*full CV upon request
Quek Jia Qi (b. 1996, Singapore) is an interdisciplinary artist and practice-based researcher. She believe in the capacity of socially-engaged art for building trust, creating connections and activating spaces for civic dialogue. Her practice investigates how new forms of learning an sociality could emerge and sustain through experimental modes of storytelling; how the autobiographical can strengthen human connection and reveal the emotional and ethical effects of our everyday encounters. Her social interventions manifest in participatory installations, public practice and collective performance. Based in London, Jia Qi has performed and exhibited in the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Singapore), RAW (Singapore), CICA Museum (South Korea), Whiteconcepts (Berlin), FramerFramed (Amsterdam), AGORA (Berlin), Raven Row (London), The Yard Theatre (London), 5th Base Gallery (London), and the public streets of New York City. She won the first Social Art Award for her social interventionist art, awarded by The Institute for Art and Innovation e.V. Her work has also been published in The Social Art Award 2017 – Invigorating the Rise of Social Art.  The Social Art Award 2017 – Invigorating the Rise of Social Art and presented at Conversations in Singapore History '18  symposium at King’s College London.
As a public practitioner, Jia Qi works widely with communities on experimental and interdisciplinary collaborations. In 2015, she founded Your Familiar Stranger, non-profit initiative in Singapore to connect people together through 'story-walking' in local neighbourhoods. Working at the intersections of art, education and activism, her recent pedagogical projects include exploring performative pedagogies. Her latest participatory interventions includes on-going participatory performance, BIND at Asia-Art-Activism, Raven Row, What do you not handle with care? staged at Goldsmiths College Library, Ghost to Ourselves at the finissage weekend of UnAuthorised Medium: Intense Visitations, public programme at FramerFramed, Amsterdam, and Untitled (Goodnight Stranger) at AGORA Berlin. In 2018, she organised the interdisciplinary symposium, Conversations in Singapore History '18  and And Everything in Between to activate new territories of reflection and social action. In 2017, she led Shifting Concretes, a workshop series as part of The Substation 2017 Discipline the City programme, which culminated in a public art intervention, "Can we 'Lepak' better at Orchard Road?" to reimagine and activate urban spaces in Singapore. Most recently, she has also explored using food as a performative medium, co-organising Oceans*A*Part at Raven Row, hosting a collective making, eating and reflective session to discuss how “Asia Pacific” extended beyond a geographic imagination with the rise of travel, migration, and online communication, reflecting critically how diaspora preserve and dilute cultures. She also illustrated The Little Things - children's book about kindness, published with Wu Jiezhen and Tampiness Kindness Movement - distributed to pre-schools curriculum and National Library Board Singapore.


Fascinated by the convergence of critical pedagogy in contemporary curatorial and social art practice, Jia Qi presently researches with  Radical Education Forum and Asia-Art-Activism a cross-disciplinary, intergenerational network of artists, curators and academics investigating ‘Asia’, ‘art’ and ‘activism’ in the UK, through research, dialogue, practice and collective work. Currently, she also researches Serpentine Education & Projects curatorial team of Serpentine Galleries, designing and evaluating community-centered public programmes to address social issues in London.

EDUCATION

2015 - 2019      Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK, BA (Hons) Fine Art and History of Art 

2018                  School of Visual Arts (MFA Design for Social Innovation)​ and the Babson Social Innovation Lab, New York, USA

2018                  School of Visual Arts, New York, USA
​
2009 - 2014      Dunman High School, Singapore, Cambridge-Singapore GCE A-Levels and Integrated Programme

PUBLIC ART, PERFORMANCES & EXHIBITIONS 

2019
SEACurrents 2019
Raven Row, London, UK​
​
Oceans*A*Part
Raven Row, London, UK​

Diaspora Disco 
The Yard Theatre, London, United Kingdom

2018
UnAuthorised Medium: Intense Visitations​
FramerFramed, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dumplings & Dialogue
Raven Row, London, UK​

