V.I.S.T.A Lab Artist Biographies

0. Choy Ka Fai _
Artistic Director/ Media Artist __www.ka5.info

New media artist and contemporary performance director, Choy Ka Fai has created numerous multidisciplinary works and collaborations internationally. Although trained as a video artist, he works intensively with the performative and trans-disciplinary intersections, creating audio-visual environment that is interactive and experiential. Central to his art-making process is the idea constructing "spaces” for interactions and the altering of time/space as means of creating possibilities for dialogue, thus its possibilities for meaning.
As the Co-Artistic Director of KYTV since 2004, he had created various projects with a unique style of performance infused with pop culture relevance. Directorial works with KYTV has toured Indonesia, Korea, United Kingdom, Germany, Taiwan and Japan. His recent major works includes collaboration with Ong Ken Seng in Diaspora (2006) and directorial works Drift Net (2007) exploring blogging phenomenal.Presently, He is the associate artistic director with Theatre Works, Singapore.

1. Zulkifle Mahmod
Sound Artist__www.luzart.net

Zulkifle Mahmod majored in sculpture at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. He is an associate artist with The Substation, Singapore and has exhibited locally, as well as in Thailand, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Norway and Finland. He completed residency programs in the latter two countries. His "Stilt" series forms part of The Swissotel Stamford Singapore’s art collection. Mahmod was selected, with three other artists, to represent Singapore in the 52nd Venice Biennale.
Zul’s multidisciplinary work cuts across sound, installation, drawing and sculpture. His formal training in sculpture has led him to include sculpted sound and live sound performances in his practice over the last three years.

2. Ng Yi-Sheng
Writer/Performer__www.lastboy.blogspot.com

Ng Yi-Sheng is a freelance writer. His performed plays include Hungry (Theatreworks) and 251(Toy Factory), as well as the musical Georgette (Musical Theatre Ltd). He has published a collection of poetry last boy and a non-fiction text SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century. He is also a journalist and reviewer of theatre (and occasionally visual arts) for The Straits Times, Fridae.com and the Flying Inkpot. He studied at Columbia University's Writing Program and has been mentored for poetry by Lee Tzu Pheng and Angeline Yap and for drama under TheatreWorks's Writers' Lab and The Necessary Stage's Playwrights' Cove. He is currently a Creative-in-Residence at 72-13.

3. Joavien Ng Bong Na
Choreographer/Dancer__www.crowjane.com

Joavien Ng Bong Na graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts, School of Performing Arts and began her choreographing career in 1997. Since then, her works have been showcased in Japan, Taipei, Hong Kong, Seoul, Canada and the USA. Ng established dance theatre company Crow Jane in 2003 and its repertoire includes solo dance performances Dream and Victoria, interdisciplinary show Ghosts as well as multimedia dance theatrical pieces Toilet and Conversation in the Park. Her style is characterized by minimalism, dark humor, and theatrical elements. She is inspired by the body’s natural responses and behaviors and hopes to develop beyond the language of conventional dance by collaborations.

4. Patricia Toh Yi Ling
Performer


Patricia completed a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting) at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Sydney, Australia. She was seen in shows such as Ne-Zha (The Finger Players), Noalibi (Metabolic Theatre Laboratory), Titoudao (Toy Factory), Prism (Toy Factory) and Wayang Tempest (Drama Plus), in which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Life! Theatre Awards. She has toured Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asia. Her interest in the body led her to create Space Ticket with a Parkinson patient and Blind, As You See It with the visually impaired. Her curiosity in puppetry has also resulted in a show at Sydney Opera House Studio.

5. Lim Hock Siang
Musician

Ling Hock Siang graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Arts (Music) degree, majoring in erhu and violin. Ling joined the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) in 1997 and is currently holding the position of the Associate Erhu Principal. Together with three friends, he formed The Huqin Quartet, a group which has done numerous tours. In addition to concerts at venues like The Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Ling has made appearances in Taiwan, Kuala Lumpur, Australia and New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea. He was also invited to San Francisco and Los Angeles to perform at Singapore Encore. He was awarded the Young Artist Award 2004 (Music) by the National Arts Council, Singapore

6.Grace Tan/Kwodrent
Clothing artist/designer__www.kwodrent.com


Grace Tan is a clothing designer/artist who graduated from Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore. In 2003, Tan set up kwodrent, to explore clothes and design in a new light. It is a series of works based on the study of rectangles, with reference to material and construction methods. All the pieces are spontaneously designed and made by hand, to produce expressive works that resonate with the senses. Because kwodrent is an ongoing project, each piece can be seen by itself, or as part of a progression. kwodrent has exhibited at places such as Melbourne and London. This year, a collection of new works based on the Cartesian coordinate system will be introduced at Singapore, Tokyo and London.

7.Mohd Fared Jainal
Graphic designer/performer

A recipient of Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award 2006, Fared deals with visual landscaping and produces work that cuts across theatre, body and design. He has collaborated with various theatre and art groups and has performed in Darwin, Fukuoka, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Yogyakarta, Brunei and Kuala Lumpur. Pop Station, his collaboration with art collective KYTV was showcased in Berlin. He has bagged Best Set Design for 2007 Life! Theatre Awards for the play The Gingerbread Man (Singapore Repertory Theatre). Other works include Shadow Madness, Incon(se)quential and Mat Champion. Fared now teaches design at National Institute of Education (NIE) and LASALLE College of the Arts.

8. Khoo Eng Tat
Interaction engineer/designer ageinvaders.wikidot.com


Khoo Eng Tat is pursuing his postgraduate degree at Mixed Reality Lab in National University of Singapore (NUS). His research topics are human-computer interaction (HCI), family entertainment, interactive language with music and interactive music with visual art. He has shown his work Age Invaders in Montreal for SIGCHI 2006 and in Japan for Interactive Tokyo 2006. Khoo has collaborated with Choy Ka Fai to showcase an interactive visual-sound installation the passage for the exhibition Objects & Desires. His works, From Poetry to Music: A Baba House Study and An Interactive Visual Arts Concert, were presented in the NUS Arts Festival 2007. He is also a composer for recording label Rock Publishing .

9. Torrance/Farmworks
Set designer/Space-maker_ www.work.farm.sg


Torrance Goh is a co-founder of FARM & FARMWORK. FARM is a society dedicated to promoting, celebrating, bringing together and working with Singapore artists and designers. FARMWORK is a design practice that collaborates with artists and designers on spatial projects. Tapping into FARM’s interdisciplinary programmes with Singapore Creatives, FARMWORK’s architectural solutions integrate perspectives from art, fashion and media. Here, architectural designers draw inspiration and work closely with an artist or designer from another field to create spaces of character and distinction. Keen in graphic, web and architectural design, Goh studied architecture at NUS and has worked in London and Singapore.

10. Lim Woan Wen
Lighting Designer


Lighting designer by profession, Woan Wen is a nocturnal being with an acute interest in light, darkness and all else that lies in between. Recipient of the NAC Arts Professional Scholarship 2001, Woan Wen was trained and educated at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the National University of Singapore. She works extensively with local theatre and dance companies, as well as independent artists from various fields, and is presently associate lighting designer with The Finger Players. She received the Best Lighting Design award at the 6th Life! Theatre Awards 2006.