Independent art gallery space Coda Culture is organising an online charity art sale in support of Singapore's migrant workers. The sale features artworks by 17 artists, mostly inspired by events that have happened in Singapore over the past few months.
Jennifer Teo's Bullshit Painting (Apology) features a familiar quote we've all heard on the news, while Loo Zihan's Temporary Measures: a procession of physical proximity is a one-on-one performance that takes the form of a 9.5 km walk with the artist in Singapore, lasting approximately 180 minutes. The latter explores the question of how labour-power is abstracted in monetary terms, and the contradiction between the use and exchange value of service as a commodity. Who exactly determines which services are essential and what happens to bodies that are deemed dispensable?
Upon the sale of the artwork, Loo Zihan will arrange for a time with the purchaser for the performance, whilst adhering to the restrictions in place during the post-'circuit breaker' period. Yen Phang's Your Pound Of, on the other hand, is a sculpture created with pigment ink on toilet paper.
All works are priced at $750, the average monthly salary of migrant construction workers in Singapore. 100 per cent of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to local NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), who are helping affected workers living in dorms by ensuring that they have enough funds in their prepaid SIM Cards and facilitating contact tracing.
The collection of artworks can be viewed on Coda Culture's social media platforms on Facebook and Instagram from June 1 – and will be up until the physical gallery opens up to the public again.
