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.

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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.

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Striving

Events
Art x Tech Workshop

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

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CDE Artist-in-Residence Programme

The Artist-in-Residence Programme at the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) enhances placemaking and reflects the College's innovative identity through collaborative art projects that integrate academic subjects. This initiative showcases the parallels between artistic and engineering processes, promoting creativity and cross-disciplinary partnerships to enrich the cultural and educational experience on campus.

Introducing three innovative artworks that highlight the intersection of design, engineering, and technology.

Covid Craze, Crystal Gaze

In a partnership between artist Tan Seow Wei and Dr Bina Rai from the Biomedical Engineering Department, inspiration was drawn from X-ray crystallography—a pivotal tool that revealed the helical structure of the DNA molecule and is now utilised to analyse the molecular structure of the COVID-19 protein. As part of a community engagement workshop led by Seow Wei, 40 students from the Biomedical Engineering course BN3402 Bioanalytical Methods for Engineers (Semester 2, AY21/22) crafted intaglio printed representations of the COVID-19 protein structures. Selected student creations have been incorporated into the final artwork, showcasing a fusion of educational and artistic endeavours.

Microcosm

Developed by artist and NUS alumnus Debbie Ding, this digital artwork presents a visionary virtual exploration of scale, perspectives, and terrains within the realm of engineering. This virtual world unveils the often-concealed intricacies of engineering research. The artwork also allows viewers to traverse through diverse scales of terrains, fundamental to engineering projects. Featuring contributions from the Innovation and Design Programme (iDP) and the Satellite Technology and Research (STAR) Centre, it highlights initiatives such as Team Bumblebee, Formula SAE (FSAE), Robomaster, Mars Rover, and the STAR Centre.

Big Picture at Nanoscale

Crafted by Jason Ong in collaboration with CDE, this artwork epitomises the seamless integration of design and engineering through systems thinking. By incorporating Scanning Electron Microscopy images of natural systems such as crystals, cells, and molecules, the piece features abstract forms enriched with reflective motifs that symbolise diverse research contributions. This innovative work invites exploration and engagement, encouraging viewers to appreciate the interconnectedness of disciplines and the potential for collaborative innovation.

The video below offers deeper insights into the creative processes and inspirations that shaped each of these extraordinary artworks.

Meet the Artists

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 Ong

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.

debbie-ding

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

EA Building

Somewhere in this Fog of Memory

Art Installation by: Nicolette Tan, Shi Zhansen and Erick Kristantio
Location: EA L2

Somewhere in This Fog of Memory is a journey into the mind of someone living with dementia. Walk, sing, and feel with them as we find meaning in illuminating the way for each other in this light-based installation.

Also created by: Ong Suyi, Sidharth Premnath and Chen Yilin
Music used in this art installation is "Somewhere over the rainbow", remixed and sang by Sidharth Premnath and Chen Yilin respectively.

Developed for NUS Arts Festival 2022: Shades of Light(ness)

Space Frame

Developed by: Prof Lee Seng Lip and Dr Thomas See in Collaboration with RAMCO Engineering
Location: EA Entrance

The Space Frame supporting the overhead canopy uses innovative universal connectors developed by then NUS Engineering’s Prof Lee Seng Lip and Dr Thomas See, together with RAMCO engineering in 1987. The multi-directional connectors allow up to twelve tubular members to be joined at any angle at an internally-threaded spherical node, as shown. Space frames of various geometries and multiple layers, including those with curved or irregular profiles, can be fabricated in this manner. Such connectors have since been extentsively used in Asia and the Middle East.

TechnoEdge

Campus Piano

Painted by: Verlyn Ku
Location: TechnoEdge L3

How far wood (would) you go to protect the Earth we live in? We are not apart from nature, but a part of it - it is our duty to be stewards of the environment and all creation. Whether we leave behind a cacophony of tragedy or a ray of hope, every decision counts, no matter how small.

SDE1 & SDE3

Butterfly Façade

Location: SDE1 & SDE3

Winner of the 2024 Society of Façade Engineers (SFE) International Sustainability award

SDE1 and SDE3, two net-zero energy buildings at the CDE campus, won the 2024 Society of Façade Engineers (SFE) International Sustainability award. The project, called An Equatorial School of Architecture, was also a finalist for an international refurbishment award. Dean’s Chair Associate Professor Erik L'Heureux led the redesign, focusing on adaptive reuse and sustainability through a unique façade. Built in the 1970s, SDE1 and SDE3, along with SDE4, are NUS’ first net-zero building cluster. The SFE awards recognise outstanding design and engineering that effectively use technology and environmental strategies.

SDE1

Crowne Veil

Location: SDE1

SDE1 was transformed from a 1970s building into a net-zero energy academic space focusing on comfort and sustainability. Designed by Dean’s Chair Associate Professor Erik L'Heureux and his team, it sets a modern standard for learning and research. The building features a "deep veil" for ventilation and light, reconfigured offices, and a green courtyard, with efficient systems like solar panels meeting energy needs. SDE1 highlights sustainable design by reusing structures and reducing the carbon footprint.

SDE3

Staircase

Location: SDE3

SDE3 has undergone a major renovation of its existing facilities. This premier renovation integrates a series of important and contemporary design improvements that make the research and discussions of architecture inherently public. A large student commons and stair surrounded by review spaces links a new entry and gallery space with the design studios linking education, learning, and debate on architecture central to the building.

The cladding of the social commons staircase is crafted using a grasshopper script that parametrically adjusts the facets and gradient of the timber panels. Timber laminate textures are projected onto the existing concrete structure to visualise the gradient effects of the timber panels.

SDE4

Aline Chair

Designed by: Mr Willie Tay and Assoc Prof Christophe Gaubert
Location: SDE4

Winner of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021

Designed and developed as the signature outdoor furniture for SDE4, the Aline Chair was made entirely in Singapore. Its design is based on a standard diameter of aluminium tubes, for the easiness of sourcing and production. The material allows for very light pieces of furniture, long-lasting resistance to tropical weather, and a low carbon footprint. The chair is also stackable for better management in public places.

E4 Corridors

Week 13 at CDE

Art Installation by: Theepa Kanisan
Location: Along the wall outside E4-05-53

The mural showcased here was created by Theepa Kanisan, a Civil Engineering student from the Class of 2023. This artwork captures the bustling energy of the E4 corridor, with everyone striving to reach their destination or complete a task. The piece is both lively and colourful, even featuring one of the beloved NUS cats!

This featured artwork is the winning piece from the CDE Mural Competition, which encouraged students to express their interpretation of the theme "What does CDE mean to you? How would you describe CDE?"

E7 Building

Covid Craze. Crystal Gaze

Art Installation by: Tan Seow Wei
Location: E7

This project highlights an important Biomedical Engineering method - X-ray Crystallography and its contribution in the global quest for a cure for the coronavirus.  

Through the revealed structure of the COVID spike protein and subsequently identified potential drug molecules, the artist hopes to express her own artistic impression (as well as the community participants of this project) of these imageries through printmaking techniques.  She hopes to pique viewers’ interest on the fascinating science behind X-ray Crystallography and reveal the hidden beauty within this scientific technique to the public.  

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

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