Tan Swie Hian in dialogue with Renee Lee is forthcoming in sharing about his success in fine art practice. This interview piece reveals how one of the brilliant thinkers in the arts defines creativity and the creative process in diverse disciplines.

Dr Alan Chong reflects on Singapore history as a means of articulating a direction for the Asian Civilisations Museum — to refocus its mission on the cross-cultural and fused forms of artistic expression in this part of the world. A museum of the past can remind audiences that there are strong historical precedents for globalisation.

Renee Lee interviews Wee Beng Chong, the first Cultural Medallion recipient in visual arts, and two other Cultural Medallion recipients — Tan Kian Por and Ho Ho Ying — to investigate the prevalent notion that artists are mere emotional beings, using a three-pronged approach to examine their practice, from the formative years and critics' reviews, for their artistic aesthetics to be perceived within their pedagogical, historical and intellectual contexts. Studying these artists, with their breadth and depth of accomplished practice in the visual arts, can perhaps help us understand better the creative process and how creativity for ground-breaking art can be nurtured.

In 2014, Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM),in collaboration with the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, organized the “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” exhibition in Singapore. The exhibition featured artefacts excavated from the Famen Temple, as well as objects excavated from other sites in Shaanxi province. This article draws on the case of ACM’s “Secrets of the Fallen Pagoda” exhibition to explore the use of Buddhist artefacts in the diplomacy between China and Singapore. It argues that the exhibition demonstrates the intersection between cultural and Buddhist diplomacy, highlighting how Buddhist cultural heritage was used as a platform to foster diplomatic ties between two secular countries with predominantly Buddhist and ethnic Chinese populations. While Buddhist material culture and history might have been used to highlight the shared cultural ties between China and Singapore, differing perceptions over the exhibition’s presentation provides ground for contemplating the varied meanings behind the use of religious objects in cultural diplomacy.

Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum houses a large collection of shadow puppets from Malaysia, but very little is known about them except that the originated in Kelantan during the period of British colonial rule. Scant records exist explaining how they ended up in the museum's ethnographic holdings, or the social significance of the collection for the museum and for Kelantanese theatrical arts. Examining the puppets through both an aesthetic and curatorial lens allows us to expand our knowledge of museology and cross-cultural encounters, and contributes to discussions on the interrelationship between history, the performing arts, and the politics of collecting at the periphery of colonial Malaya. © 2022 Royal Asiatic Society. All rights reserved.