"When does contemporary art in Singapore begin? What are the defining characteristics that distinguish contemporary art from that of Modern Art? What correspondence is there between the formation of contemporary art and other aspects of Singapore's development as a culture and nation?" This talk will discuss such questions and others in the process of outlining the historical formation of contemporary art today. 

Dr Charles Merewether is an art historian, author and curator who has worked in Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. Merewether is currently a Visiting Professor at the Baptist University in Hong Kong and a Visiting Research Fellow at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore. He is the author on many articles about contemporary art and his recent books include After Memory: The Art of Milenko Prvacki – 40 Years, a co-edited volume of essays After the Event: New Perspectives on Art History, by Manchester University Press (2010), Ai Weiwei: Under Construction (2008) and editor of both Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan 1950-1970 (2007) and The Archive (2006). He is currently writing editing and co-writing the book Singapore Art Today.