Shirley Surya | Royal College of Art (original) (raw)

Papers by Shirley Surya

Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 2020

Contribution to Exhibition Roundtable: Curating for whom?, edited by Patricio del Real - reflect... more Contribution to Exhibition Roundtable: Curating for whom?, edited by Patricio del Real - reflections on the pandemic's impact on curatorial practice and exhibition making, with contributions from Architecture and Design curators at SFMoMA, Museo de Arquitectura Leopoldo Rother (Bogota), Chicago Art Institute, MoMA, Museu da Casa Brasileira (Sao Paulo), M+ (Hong Kong), and MAXXI (Rome).

Design Anthology, Asia Edition, Issue 30 · Oct 1, 2021Design Anthology, Asia Edition, Issue 30 · Oct 1, 2021, 2021

Introduction to Design Anthology, Asia Edition, Issue 30, Hong Kong Issue.

Silvana Editoriale (Milan, Italy) · May 20, 2021, 2021

Contribution to Expansions: How will we live together, edited by Hashim Sarkis and Ala Tannir, pu... more Contribution to Expansions: How will we live together, edited by Hashim Sarkis and Ala Tannir, published as part of the Biennale Architettura 2021.

ARCH+ (Berlin, Germany) · Apr 24, 2021, 2021

Contribution to ARCH+ 243: Contested Modernities - Postcolonial Architecture and Identity Constru... more Contribution to ARCH+ 243: Contested Modernities - Postcolonial Architecture and Identity Construction in Southeast Asia (April 2021), p. 202-213. Published as part of Encounters with Southeast Asian Modernism project. www.seam-encounters.net

Encyclopedia of East Asian Design , 2020

Contribution to Encyclopedia of Asian Design Volume 1 : Encyclopedia of East Asian Design edited ... more Contribution to Encyclopedia of Asian Design Volume 1 : Encyclopedia of East Asian Design edited by Haruhiko Fujita and Christine Guth (eds), Jae-Joon Han and Chae Lee (Regional editors (Korea)) , Wendy Siuyi Wong (Regional editor (China))

Changes in city planning and environmental design in mainland China since the 1980s, occurring at almost breakneck speed across highly varied contexts, are best understood along areas that reveal key shifts in how architecture and urban design were conceived, produced, consumed, and mediated by a network of actors—the state, developers, architects, institutions, and the media. This short survey focuses on two areas with such implications: the role of the state and privatization in the commercialization and internationalization of architectural production, and the structures and effects behind the conception and professionalization of architecture.

The Museum is Not Enough , 2019

Contributed commentary on three exhibitions in Chapter 7 "And I'm wary of the present" of The Mus... more Contributed commentary on three exhibitions in Chapter 7 "And I'm wary of the present" of The Museum is Not Enough - a special volume published on the 40th anniversary of the CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture). https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/events/68009/the-museum-is-not-enough

The Singapore Architect, 2019

On I. M. Pei's unbuilt schemes for Singapore (1960s-1980s) for the Heritage section of The Singap... more On I. M. Pei's unbuilt schemes for Singapore (1960s-1980s) for the Heritage section of The Singapore Architect 16/2019.

Place.Labour.Capital , 2018

An essay for the book Place.Labour.Capital (edited by Ute Meta Bauer and Anca Rujoiu) on my contr... more An essay for the book Place.Labour.Capital (edited by Ute Meta Bauer and Anca Rujoiu) on my contribution to the exhibition "Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Critical Spatial Practice" (2016). Consisting of eight assemblages of quotes, articles, images, and printed matter, arranged according to Lim’s involvement in selected publications and collectives since the 1960s, it was an interpretive genealogical tracing of Singapore architect William S. W. Lim's catalytic role in the discourse of critical urban ethics in the context of Singapore and Asia. http://ntu.ccasingapore.org/publications/publication-place-labour-capital

The Singapore Architect, 2016

On the beginnings of building the M+ Architecture collection since 2013, which have been, and wil... more On the beginnings of building the M+ Architecture collection since 2013, which have been, and will continue to be, shaped by four interrelated principles derived from its larger curatorial task of navigating between collecting for research and display, between the local and global, the canonical and non-canonical, between architecture and other disciplines.

