After only a couple of years at the helm, Susie Lingham is stepping down from her position as director at the Singapore Art Museum. Another official at the museum gives the reason as Lingham wishing to pursue personal passions, including her own creative projects. Singapore Art Museum will begin looking for a new leader soon while maintaining the vision Lingham set for the facility.
Lingham was a key leader at the Singapore Art Museum, ushering the facility through its corporate transformation. She was also the impetus behind several highly visionary exhibits. The museum continues to tap her creativity for the upcoming Singapore Biennale, which it will be responsible for organizing this year. Many in Singapore’s art scene express regret that Lingham is leaving the contemporary art museum, but remain hopeful that, in some capacity, she will continue to offer her expertise in projects the museum organizes.
Many of those artists discuss just how personable and helpful Lingham was in bringing their artworks to life and helping them reach a broader audience. She was responsible for bringing in young artists to the museum who might not have been entrusted by other curators to carry an exhibition. She also coached and offered criticisms to other artists she’d tapped for an exhibit that explored the meanings of the Singaporean flag’s five stars, leading to the exhibit becoming even more effective. Another artist lauded Lingham for adhering to her own views of what art should be and carrying those ideas over to make shows at the Singapore Art Museum even better.
Lingham is unlikely to simply vanish from Singapore’s art world, another artist predicts. She has been involved with the country’s art scene for twenty years, starting with helping to found a transformative art collective that helped bring art shows and performance arts to the public. These events were also informative, offering forums on a wide variety of topics.
Lingham brought her unique expertise to the Singapore Art Museum, leading creative and academically challenging showings that dazzled visitors to the facility. She made contemporary art accessible to everyone, stimulating their senses through her appealing take on exhibitions. Lingham entered the spot at the Singapore Art Museum without a background in art administration, bringing her fresh ideas to help make the facility even more successful.
Stuck on what to do during your weekends? Are you and your friends in a rut in your social lives? Think about getting a group of friends together to enroll in an art class together via SGArtClass.com. Creating art with the help of an expert teacher in the comfort of one of your social circle’s homes is a great way to do something fun, unexpected and educational. You might even discover a passion for something you’d never considered before, such as acrylic painting, sketching, collage or any other of dozens of artistic genres.
For more on the director’s resignation, go to http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/singapore-art-museum-director-steps-down-after-two-years-at-the-helm.