Art in CDE: Exploring Creative Boundaries

We believe that creativity lies in the heart of every member of the CDE  community.

The Art in CDE initiative seeks to encourage the exploration of creative boundaries across art, design, science and technology, to inspire new perspectives and provide emotive access to innovations.

Check out how our community leverages the relationship between art, design and technology to develop exciting creations!

Activities

CDE Artist-in-Residence Programme    
The CDE Artist-in-Residence Programme brings together artists and the CDE community to collaboratively conceptualise and develop artwork for our campus. It seeks to inspire the CDE community with new perspectives and ways of thinking about the problems and solutions of our society through art.

Creative Works in CDE
Check out the various art and design creations around the campus, ranging from those created by our community and those in collaboration with other artists or designers.

Striving

Events
Art x Tech Workshop 2023
11 – 14 December 2023

Witness the collision of art and technology. In collaboration with Space Faculty, this year’s Art Tech aims to bring 80 pre-university students through an exciting journey to automate parts of the creative process.

Stay tuned to see their art works and robots!

CDE Artist-In-Residence Programme

Microcosm – Interactive Virtual Art Installation

Developed by artist and NUS Alumnus, Debbie Ding, “Microcosm” is a virtual world that explores scale, perspectives, and terrains within engineering. The inner workings of engineering research are often hidden from the human eye, and this work invites spectators to explore the different scales of terrains that are a fundamental aspect of engineering. Incorporated are terrains from various projects from Innovation and Design Programme (iDP) and the Satellite Technology and Research (STAR) Centre. These projects include Team Bumblebee, Formula SAE (FSAE), Robomaster, Mars Rover, and STAR Research Centre.

The work is both a video installation and a virtual world on a social multiplayer VR platform, which can be accessed by up to 20 simultaneous users across both PC and VR platforms, creating a new experimental online community space for conversations and collaborations in CDE.

Engaging the Community

In the collaboration between Artist Tan Seow Wei and Dr Bina Rai from Biomedical Engineering, the duo was inspired by X-ray crystallography, a tool that allowed the creator to reveal the helical shape of the DNA molecule, now used to analyse the molecular structure of the COVID-19 protein.

40 BME students enrolled in BN3402 Bioanalytical Methods for Engineers (Sem 2, AY21/22) developed their own intaglio printed COVID-19 protein structures (above) in a community engagement workshop by Seow Wei. Selected pieces were included in the final artwork.

Meet the artists we are working with

This programme is done in collaboration with NUS Museum curator Karen Lim, who was the appointed curator for commissioned public art for 34 Singapore’s MRT stations in LTA’s Art in Transit programme, the largest public art showcase in Singapore.

She also serves as the secretariat for the NUS Public Art Committee (PAC) and provides advice on the artistic direction to each of the artists.

Jason

Jason Ong

Visual Artist

Jason spent six years in Kay Ngee Tan Architects in Singapore and London before attaining his Master’s Degree in Design (with Distinction) from Domus Academy in Milan in 2002.

His accolades include winning the Grand Prix Award at the Nagoya International Design Competition in 2000 for the “Chair for Daydreamers” and being the selected artist for the President’s Young Talent Exhibition in 2005.

Jason is also our adjunct professor at the Division of Industrial Design.

Keep a lookout for Jason's artwork conceptualised in collaboration with A/Prof Aaron Chia from Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management coming soon!’

Tan Seow Wei

Tan Seow Wei

Artist and Printmaker

Seow Wei graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts with Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Painting in 2008. She loves to dabble in printmaking, ink painting, and drawing and inadvertently produces works that are often mixed media in nature.

She has won a number of awards including the Siaw-Tao Outstanding Art Award in 2014, Winston Oh Travelog Award in 2007, Georgette Chen Scholarship in 2006, Dr Tan Tsze Chor Art Award – Distinction in 2003.

debbieding

Debbie Ding

Artist and Technologist

Debbie is a Singapore-based artist whose interests range from historical research to urban geography to visions of the future. Using interactive computer simulations, rapid prototyping, and other visual technologies, she creates works about subjects such as map traps, lost islands (Pulau Saigon), World War II histories, soil, bomb shelters, and public housing void decks. Her work was shortlisted for the President’s Young Talents 2018 and Impart Art Awards 2020 and is collected by the Australian War Memorial. 

Creative Works in CDE

Art Overview

TechnoEdge

E4 Corridors

EA Building

SDE4

EA Building

E7 Building

Events

Art X Tech Workshop

Guided by our very own CDE students and Artist Yeo Shih Yun, this four-day workshop encouraged over 35 pre-university students from 18 institutions to learn and explore the intersections between art, design and technology.
Five creative robots and art pieces were created through this workshop!
If you’re interested in such workshops, you can also sign up for our CDE newsletter to be updated on our upcoming events and activities: www.bit.ly/CDENewsletter

We would also like to thank the following people who helped make this workshop a success:
• CDE Mentors: Ethan, David, Ramie, Zhe Li, Yee Kai, Yeow Sin, Ming Hai
• CDE Ambassadors: Archi, Patrick, Annabel, Vaenil, Samuel
• Guest of Honor and Judge: Assoc Prof Martin Buist (Vice Dean, Undergraduate Programmes)
• Judges: Assoc Prof Ong Ker Shing and Dr Yen Shih-Cheng
• Speakers: Assoc Prof Cheah Kok Ming and Dr James Kah
• Artist: Yeo Shih Yun

Like to find out more?

Drop us a mail for collaboration opportunities!