Diary of an NUS Museum Intern: Nichole Lim
Note: Diary of an NUS Museum Intern is a series of blog posts written by our interns about their experiences during the course of their internships. Working alongside their mentors, our interns have waded through tons of historical research, assisted in curatorial work, pitched in during exhibition installations and organised outreach events! If you would like to become our next intern, visit our internship page for more information!
-
Nichole Lim is a fourth-year Geography student at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Together with Stephanie, Nichole has assisted in research and execution of various outreach projects during her time here as our Museum Outreach intern.
No stranger to these material aspects of Singapore’s transformation, I wonder what lies beyond this one-way street towards urban modernity. Ploughing through academic texts (across urban theory, geography and history), literary works, anecdotes and newspaper articles, the task of creating a Gallery Guide for the Radio Malaya exhibition compelled me to consider a wider diversity of voices imbued in the process of urban modernization. More than these uni-directional arrows depicted in the dominant, linear narrative of nation-building, perhaps it would be better to re-represent these arrows as bi-directional and criss-crossing, for further dialogues between past and present (and even future) to be unearthed.
Ilsa Sharp’s newspaper commentary titled ‘Winds of Change Constantly Blowing’ was especially thought-provoking, and here I cite my favourite quote:
“All of Singapore’s experience has been telescoped in time, compared with other countries. And so it is that, at only 13 years of age, Singapore is entering middle age. Having gone through a rugged childhood and a wild youth, it is now a saner, more self-questioning Singapore that we see.”
Fast forward 2019, what more could be said of Singapore that is soon turning 54 years old, if she was metaphorically ‘entering middle age’ in 1978?
---
Stephanie and I also assisted in the publication of the Museum’s Anniversary Lecture on William Willetts. Willetts was a lecturer of Art History and curator of the Art Museum (the precursor of NUS Museum) in the then University of Singapore. While Mr Kwa may never read this blog post, I would still like to say a big thank you for your eye-opening lecture because it foundational to our subsequent encounters during the internship such as:
1. Cataloguing books in the Resource Library and freaking out because “isn’t this the publication* Mr Kwa mentioned in his lecture?!”
2. Marvelling at the Resource Library’s collection of books donated by art historian TK Sabapathy, if only to capture a glimpse into the extensive material he has read over the years, after Mr Kwa’s multiple mentions of “Kanaga”
3. Recognizing the Head of a Bodhisattva terracotta sculpture and some mandalas in the Asian Civilisations Museum, then secretly whispering to Stephanie, “haven’t we’ve seen this before?!”
Mini victory (nerdy) moments like these made the internship even more memorable!
*PS: It’s the Foundations of Chinese Art: From Neolithic Pottery and Modern Architecture by William Willetts and we have many other publications in the Resource Library!
Apart from indulging in our nerdy “material pleasures” of books and artefacts, we had many interesting visits to various museums in Singapore too. I especially enjoyed interacting with the super awesome Kate Pocklington, a conservator in the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. She shared about what happens behind-the-scenes, some of which includes hunting down crocodile-sighting records and how-to-handle-a-beached-sperm-whale (just wow!).
We had the opportunity to attend a workshop about the conservation and preservation of artworks. Techniques of restoration aside, metaphysical questions of for whom and why should we restore (or not) were surfaced during our discussions, and all these remain pertinent questions with no definite answers.
Connecting these experiences across this one-month internship, an undercurrent of differing rhythms and flows of time becomes apparent, in our everyday tasks and encounters inside and outside the museum. There are no fixed or straightforward answers, and many in-between moments that remain to be discovered.
---
Many thank yous to my supervisor, Michelle, for her constant guidance and support (and for sending us cool links related to our interests). A shout out to Wardah, Mary Ann, Amalina, JJ, all the museum staff and wardens (Yati, Jon and Philip) for helping us around the office and galleries – thank you for all the fun and laughter you’ve showered upon us over the past month! Last but not least, to my fellow interns, thanks for making this as sublime an experience as it was!
