Table of Contents YIR 2016/17 / - Message from the President 4 Cutting Edge 6 Awards 16 Highlights 30 Industry 38 Community 46 Alumni 52 The LASALLE Show 2017 62 Convocation 2016 82 ICA Singapore 88 Benefactors of the College 97 LASALLE Board and Management 98 Year in Review 2016/17 Among this year’s numerous memorable events was world-renowned designer Karim Rashid’s inspiring Public Lecture; two cutting-edge Singapore Biennale 2016 Affiliate exhibitions, the group show The World Precedes the Eye and Boedi Widjaja’s Black—Hut; and performances celebrating the strong historic links between Ireland and Singapore, in partnership with the Ireland Funds Singapore. LASALLE’s second collaboration with the Singapore International Festival of the Arts was an exceptional performance devised by our students and the legendary Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, which brought much critical acclaim, and a tear to the eye. Important new collaborations LASALLE’s continual aspiration to At the same time, LASALLE has with industry and government evolve and excel is also evident in a increased its number of SkillsFuture organisations included WritersLab, new academic structure. We have reduced approved short courses for the public in partnership with the Info- the number of Faculties from five and continued to deepen community communications Media Development to three, creating eight new Schools engagement. High profile community Authority. This ten-week project within them; and introduced a new activities included a magnificent supported eight budding local cross-institutional position of Dean of series of giant murals and projections professional screenwriters to Teaching, Learning and Research. This on buildings during the third, and develop full TV scripts and has strengthened strategic leadership most spectacular iteration yet of the series proposals, with tuition and and operational efficiency across the annual ARTWALK Little India project, in mentorship provided by a renowned institution, and expanded opportunities collaboration with Singapore Tourism Hollywood writer and international for cross-Faculty student collaborations Board and the Little India Shopkeepers experts. A number of the resulting and interdisciplinary projects. A and Heritage Association. 4 scripts have already been picked newly modularised curriculum offers up and are going into production. more flexibility for student overseas Equally moving and inspiring was our exchanges and internship opportunities, 30th Convocation, graced by guest-of- The College continues while a brand new Career Centre has honour Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for to strengthen links and enhanced career guidance and support. Education (Higher Education and Skills), collaborations with some with 790 proud students graduating. of the highest ranked arts Over the past five years, there Some had picked up accolades at the universities in Asia, Europe, have been significant year-on-year Crowbar Awards including for Best of Australia and the United States. improvements in almost every aspect Show, Best of Advertising and Best of One example is the Global Design of the College’s performance: from Design, while LASALLE won Institution Initiative, co-initiated by progressively high scores on annual of the Year for the third consecutive Provost, Venka Purushothaman, student and staff satisfaction surveys, year. Other students won prestigious which brings together globally to increasingly strong employment Red Dot Design Awards; MA student Ezzam President’s Since its founding by visionary arts In doing so, the College reached oriented universities for regular statistics for recent graduates. For Rahman won an NAC Young Artist Award; symposia on the future of design the first time this year, the College and alumnus Zai Kuning was announced as Message educator, the late Brother Joseph new levels of distinction in the McNally in 1984, LASALLE College of the academic year 2016/17, and this Year practice. They include Central commissioned an independent survey Singapore’s representative at the 2017 Arts has sought continually to surpass in Review provides a glimpse of the Saint Martins in London and and longitudinal study to track the Venice Biennale. expectations, and to renew and reinvent many outstanding achievements of our Musashino Art University in longer-range employment outcomes of itself. In the pursuit of academic students, staff and alumni. It also Tokyo, which this year honoured all our graduates, and the results are I am honoured to serve our students, excellence, the College has worked offers an insight into LASALLE’s Provost Venka with a prestigious equally heartening. Alumni conveyed alumni and staff, and am proud to report closely with its key partners including increasing influence and maturity, university Fellowship. overwhelmingly that they are happy in that this has been a year of remarkable Singapore’s Ministry of Education and including the launch of Southeast Asia’s their jobs, with 90% in employment, events and achievements, where LASALLE’s Goldsmiths College to break new ground first taught MA in Creative