Curatorial statement for 'Out of Hand, Out of Mind' - an exhibition of works by illustrator Zixi ... more Curatorial statement for 'Out of Hand, Out of Mind' - an exhibition of works by illustrator Zixi Tan/MessyMsxi at The Substation (11-21 Dec 2015, Singapore)

Curatorial statement for 'QU4RTETS' - a presentation of paintings by Makoto Fujimura and Bruce He... more Curatorial statement for 'QU4RTETS' - a presentation of paintings by Makoto Fujimura and Bruce Herman, as part of an ongoing artistic collaboration in word, image and music, with composer Christopher Theofanidis and theologian Jeremy Begbie, inspired by T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. QU4RTETS was presented at the University Museum and Art Gallery of University of Hong Kong from 11 September to 26 October 2014, as part of The Still Point festival of art, faith and humanity.

A swee ping su r vey of Los Ang eles ' a rchitec tu re a n d urban planning over the span of 50 y... more A swee ping su r vey of Los Ang eles ' a rchitec tu re a n d urban planning over the span of 50 years, Overdrive is an ambitious ef for t to document L . A .'s g row th into on e of th e m os t p op ulo u s a n d influ e ntial cities in th e world . Shirley Sur ya p rese nt s a n ove r view of th e exhibition org a nised by th e G et t y Resea rch In s titute a n d th e J. Paul Getty Museum.

Atelier FCJZ. The term "material-ism" is based on Chang's understanding of architecture and desig... more Atelier FCJZ. The term "material-ism" is based on Chang's understanding of architecture and design as disciplines ultimately grounded in tangible concerns.

On the global architectural-cultural site of exhibitions, publications and events, architectural ... more On the global architectural-cultural site of exhibitions, publications and events, architectural production in mainland China has largely been represented by practices founded , instead of other players behind the building phenomenon, like the state-affiliated design institutes. Such mythologising of "new modern Chinese architecture" since the nationwide privatisation of architectural practice in 1995 has led me to consider the motivation, mechanism and effects of such mediation. My research reveals how the nature of, and reasons for, such mediation, have been consistently characterised by the following notions -what I refer to as "autonomy", "authorship" and "auteurism" -to mean independence from a wider authoritative structure, a discursive practice through knowledge production, and association with an idiosyncratic artistic practice. Despite the obvious mythical nature of these mediated projections, their persistence in architectural discourse and practice requires a reconsideration of its inevitability and necessity. My chosen frame of inquiry, therefore, tests the limits and potential of these mediated conceptions by comparing these five architects' built work and involvement in businesses, content development, education, and platforms within art and architectural institutions, with those of other Chinese practices. Their negotiated "independence" while working with mainstream forces, their interpretive, multi-sited and networked discursive practice, and employment of critical-spatial strategies of artistic practice, have both questioned and affirmed the values of these mediated conceptions. It also reveals the multiple levels of socio-economic, cultural and political forces Chinese architectural practices are subjected to, which require their deft engagement with, in the context of Chinese and global architectural production. In testing these three historicallycanonically significant criteria of evaluating architecture, I also propose an expanded version of each conception: could autonomy be more than atavistic freedom in developing an alternative idea-based practice that engages political-commercial forces; could authorship go beyond paper architecture by constructing both buildings and imaginative social narratives; could auteurism exceed formal-conceptual tinkering by rethinking architecture's engagement with the socialrelational and other disciplines? While this research underscores the inextricable link between mediation and institution, the material and social, the local and the global, a discursive practice is only as effective as its implications on how architecture is commissioned, created and inhabited in a way that successfully engages its social, economic and cultural context.