Past -> Present
Fishing village -> Global City
Kampongs -> HDBs
Street Hawkers -> Hawker Centres
No stranger to these material aspects of Singapore’s transformation, I wonder what lies beyond this one-way street towards urban modernity. Ploughing through academic texts (across urban theory, geography and history), literary works, anecdotes and newspaper articles, the task of creating a Gallery Guide for the Radio Malaya exhibition compelled me to consider a wider diversity of voices imbued in the process of urban modernization. More than these uni-directional arrows depicted in the dominant, linear narrative of nation-building, perhaps it would be better to re-represent these arrows as bi-directional and criss-crossing, for further dialogues between past and present (and even future) to be unearthed.
Ilsa Sharp’s newspaper commentary titled ‘Winds of Change Constantly Blowing’ was especially thought-provoking, and here I cite my favourite quote:
“All of Singapore’s experience has been telescoped in time, compared with other countries. And so it is that, at only 13 years of age, Singapore is entering middle age. Having gone through a rugged childhood and a wild youth, it is now a saner, more self-questioning Singapore that we see.”
Fast forward 2019, what more could be said of Singapore that is soon turning 54 years old, if she was metaphorically ‘entering middle age’ in 1978?
---
Stephanie and I also assisted in the publication of the Museum’s Anniversary Lecture on William Willetts. Willetts was a lecturer of Art History and curator of the Art Museum (the precursor of NUS Museum) in the then University of Singapore. While Mr Kwa may never read this blog post, I would still like to say a big thank you for your eye-opening lecture because it foundational to our subsequent encounters during the internship such as:
1. Cataloguing books in the Resource Library and freaking out because “isn’t this the publication* Mr Kwa mentioned in his lecture?!”
2. Marvelling at the Resource Library’s collection of books donated by art historian TK Sabapathy, if only to capture a glimpse into the extensive material he has read over the years, after Mr Kwa’s multiple mentions of “Kanaga”
3. Recognizing the Head of a Bodhisattva terracotta sculpture and some mandalas in the Asian Civilisations Museum, then secretly whispering to Stephanie, “haven’t we’ve seen this before?!”
Mini victory (nerdy) moments like these made the internship even more memorable!
*PS: It’s the Foundations of Chinese Art: From Neolithic Pottery and Modern Architecture by William Willetts and we have many other publications in the Resource Library!
Gazing at the illuminated Wu Zhi Xiang Shou, because don’t let your dreams be dreams.
Apart from indulging in our nerdy “material pleasures” of books and artefacts, we had many interesting visits to various museums in Singapore too. I especially enjoyed interacting with the super awesome Kate Pocklington, a conservator in the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. She shared about what happens behind-the-scenes, some of which includes hunting down crocodile-sighting records and how-to-handle-a-beached-sperm-whale (just wow!).
Lux in Tenebris aka (UV) Light in the Darkness with the best museum interns ever!!!
We had the opportunity to attend a workshop about the conservation and preservation of artworks. Techniques of restoration aside, metaphysical questions of for whom and why should we restore (or not) were surfaced during our discussions, and all these remain pertinent questions with no definite answers.
Connecting these experiences across this one-month internship, an undercurrent of differing rhythms and flows of time becomes apparent, in our everyday tasks and encounters inside and outside the museum. There are no fixed or straightforward answers, and many in-between moments that remain to be discovered.
---
Many thank yous to my supervisor, Michelle, for her constant guidance and support (and for sending us cool links related to our interests). A shout out to Wardah, Mary Ann, Amalina, JJ, all the museum staff and wardens (Yati, Jon and Philip) for helping us around the office and galleries – thank you for all the fun and laughter you’ve showered upon us over the past month! Last but not least, to my fellow interns, thanks for making this as sublime an experience as it was!
Am Laura Mildred by name, i was diagnosed with Herpes 4 years ago i lived in pain with the knowledge that i wasn't going to ever be well again i contacted so many herbal doctors on this issue and wasted a large sum of money but my condition never got better i was determined to get my life back so one day i saw Mr. Morrison Hansen post on how Dr. Emu saved him from Herpes with herbal medicine i contacted Dr. Emu on his Email: Emutemple@gmail.com we spoke on the issue i told him all that i went through and he told me not to worry that everything will be fine again so he prepared the medicine and send it to me and told me how to use it, after 14 days of usage I went to see the doctor for test,then the result was negative, am the happiest woman on earth now thanks to Dr. Emu God bless you. Email him at: Emutemple@gmail.com Whats-app or Call him +2347012841542
ReplyDelete