MY CULTURAL LIFE: LORENZO RUDOLF

The founder and director of Art Stage Singapore discusses digital impacts on the art world and trend-spotting Southeast Asian art

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

The founder and director of Art Stage Singapore discusses digital impacts on the art world and trend-spotting Southeast Asian art

My Reading Room
My Reading Room
My Reading Room

How has Art Stage Singapore evolved?

Art Stage has had a clear Southeast Asian identity since its first edition in 2011. Now in its eighth year, we continue to focus on three main aspects of this identity’s conceptualisation: To bridge Southeast Asia to the global art world and be a platform that positions the region’s art scenes internationally; to be the door that introduces the world to these art scenes; and to be the forum that creates and fosters a Southeast Asian understanding, exchange and cooperation, while matchmaking these various national art scenes. This has been the key to the success of every edition and we see the fair becoming a necessary catalyst of the region.

Is there a specific art movement we’ll be seeing at this year’s fair?

We are focusing on what is probably the most active and innovative region in Southeast Asia: Thailand. There have been a lot of new openings, like the MAIIAM Museum of Contemporary Art and a new private museum in Chiang Mai, which I feel is a wonderful and necessary academic platform for Thailand. There are other big collectors who will be opening their own museums as well. We want to pay tribute to this at the fair by featuring Thai galleries and artists, and planning spectacular museum-like projects by leading Thai artists such as Kamin Lertchaiprasert and Arin Rungjang.

Who are the artists that have caught your eye recently?

In Southeast Asia, there are a lot of great young artists. Singapore, for example, has a great young female artist by the name of Zen Teh, who is very bright and intellectual. And there is Aditya Novali, the  winner of the Best Young Artist at Art Stage Jakarta 2017; I have been fascinated with his developments and thinking from the start. In the Philippines, there are young artists like Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, who works with artefacts found in nature and brings the discussion back to fundamental human questions. And in Thailand, there’s Anon Pairot, who brought his community project of a Ferrari car made entirely out of rattan into the fair and became more well-known after. Anon is still doing community-driven artworks, which is what I like—when the artist has a mission and is not only producing for the market.

What do you love most about art?

Contemporary art has to challenge me. I like it when I have to invest myself in understanding the art and build up a dialogue with the artwork. For me, an artwork has nothing to do with its decorative purpose or investment quality. Art is, first and foremost, a cultural piece, and I want to learn and build a personal relationship with it.

Would you say fashion and art affect our lives and behaviours in similar ways?

For a long time, they remained as two dierent creative disciplines. But today, we can see that both fashion and art are beginning to cross over. In the past decade, there is no important fashion line or label who has not worked with artists.

Which piece first sparked your love for art?

I grew up in Bern, Switzerland, which saw the breakthrough and development of contemporary art worldwide with Harald Szeemann. As the director of the Kunsthalle Bern, he commissioned environmental artist Christo to wrap the entire Kunsthalle building—the first wrapping of this kind in Christo’s legendary career. That, for me, was what sparked my love for art. 

BY DANA KOH

My Reading Room
Clockwise from
top left: Dein
und Mein Alter
und Das Alter der
Welt (Your Age
and Mine and the
Age of the World)
by Anselm Kiefer
at Sundaram
Tagore Gallery.
Lorenzo Rudolf. A
replica of a royal
Thai crown by 
Arin Rungjang. 
Blue Butterflies
by Manolo Valdés.
Stubborn Snake
by Eko Nugroho
at Arario Gallery.
Gunungan by
Ahmad Sadali
at Art Agenda,
S.E.A.
Clockwise from top left: Dein und Mein Alter und Das Alter der Welt (Your Age and Mine and the Age of the World) by Anselm Kiefer at Sundaram Tagore Gallery. Lorenzo Rudolf. A replica of a royal Thai crown by Arin Rungjang. Blue Butterflies by Manolo Valdés. Stubborn Snake by Eko Nugroho at Arario Gallery. Gunungan by Ahmad Sadali at Art Agenda, S.E.A.
My Reading Room