exhibitions. Rao "killed him off" in a 2013 solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, The Retrospectacle of S. Raoul, which memorialised him after he supposedly tripped over an installation by Rao and died.[12][13] The exhibition assembled some of Rao's works from the past 10 years that was based around the figure of Raoul. The exhibition was accompanied by the publication, History's Malcontents: The Life And Times of S. Raoul, which served both as a guide to the character of Raoul, and to a selection of Rao’s works beyond the show itself.[13]

In 2014, Rao initiated her currently ongoing 10-year project on the destruction of books and libraries, Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book.[1][3] In 2016, as an artist-in-residence at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Rao self-published the first book from her project, also titled Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book.[2] The book was later nominated for the 2018 Singapore Literature Prize.[1] It would also be included in '50 Greatest Works of SingLit', a list of the greatest books of Singaporean literature from the 19th century to the present day.[14]

From June 2016 to May 2017, as an international artist-in-residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Rao would develop the first instalment of the Pulp project, Written in the Margins (2014–2016). In 2018, she would receive the Juror's Choice Award at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize for Written in the Margins.[3] In August 2018 at Objectifs, Singapore, Rao would hold the solo exhibition, The Wood for the Trees, which functioned as a "visual bibliography" of the various texts, individuals, and sites Rao had encountered in the duration of her ongoing Pulp project.[15] Here, she would launch the second volume of her project, titled Pulp II: A Visual Bibliography of the Banished Book.[15]

During the fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale from December 2018 to March 2019, Rao was Singapore's sole representative, presenting a video installation that constructed a fictive history of book smugglers in the Indian port city.[1]

In February 2019, Rao exhibited alongside American actress and artist Lucy Liu in a joint exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore, Unhomed Belongings.[12]

In May 2019, it was announced that Rao would curate the fifth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.[1][5][6] Alongside Kochi-Muziris Biennale founder and artist Bose Krishnamachari, Rao was featured on the 2019 edition of the ArtReview Power 100 list, which charts the most influential individuals working in contemporary art.[8] Titled "In our Veins Flow Ink and Fire," its first announced artist list involved 25 participating artists and collectives.[16] She would be featured alongside Krishnamachari on the ArtReview Power 100 list once again in 2020.[9]

In 2024, Rao won the Singapore Literature Prize in Creative Nonfiction for her third volume from the Pulp project, 'Pulp III: An Intimate Inventory of the Banished Book'. She had previously won for her second volume from the project, Pulp II: A Visual Bibliography of the Banished Book. The judging panel, comprising Clarissa Oon, Eddie Tay and Sarah Churchwell, commented: “Probing, exhaustive in its global scope, intellectually ambitious and deeply felt, the second volume in artist-writer Shubigi Rao’s decade-long documentary project on reading, libraries and censorship gets to the heart of what ‘creative non-fiction’ can be. As a book on the value of books, rendered through incisive prose and visual imagery, it provokes the whole question of what a book is, in terms of form. In terms of content, it is replete with insight and wisdom, constantly shifting our expectations of the subject matter and in the process, able to stand with the best in world literature."[17]

Rao represented Singapore with 'Pulp III' at the Singapore Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, with Ute Meta Bauer serving as curator for the artistic team.[10] Her work was listed as one of the best national pavilions by Artsy,[18] The Arts Newspaper,[19] and Weltkunst[20] among others, and garnered significant media and public attention.

Her solo exhibition in 2022-2023 These Petrified Paths on the destruction of cultural heritage in Armenia and the complicity of oil geopolitics, included a feature film and an exhibition that occupied four floors of the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, China [21]. Curated by X-Zhu Nowell, the exhibition was widely reviewed [22]. Elements of the exhibition and the film have been shown at Vienna Contemporary and Salzburger Kunstverein, Austria, and will also feature in the upcoming 16th Sharjah Biennale.

