Exhibition Information

			Existential questions are omnipresent in the contemporary society and there is a perpetual tendency for modern people to question the significance of life in what is coined as having an existential crisis. This stems from the idea of existentialism as popularized by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre who proposed that existence precedes essence and “that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself”. The self in this case, is seen as a spontaneous identity that can be crafted through one’s assumption of authorship in the creation of self-narratives; ones that seek temporal coherence with the individual’s reassembled past, perceived present and anticipated future that ascribes meaning towards his life. In the process of selfhood, an individual might still feel radically incomplete as one’s desire to assign meaning to himself is never quite achieved due to the invariably renewed ideal of his being. Consequently, the perplexity of the existential self presents the spiritual dilemma of the contemporary era.
In the quest for seeking oneself and its inherent meaning of existence, people often turn to alterity for answers. The encounters with the otherness of peculiar objects, unfamiliar environments, sublime nature and disparate cultures for example, may trigger possibilities of discoveries, growth and transformation within the self as the individual relates to the transcendental experience of the other. Such sensibilities may push the boundaries of one’s imagination of the self and open doors for its redefinition. How exactly do such epiphanies add significance to our ever-changing selves and allow us to reformulate our very existence? What is it in alterity that offers such alluring solace in times of self doubt and personal crisis? Exploring the foregoing inclinations of modernity, the exhibition presents works from six artists – whom in their search for intrinsic meaning, turn to various forms of otherness such as nature, objects, the body, etc. for inspirations. The disparate artworks culminate into an array of autobiographical visual narratives that aim to cast a light upon the elusive existential self.