ABOUT the Critical Craft Collective

Co-Founders: Adeline Kueh & Hazel Lim

This initiative seeks to examine/relook at the relationship of craft in the 21st century at the intersections of fine arts / contemporary art practice and technology. The impetus for this project is precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and our relationship to the home (and the activities around it) as a site of radical domesticity.

Citing historical trajectories of these communal practices, the Critical Craft Collective (CCC) will also foreground elements of storytelling that are embedded in the process of making. The CCC is focused on highlighting different ideals and reimagining notions of nurturing and care away from traditional (gendered) norms. As a forward-facing entity that enables a range of partnerships, collaborations and curatorial projects to take place, the Critical Craft Collective aims to be the Craft Council of Singapore in the near future - one that will further expand dialogues and conversations at the intersections of craft, design and contemporary art practices, and to connect with other craft councils and collectives around the world.

We also subscribe fully to what Trinh T. Minh-Ha refers to as “speaking nearby”: “a speaking that does not objectify, does not point to an object as if it is distant from the speaking subject or absent from the speaking place. A speaking that reflects on itself and can come very close to a subject without, however, seizing or claiming it.”1 

Email: craftcouncilofsingapore@gmail.com

Instagram: @criticalcraftcollective.sg

Website: www.craftcouncilsingapore.com

Notes

1. "Speaking Nearby:" A Conversation with Trinh T. Minh–ha, Nancy Chen, Visual Anthropology Review, Vol. 8, Issue 1, March 1992, p. 82-91.