In this episode, we invited curator Syaheedah Iskandar to explore the multidimensional practice of Artist-in-Residence Irfan Kasban. This conversation marks a full-circle moment for the two as they first collaborated for Hutang Belantara, a public programme at NTU CCA Singapore back in 2016 when Syaheedah was Curatorial Assistant with us at the Centre. The two trace through Irfan’s background that has seen him wear varying hats, weaving through theatre and sound, and addressing what drew to the arts. Irfan also opens up about the significance of curiosity in guiding his working process that is largely collaborative, open, and ever-evolving. He also shares about the various communal activities he held in the studio that he has affectionately called Port of Reciprocity, also the title of his long-term research project.
The transdisciplinary practice of Irfan Kasban weaves together multiple roles such as playwright, theatre director, lighting and sound designer, and multimedia artist. Often engaging in collaborations with fellow artists as a method of experimenting across mediums, Irfan creates intricate worlds guided by a principle of visceral ephemerality in an attempt to redefine boundaries between performance, artwork, artist, and audience.
Syaheedah Iskandar is currently Assistant Curator at Singapore Art Museum. She works with vernacular ideas of seeing, thinking, and being. Drawing from Southeast Asia’s visual culture(s), she is interested in the entanglements between the unseen, the hypervisual, and their translations from material to new media practices. She holds an MA in History of Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
Contributors: Irfan Kasban, Syaheedah Iskandar
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan