TANG JINGYI

Executive Summary / Abstract

In our 4-week attachment, we were assigned to help with the on-going cataloguing of the NUS Museum's Resource Library, compile a Gallery Guide and write a blogpost about our experience at the museum. We were also involved in some special events which includes attending the senior interns' sharing workshop as well as having tours at the NUS Museum and the NUS Baba House.

Background Information of the Organisation

As a university museum, NUS Museum’s mission is to actively facilitate intellectual and cultural life within and beyond the University. With a distinct focus on Asia, the Museum contributes to and facilitates the production, reception, and preservation of knowledge through collections development and curatorial practice.

The Museum is a cultural hub, developing partnerships within NUS, the culture and heritage industry, and the global knowledge community.

Located at the University Cultural Centre, NUS Museum comprises nine galleries and additional ancillary spaces which host a wide range of exhibitions, module collaborations and supporting programmes that contribute to the cultural and interdisciplinary conversation within NUS and beyond.

Since 2004, the NUS Museum has been part of NUS Centre For the Arts.

From https://museum.nus.edu.sg/explore/about/

Background Information of the Project / Tasks which I was involved in

The tasks that I engaged in were to, firstly, assist in the on-going cataloguing of the NUS Museum's Resource Library. The Resource Library is a reference resource that contains publications on Southeast Asian arts and art histories, exhibition catalogues and materials from art auction houses. I was assigned to deal with a separate section of the Resource Library which housed publications which were donated by the art historian T.K. Sabapathy in March and May 2019.

Secondly, participate in writing a museum gallery guide which provided our own views and insights of the artworks for the visitors to refer.

Thirdly, create a blogpost with regard to the things we have learnt during the internship.

a picture of our work place

Elaboration / Record of the Activities Done

Cataloguing

Our task in the first two weeks was to catalogue 15 boxes of books donated by the artist T.K. Sabapathy in March and May 2019. In order to key in the main information of the books into an Excel sheet, (title, authors, publisher, date and place of publication etc.) we needed to move down all the boxes, even unpack some of them and run through them one by one. The work was done by me, my partner and two other senior interns.

pictures of some interesting books

"Wu Zhi Xiang Shou" ---one of the artworks that I chose

Create the museum gallery guide

Our second task was to choose 5 artworks from the ‘Radio Malaya: Abridged Conversations about Art’ exhibition at the second level of the NUS museum to compile a gallery guide for the tourists to have a better intepretation of the artworks. We did a lot of research and read through many articles from both the online websites and the national archives so as to find reliable sources which were closely related to our artworks.

Create the Blogpost

Our final task was to write a blog about our one-month experience at the NUS Museum, which would eventually be uploaded to the NUS Museum blog site.

Tour at the NUs Museum

Our mentor at the NUS Museum showed us around the NUS Museum and introduced the purposes behind the design of each exhibition. The special 'prep room' in the museum allowed us to see clearly how the themes of the exhibitions have been worked out as well as the way they were curated.

Tour at the NUs Baba House

Our NUS Museum mentor also helped us arrange a tour to the NUS Baba House located at Neil Road, which offered me an scarce opportunity to get to know more about the Peranakan culture in Singapore as I would barely travel to somewhere that far from my home on my own. After the tour, I knew more about the Peranakan Chinese customs such as their dressing and eating habits. I was fascinated with the unique decorations of the house and moved by the family’s and the government’s determinations to preserve the house. It is indeed a conservation of local culture which should be greatly appreciated by the public.

Elaboration / Record of Results / Deliverables / Impact of Work Done

Cataloguing

Cataloguing the books offered me the opportunity to learn something that I have never learnt in school.

Throughout the experience, I have seen a variety of interesting books and learnt a lot about contemporary arts in different area of the world.

Generally speaking, this cataloguing experience allowed me to broaden my horizon and obtained many new skills.

Creating the Blogpost

The final product of this attachment was a blog which will be posted on the NUS Museum's blog site(http://nusmuseum.blogspot.com/). The post is used to share our thoughts about the experience with other people who are interested in the programme.

Creating the Museum Gallery Guide

It has been discouraging as I have faced quite a few challenges during the researching process. The five artworks that I initially chose were not closely linked to each other, resulting in an incoherent gallery guide which was not desirable. Consequently, I had to redo most of my work to provide a more clear and perspective version. After putting in a lot of effort and with the assistance of our NUS Museum mentor, my final draft was approved on the last day of work.

Some extracts that I used for my gallery guide

3 Content Knowledge / Skills Learnt

I have really learnt a lot after the one month internship at the NUS Museum.

1. First of all, I got to know and learn more about Southeastern Asian culture and history due to the cataloguing experience which required me to read a variety of books. Through the reading, I also had a better understanding of the art in Singapore as well as some famous artists and their wonderful artworks, yet I barely knew any of these prior to the programme.

2. Besides, I learnt some fundamental steps about how to curate a exhibition. Basically, we have to select the superior ones among thousands of artworks, coming up with a suitable theme which accords with the artworks that were chosen earlier. After deciding on the overall theme, we have to comprehend the artworks by ourselves, figuring out the best way of arrangement and the reason why each artwork is displayed in certain ways. Moreover, there is a need to do a lot of research and find the relevant and credible extracts to create a gallery guide, which conveys the curator's message to the visitors.

3. Lastly, I got to understand the importance of perseverance and diligence in work as it required a lot of hard work and effort to achieve our three tasks. There were a few times that I would have liked to pause my work or even give up on it. Fortunately, I adhered to my work and got it done in time.

2 Interesting Aspects of your Learning

1. From the programme, I learnt about the scenes behind the showcase at the museum, which is much tougher but also more interesting than I thought it would be. There are a lot of brain work as well as team work throughout the process, which means, every department has to keep in close contact and cooperate with one another to produce the final show.

2. I had interesting tours at the NUS Museum and the NUS Baba House thanks to this WOW attachment. I would never have gone somewhere that far from home on my own.

1 Takeaway for Life

Through this internship, I have not only obtained new skills and knowledge, but also harvested precious friendships with my partner, my senior interns and even the museum staff. We always helped each other out and shared responsibility for heavy work. The attachment itself was fun, and the people involved in the internship made it excellent and unforgettable.

a picture of me and the 'black tree' in the NUS museum

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