Diary of an NUS Museum Intern: Chao Keang Yin

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! 

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Chao Keang Yin is a third-year student studying Architecture at the NUS School of Design and Environment. During his time with us as a Collections and Exhibitions Management Intern, Keang Yin assisted our Collections department, learning more about processes such as accession and risk assessment as well as the technical considerations that go into the management of our artworks.

I still remember on the first day, I couldn’t give a proper answer when my supervisor, Kang Ho, asked me what my expectations are for this internship programme. As a non-frequent museum-goer, I know very little about art and museology, let alone the specific field of collections management that I was supposed to engage in as a new intern. All I knew back then was that I was curious to find answers to some questions on my mind – what goes on behind the scenes? How does the process of getting a piece of work up on the wall look like? Throughout the course of the five-week period, my supervisor introduced me to collections management, including a whole range of processes from accession to risk assessment. I slowly realised that the answers to my questions are not as simple as I thought; it is a long list of procedures, involving many people with different expertise. Looking back now, I have learnt not only the answer I pursued, but so much more about conservation and display. The following is my attempt to summarise the whole experience as a museum intern, highlighting some of my favourite moments in the past month. 

Resource Gallery at the NUS Museum 

As a visitor, we are welcomed by that shinning piece of artefact inside the glass cabinet, or the captivating painting hung on the wall. For them to get here on display, they first have go through conservation processes, proper handling, storage, and many other decisions and agreements prior. I got to explore more of this field when I attended the conservation workshop conducted by Lawrence, a museum conservator. I recall being so intrigued by some of the hands-on activities presented, as if he was performing magic. Conservation is where science meets art. It involves the understanding of materiality, texture, property, chemical reactions, and other considerations such as artwork integrity, ethics and artist’s intention. During the session, Lawrence showed us how paints with different compositions react differently under the UV light and Infrared. One fascinating example was that the Infrared is able to penetrate the top paint layer of a painting, thus revealing some of the alterations done at the bottom layer due to the artist’s change of mind. This kind of study and analysis will inform the decision of how the conservator chooses to preserve or restore the artwork. 

On the more technical side of things, I have learnt from my supervisor that, be it on display or in storage, all these art objects require very specific environmental conditions in order to minimise degradation, prolonging their race against time. The relative humidity, temperature, and light have to be controlled and carefully monitored, with each material having its own set of optimal conditions. For handling and storing of art objects, there are step-by-step measures, with some points seemingly trivial and commonsensical, but a careless mistake or a misstep would result in costly and irreversible damages. This has got me thinking about how each of us are just like an artwork – delicate, precious, fragile – thus, we also require the right environment to grow and strive. If we can learn how to care for artworks, maybe we should learn how to better take care of ourselves as well.      

These are some of the things happening behind that gallery wall. The experience of viewing an artwork is not simply about the curatorial decision alone. It is a combination of assessment from the collections manager, conservator, curator and artist, just to ensure that we get the best experience possible. Perhaps knowing this fact will teach me to see beyond what is visible the next time I visit a museum. Perhaps the next time I am standing in a gallery space, I will be reminded of all these newly found answers, which allow me to look at the artwork in a slightly different way – as an art in itself, and an artistic and technical production in a totality.     

Besides the learning and researching on collection management, the almost-weekly organized visits, presentations and workshops also exposed me to many other questions. One of which is this: why do we preserve and archive an artist’s works? While it is true that they tell us more about the artist, these works also carry sociopolitical significance, reflecting not only his/her personal principles and ideals but also the society’s values at that particular point in time. This aptly captures the notion of microhistory which encapsulates personal narratives, intimate experiences, and presents them as a reflection of time and voices from the perspective of individuals.    

Wartime Artists of Vietnam exhibition at the NUS Museum 

This concept of microhistory can be observed to play out in the Wartime Artists of Vietnam exhibition which I was particularly drawn to during our early museum tour. Beyond my appreciation and admiration for the fluidity of the brush strokes, the mastery of the pen and pencil sketches, and the overall artistic excellence, most of the artworks vividly portray the people’s daily lives and their interactions, while “war” only appears as a backdrop. These recounts capture emotions and shared experiences, introducing us to the everyday scene of the locals, and bringing us on a journey alongside the artists. They are snippets of the wartime depicting the other angle of the story from collective memories, and juxtaposing it to the historical records of pure numbers, statistics, and facts. If these artworks were not to be preserved, this story would have been simply a faded memory, without finding their way as part of the war story.       

Reflecting on this short journey, I realise that I might have found answers to my initial questions; however, there are still so many unanswered questions that popped up along the way. Nonetheless, I have grown to have a deeper understanding of the roles of a museum in preserving, showcasing, and educating. This learning opportunity is only possible thanks to all the NUS Museum staff. Specifically, I would like to extend this gratitude to my supervisor, Kang Ho, for his constant guidance and always going out of his way to carefully explain many new things, making sure that I gain the most enriching experience possible.