Established in 2008 in the heart of Singapore’s oldest public housing estate Tiong Bahru, Grey Projects offers a humble and homely four-room, grey-walled exhibition space for artists-in-residence to collaborate, research and work. The space comprises a library, residency apartment, a studio, and two galleries. Spearheaded by artist-researcher Mr Jason Wee, Grey Projects serves as a deconstructed space for artists, free from the bureaucratic mainstream Singapore cultural institutions. It stands in the liminal in-between spaces of conventional curatorial practices. With the purpose of supporting emerging artists in search of opportunities and a space to create and exhibit their work, Grey Projects’ relatively small three main gallery spaces provides an intimate setting alongside an extensive library of books ranging from philosophy, religion to multidisciplinary arts practices. Out of these spaces, the team generates curatorial and exchange activities which include book publishing, exhibitions, talks, residencies, reading groups and workshops.
Gallery B, Grey Projects (2023) Photo: Isaiah Christopher Lee
Mr Wee is both personable and knowledgeable with years of experience in curating, writing and art making. His direction and use of this exhibition space is clear and his approach to programming is forward-thinking in how he looks to forge international relations among artists and arts institutions. Of note are exchange residency programmes between Grey Projects and Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean arts institutions. Currently, Grey Projects is hosting their first international artist-in-residence for the year, Lu Wei. Wei is here as part of the Asia Pacific Exchange Programme; a new collaborative multi-year programme with Taipei Artist Village and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. Additionally, they have initiated “Walk Walk Don’t Run”, an island-wide open studio programme happening over four Saturdays in March 2023. The programme involves over 30 artists, design studios, artist-run and craft spaces across Singapore that will open their doors for public visits to share their work in progress, ongoing concerns and ideas.
Gallery A, Grey Projects (2023) Photo: Isaiah Christopher Lee
Art Studio, Grey Projects (2023) Photograph: Isaiah Christopher Lee
Library, Grey Projects (2023) Photograph: Grey Projects
The Grey Projects exhibition space, though simple and unassuming, proves to be a refreshing and inviting one, especially the library which is open for public access. In being positioned directly beside the main galleries, it allows readers and researchers the opportunity to walk in and out freely, toggling between book browsing and art appreciation. Out of this medium-sized exhibition space, Grey Projects champions alternative entry points for the public’s access to art in Singapore, thus questioning the nation-state as the primary vehicle for identity building. Not only is the presence of this peripheral, more decentralised art space important in offering alternative arts experiences in relation to mainstream cultural institutions, spaces like Grey Projects provides a home for the habitation of cultural practices that are resistive such as queer matters and heavily political themes.
With a small curatorial team, Grey Projects has forged a strong path for art publications, catalogue editorials and research residences for emerging artists or artists whose practice might not necessarily fit into larger cultural institutions. Audiences who are interested in works and events that explore the decolonisation of the art world and archives, conversations surrounding (contra-)conventional cultural production and exhibition-making, oral histories and resistive impulses would truly find themselves at home at Grey Projects.