In 2024 she was featured in the Phaidon Vitamin series - Vitamin Txt [23]

Art

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S. Raoul

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As part of her projects from 2003 to 2013, Rao assumed the identity of S. Raoul, a fictional archaeologist, scientist, and theorist, whose interests spanned immortal jellyfish to the risks of brain damage posed by contemporary art.[13] Rao's interests were expressed through the persona of Raoul, which included archaeological studies of contemporary Singapore in works such as The Study of Leftovers, Pseudoscience in Suitcase, and Earth=Unearth.[13]

Originally commissioned for the 2008 Singapore Biennale, The Tuning Fork of the Mind involves a tongue-in-cheek brain scan conducted through a series of steps that revealed the supposedly damaging effects of exposure to contemporary art upon one's brain.[13]

Pulp

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Initiated in 2014, Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book is Rao's current ongoing 10-year film, book, and visual art project, with Rao visiting various collections both public and private, libraries, and archives internationally for research.[2] The project examines the history of book destruction, censorship, and various other forms of repression, conceiving of the book as a symbol of resistance, focusing on instances such as the 1992 shelling of Sarajevo's national library.[1][3]

The first instalment of the project, Written in the Margins (2014–2016), was presented at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin in 2016 and the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize exhibition in Singapore in 2018. This installation featured drawings, books, and an interactive archive of video testimonials from activists and individuals involved in saving or destroying books, such as Firefighters who attempted to save the burning national library of Sarajevo during civil unrest in the 1990s, or smugglers of books and paintings who brought these objects to safety during that period.[3] Three of five planned volumes of books have been published for the project, the first being Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book, the second, Pulp II: A Visual Bibliography of the Banished Book', and the third Pulp III: An Intimate Inventory of the Banished Book.

Awards

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In 2024 Rao won the Singapore Literature Prize in Creative Nonfiction for her book, Pulp III: An Intimate Inventory of the Banished Book. In 2020, Rao also won the Singapore Literature Prize (Creative Nonfiction) for her book Pulp II: A Visual Bibliography of the Banished Book. Rao also won the Juror's Choice Award at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2018 for the first instalment of the Pulp project, Written in the Margins (2014–2016).[3] Rao has also been commissioned by Singapore's Land Transport Authority to develop a public artwork for the Stevens interchange on the upcoming Thomson–East Coast MRT line.[2] She has been awarded the Creation Grant (2019, 2013), and the Presentation Grant (2023, 2018, 2013, 2012), from the National Arts Council Singapore, and was awarded the Winston Oh Travel Award in 2005.[2]

Selected exhibitions and projects

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Dates Title Notes Location
2005 Print Out Group exhibition Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
500 and Below Group fundraising exhibition Plastique Kinetic Worms, Singapore
New Contemporaries: New Art from LASALLE-SIA Part of the Singapore Art Show Earl Lu Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore
The Winston Oh Travel Award (Practice) Group exhibition Earl Lu Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore
2006 Appetites for Litter: 8th Emerging Artists Show Group exhibition Plastique Kinetic Worms, Singapore
2007 Singapore Art Show Group exhibition Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Autobibliophiles: Artists Who Make or Use Books Group exhibition Studio Bibliothèque, Hong Kong
2008 The Tuning Fork of the Mind for Wonder, 2nd Singapore Biennale Group exhibition 2nd Singapore Biennale, Singapore
2009 The Longest Distance: The 10th Anniversary of The Winston Oh Travel Award Group exhibition Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore
Found & Lost Group exhibition Osage Gallery, Singapore
2010 Singapore Survey 2010: Beyond LKY Group exhibition Valentine Willie Fine Art, Singapore
Etiquette I: On Sitting Down & Shutting Up Group exhibition The Substation, Singapore
2011 Etiquette II: On Getting Down & Dirty Group exhibition The Substation, Singapore
2012 CON[TEXT] Group exhibition NUS Museum, Singapore
Singapore Survey 2012: New Strange Faces Group exhibition Valentine Willie Fine Art, Singapore
Still Building: Contemporary Art from Singapore Group exhibition organised by Valentine Willie Fine Art Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia
TADAEX Group exhibition The 2nd Tehran Annual Digital Art Exhibition, Iran
Entering the Mind's I With the Association of Neuroaesthetics, Berlin, Germany Conference of the Organisation for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), Beijing, China
2013 re-new 2013 Digital Arts Festival Performance Copenhagen, Denmark
Panoramic Imprint Group exhibition The Substation, Singapore
OH! Open House: The Happiness Index Group exhibition Marina Bay, Singapore
Useful Fictions Solo exhibition Grey Projects, Singapore
The Retrospectacle of S. Raoul Solo exhibition Earl Lu Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore
2014 The Disappearance Group exhibition NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
2015 Urban:ness Group exhibition DUCTAC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Shubigi Rao: Exquisite Corpse Showcase under Curating Lab NUS Museum, Singapore
Mysterious Objects at Noon Group exhibition Objectifs, Singapore
2016 Written in the Margins As international artist-in-residence Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
10th Taipei Biennial Group exhibition Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
2017 3rd Pune Biennale Group exhibition Pune, India
2018 The Wood for the Trees Solo exhibition Objectifs, Singapore
4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale Group exhibition 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, Kerala, India
APB Foundation Signature Art Prize Group exhibition organised by Singapore Art Museum National Museum of Singapore
2019 State of Motion: A Fear of Monsters Group exhibition Asian Film Archive, Singapore
Unhomed Belongings Group exhibition with Lucy Liu National Museum of Singapore
2023 These Petrified Paths Solo exhibition Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China