Writing 4% in full-time study, and just 6% reputation has grown from strength to in arts education, and to pioneer new and an innovative new interdisciplinary in between jobs — a remarkable result strength as one of Asia’s most renowned ideas, practices and programmes. MA in Design. This year we also considering the freelance nature of many and cutting-edge arts institutions. celebrated the tenth anniversary of our sectors of the creative industries. professionally accredited MA Art Therapy programme, now one of the most highly regarded in the world. Professor Steve Dixon President, LASALLE College of the Arts “There is a growing awareness for the In January 2017, needs of using design approaches to break LASALLE launched through the clutter of today’s complex world, as well as the ambiguities two groundbreaking ahead. Through the MA Design programme, we are cultivating a pool new MA programmes of design leaders and influencers to meet in creative writing future challenges.” and design. Nur Hidayah Dean, Faculty of Design Cutting Edge / New MAs The MA Creative Writing is Singapore and Southeast Asia’s first taught Master’s degree of its kind. Students explore fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and dramatic writing within the vibrant and collaborative “At most schools, Creative environment of LASALLE’s full-fledged Writing students and faculty integrated arts campus. are isolated from other campus artist-researchers 6 or overshadowed by science 7 The programme is led by Dr Darryl Whetter, an and business programmes. experienced educator who has taught writing At LASALLE, I get to teach at four different universities in Canada. writers at an institution He has published three books of fiction, two devoted exclusively to the collections of poetry, and numerous essays arts, and a wide range of and scholarly articles as well as nearly 90 arts, from visual arts to professional book reviews. performing arts.” Dr Darryl Whetter Programme Leader, MA Creative Writing The MA Design responds to the important role of design in re-imagining the world we live in. Designers today are applying their craft in a staggering variety of contexts, from products to services, organisations, systems and policies, beyond the previous conventional domains of design. Participants were treated to seminars and sharing sessions by Reuben De La Cruz, Tropical Lab turns 10 Susan Sentler, Guo Liang Tan and Peter Ellis, got to know each other through presentations, and visited Pulau Ubin, 20 Jul - 3 Aug 2016 Haw Par Villa, the Asian Civilisations Museum and Gardens by the Bay. They had a week to create their artwork and install Cutting Edge / Tropical Lab 10 the exhibition in consultation with the ICA Singapore team. Participating Institutions 1. Academy of Arts in Osijek 2. California Institute of the Arts 3. Columbia University “This is one of the best 4. Art Institute of the FHNW Academy of Art and Design Basel Tropical Labs we have ever 5. Goldsmiths, University of London had. I’m proud that in ten 6. Hong Kong Art School years, we have managed to 7. Indonesian Institute of the Arts Denpasar build such strong artist 8. Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta networks, and achieve our 9. LASALLE College of the Arts Tropical Lab, the annual art camp for postgraduate vision of getting artists to 10. Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts step out of their comfort 11. Massey University 28 students worldwide, welcomed a record participants zones and create something 12. Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture that they never thought they from 21 universities for its landmark tenth edition, 13. Musashino Art University could in just two weeks.” 14. Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences Fictive Dreams. 15. Plymouth University themed 16. RMIT University 8 17. Royal Academy of Arts 9 18. Silpakorn University 19. University of Belgrade 20. University of California Davis Milenko Prvacki 21. Zurich University of the Arts Senior Fellow Baby Public Lecture Series: An Tropical Lab Evening with Karim Rashid 14 Nov - 18 Nov 2016 18 Aug 2016 Cutting Edge / PLS - Karim Rashid The LASALLE Public Lecture Series is an initiative by President, Professor Steve Dixon, that provides a platform for world-leading practitioners to engage with the arts community in Singapore. Cutting Edge / Baby Tropical Lab Previous Public Lectures include theatre visionary Robert Wilson, Academy award-winning producer Lord David Puttnam, noted architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick, and Turner Prize winning artists Gilbert & George. Baby Tropical Lab is a partnership Karim Rashid is one of the most diverse and between the Ministry of Education prolific designers of his generation. Frequently (MOE) and LASALLE, adapted from the lauded in magazines such as Time, Financial annual Tropical Lab. Its objective is Times, Esquire, and GQ, his endless pursuit of 10 to cultivate young artistic minds and Sensual Minimalism – where objects communicate, 11 immerse themselves through a practice- engage, and inspire, yet remain minimal – sees led, out-of-the-classroom model.