Singapore 227968
The Tanoto Art Foundation (TAF) is set to launch during Singapore Art Week with the inaugural edition of the TAF Symposium taking place on January 14, 2025. TAF is a Singapore-based not-for-profit foundation dedicated to nurturing dialogues around the experience of contemporary art in Southeast Asia.
TAF Trustee, Belinda Tanoto, commented: “We established TAF with an aim of engaging people to the art of our time. One of the first private art foundations in Singapore, we look forward to TAF serving as the heartbeat of Southeast Asia, and the bridge that connects cultures and communities and builds unexplored connections. It is our hope that TAF’s programmes and initiatives can help to deepen the appreciation and engagement with art, and create a space where artists, audiences and diverse voices can come together.”
Marking its debut with a one-day symposium titled: “Soul Song of a New Organisation” on January 14, 2025, TAF will be bringing together leading international artists, art historians, curators, and institution builders, to collectively reflect on ideas of creativity, identity, and authenticity, and explore what it means to create and nurture an “organisation with a soul.”
The Symposium will feature a keynote by scholar and art historian Joan Kee, Director and Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, performances by artists Melati Suryodarmo and Chang Yuchen, and international speakers including Joselina Cruz, Director and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Manila, interdisciplinary artist Gala Porras-Kim, Brazilian curator and institution director Paulo Miyada, Manuela Moscoso, Executive and Artistic Director of CARA, Center for Art Research and Alliances in New York, and Thai artist Arin Rungjang.
TAF Artistic Director, Xiaoyu Weng, said: “Inspired by poet, writer, and feminist Jessica Horn, we believe that organisations are living beings—they are physical, emotional and spiritual. The soul of an organisation is the deepest part of its authentic self that manifests through its values and culture. It is each organisation’s soul that keeps its rhythm going, energising and inspiring growth. Through the minds and works gathered at this event, we have some of our first opportunities to nurture TAF’s soul by expanding our imagination on how to create an organisation, from challenges to out-of-the-box ideas, and new ways of collaborations. I am immensely excited to be part of this journey and to spend more time in this part of the world!”
With exhibitions and programming in the pipeline, TAF aims to engage, educate, and embrace a wide array of narratives, while empowering artists to share their stories with the world. From its base in Southeast Asia, TAF aspires to be a resource for contemporary art knowledge and discourse, and a reference point for future South-to-South exchanges.
About Tanoto Art Foundation (TAF)
The Tanoto Art Foundation (TAF) is a Singapore-based not-for-profit foundation that aims to connect and engage people to the art of our time. Through exhibitions and programming, TAF is dedicated to nurturing dialogues around the experience of contemporary art in Southeast Asia. Led by Trustees Belinda Tanoto and Anderson Tanoto, and steered by Artistic Director Xiaoyu Weng, the Foundation aspires to deepen appreciation and engagement with art, creating a space where artists, audiences, and diverse voices can come together.