Some of the information in the table above was obtained from Shubigi Rao's artist CV from 21 February 2016, archived and accessed on 27 July 2023.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nanda, Akshita (10 May 2019). "Singapore artist Shubigi Rao to helm South Asia's largest visual art biennale in 2020". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "About". Shubigi Rao. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Nanda, Akshita (21 May 2018). "Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao in running for $60,000 Signature Art Prize". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Singapore Literature Prize: Marylyn Tan is first woman to win for English poetry". The Straits Times. 27 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Shubigi Rao to Curate Fifth Kochi-Muziris Biennale". Artforum International. 9 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Artist Shubigi Rao to curate Kochi-Muziris Biennale". The Times of India. 10 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  7. ^ "5th Edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Postponed". Kochi Biennale Foundation. 28 October 2020. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Power 100: Most influential people in 2019 in the contemporary artworld: Bose Krishnamachari & Shubigi Rao". ArtReview. 2019. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Power 100: Most influential people in 2020 in the contemporary artworld: Bose Krishnamachari & Shubigi Rao". ArtReview. 2020. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Multidisciplinary artist Shubigi Rao and curator Ute Meta Bauer to represent Singapore at the 59th International Venice Biennale". e-flux. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  11. ^ Toh, Wen Li (20 April 2022). "Artist Shubigi Rao's Pulp to take centre stage at Venice Biennale's Singapore pavilion". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  12. ^ a b Ho, Olivia (12 January 2019). "Actress Lucy Liu and artist Shubigi Rao giving the lost a home". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e Quek, Bruce (27 March 2013). "Twin identities: Wrap your head around Shubigi Rao's quirky retrospective about a 'mentor'". TODAY. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  14. ^ "The 50 greatest works of SingLit | the Straits Times". The Straits Times. 12 December 2021.
  15. ^ a b "The Wood for the Trees: Exhibition and Book Launch by Shubigi Rao". Objectifs. 16 June 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  16. ^ Tse, Fion (22 July 2020). "Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2020 Reveals First Artist List". ArtAsiaPacific. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  17. ^ bakchormeeboy (27 August 2020). "By The Book: 2020 Singapore Literature Prize goes to 17 writers and marks several firsts for the awards". Bakchormeeboy. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  18. ^ "The 10 Best National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale 2022". 26 April 2022.
  19. ^ "Podcast | the best of the Venice Biennale: Our critics' review | the Week in Art". 22 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Venedig-Biennale: Die besten Länder-Pavillons | WELTKUNST". 20 April 2022.
  21. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeD1rDJ5IvY
  22. ^ https://www.e-flux.com/criticism/584450/shubigi-rao-s-these-petrified-paths
  23. ^ https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/vitamin-txt-words-in-contemporary-art-9781838665463/

Further reading

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  • Rao, Shubigi (2013). History's Malcontents: The Life and Times of S. Raoul. Singapore: Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore. ISBN 9789810756932.
  • Rao, Shubigi (2016). Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book. Singapore: Rock Paper Fire. ISBN 9789810983819.
  • Rao, Shubigi (2017). Written in the Margins. Berlin: Kunstlerhaüs Bethanien. ISBN 978-3-941230-61-3.
  • Rao, Shubigi (2018). Pulp II: A Visual Biography of the Banished Book. Singapore: Rock Paper Fire. ISBN 9789811183799.
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