Heman Chong

Heman Chong is an artist renowned for his multidisciplinary approach to art, which encompasses a wide range of mediums, including painting, installation, photography, performance, and writing. His work often blurs the boundaries between these disciplines, reflecting his fascination with the intersections of art, literature, and everyday life.

In addition to his artistic practice, Heman Chong is also involved in curatorial work. He has curated exhibitions and projects for various art institutions and galleries, further contributing to the contemporary art discourse in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Biography of Heman Chong

Heman Chong was born in 1977, in Muar, Malaysia. He later moved to Singapore, where he would establish himself as a prominent figure in the contemporary art scene.

In 2003, he had the honor of representing Singapore at the 50th Venice Biennale, presenting the video and light installation titled "Murmurmurmurmurmur (Venezia/Accademia Remix) (2003)." This captivating work drew inspiration from a short story penned by the Singaporean writer and poet Alfian Sa'at.

In 2006, Chong embarked on a collaborative project with a cohort of eight critics, curators, and fellow artists to craft an avant-garde science fiction novel entitled "Philip in Seven Days." This experimental narrative, bearing the name of the renowned science fiction luminary Philip K. Dick, unfolds in the fictional realm of Philipville in 2019, characterized by a tumultuous storyline rife with themes of sexuality and violence.

From 2012 to 2014, Chong orchestrated "Moderation(s)," an extensive program that was primarily held at two locations: Spring Workshop in Hong Kong and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art (now Kunstinstituut Melly) in Rotterdam. This initiative served as a convergence point for artists, curators, and writers and culminated in a multifaceted series of events, including a conference, three exhibitions, three artist residencies, and the publication of a book containing a collection of short stories.

His art is featured in the permanent collections of esteemed institutions such as the Art Sonje Center, Kadist Art Foundation, M+ Museum, The National Museum of Art Osaka, NUS Museum, Rockbund Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum, and Weserburg Museum.

Heman Chong’s Art Projects

By delving into close examination and active involvement, Chong explores the role of everyday infrastructure as a vehicle for political expression. This conceptual focus is most prominently showcased in his 2018 series titled "Foreign Affairs."

"Foreign Affairs" comprises a collection of photographs capturing the rear entrances of embassies. The deliberate repetition of these images evokes both the composition of a cinematic frame and the ever-watchful presence of surveillance cameras, which observe both the mundane and the extraordinary. Each portrayal of a backdoor holds a deeper meaning tied to infrastructure. These seemingly ordinary depictions serve as the gateway to the extraordinary realm of the embassy, embodying the physical embodiment of a pact between two sovereign entities, each representing its state's individual sovereignty.

In his series titled "Abstracts From The Straits Times," Chong generates artworks from a collection of online, readily available PDFs of Singapore's daily newspaper. These creations form repetitive and inscrutable abstractions, offering a commentary on the contemporary media environment marked by the pervasive notions of political correctness, the prevalence of 'fake news,' the dynamics of public opinion trials, and the emergence of 'deep-fake' technology.

Chong's involvement in social initiatives includes the ongoing collaboration with Renée Staal on projects like "The Library of Unread Books." In this endeavor, Chong and Staal encourage individuals to contribute books from their personal collections that, as the project's name implies, remain unread.

In a different artistic exploration centered around books, during his exhibition "LEM 1" at Rossi & Rossi in London in 2012, Chong established a fully operational bookshop that offered fantasy and science fiction novels for just £1 each. The exhibition also featured paintings from Chong's ongoing series, "Cover (Versions)" (2009–ongoing), in which the artist creates imagined book covers for literary works, many of which he has not personally read.