LIVE #1: Contract With the Skin
Raven Row, London, UK
​
No Image - International Exhibition
CICA Museum, South Korea
​
Untitled (Goodnight Stranger)
AGORA, Berlin, Germany 

Is This Seat Taken? 
Outside Whitney Museum, New York, USA 

Untitled (Grieving in New York City) 
West 23rd Street, New York, USA 

Shifting Intimacies
RAW, Singapore

TEDxCambridgeUniversity xHibits​
Cambridge University, United Kingdom

Hit Me Baby, One More Time 
London, United Kingdom

Conversations in Singapore History 2018
Kings College London, London, United Kingdom 

No Naked Flames 2
Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom

2017
Stir-fry: An exhibition
London, United Kingdom
​
And Everything In Between: Disciplines in Dialogues 
London, United Kingdom

Social Art Award No.1
WHITECONCEPTS Gallery
Berlin, Germany

Shifting Concretes: Can We “Lepak” Better at Orchard Road?
Orchard Road, Singapore

Creative Debuts x The Black & White Building,
Black and White Building, Shoreditch
London, United Kingdom

​2016
Seven Deadly SINs Exhibition
Capitol Piazza
Singapore, Singapore

 A-OK Mindroll Art Exhibition 
Goldsmiths', University of London
London, United Kingdom

SOUND & LANGUAGE EXHIBITION 
Special Collections Archive, Goldsmiths Library 
London, United Kingdom
                   
A Journey Away From Urban Life
5th Base Gallery
London, United Kingdom

2015                    
SEARCHING - Dunman High School Senior High Art Exhibition
Dunman High School, Singapore
                             
Public Display
Ministry of Education (MOE) Headquarters, Singapore 

2014                     
Singapore Youth Festival Art Exhibition 2014
LASALLE College of the Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore (ICAS) Galleries 1 & 2 and the Trispace
​Singapore

2013                     
La Viva Art Exhibition 
Goodman Arts Centre
​Singapore

PUBLIC TALKS, LECTURES, WORKSHOPS 

2018
Interdisciplinary Symposium, Conversations in Singapore History 2018 
Kings College London, London, United Kingdom

Arts for Social Good
Creatives x Alternatives Programme '18, Skillseed Singapore
London, United Kingdom 

2017
The Little Things Book Launch, 
Tampines National Library, Singapore

Shifting Concretes,
Discipline The City 2017, The Substation, Singapore

Arts for Social Good
Creatives x Alternatives Programme '17, Skillseed Singapore
London, United Kingdom

2016
Higher Education and Careers Symposium '16
Dunman High School, Singapore  

2015
Higher Education and Careers Symposium '15
Dunman High School, Singapore  

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING, EDUCATION AND CURATING 

2018 - Present
Associate 
Asia-Art-Activism
Raven Row, London, United Kingdom

2018 
Co-organiser, Programme Curator and Speaker
Interdisciplinary Symposium, Conversations in Singapore History 2018 
Kings College London, London, United Kingdom

Co-organiser
And Everything In Between 
London, United Kingdom

2017
Artist / Illustrator 
The Little Things Book Launch,
in collaboration with Jiezhen Wu and Tampines Kindness Movement
Tampines National Library, Singapore

Lead Artist Facilitator 
Public Workshop: Shifting Concretes 
in collaboration with Karen Lam and The Substation Singapore
Discipline The City Programme Workshop Series,
The Substation Ltd
Singapore, Singapore

2016
Teaching Assistant 
Brooklyn Free School, New York, United States

Public Commission: Mural Doodle in JEM
Mural doodle with Band of Doodlers, White Space Bandits
Commissioned by Jurong East Mall 
​Singapore, Singapore

2015 
Founder
Your Familiar Stranger

Teaching Assistant 
Very Special Arts (VSA), Singapore, Singapore

ARTIST & RESEARCH RESIDENCIES

2019 
Asia-Art-Activism
Raven Row
​London, UK 

2018
AFFECT Residency for Collaborative Artistic Practices
​Agora Collective e.V.
Berlin, Germany 

City as Site: Performance and Social Interventions
Summer Residency, School of Visual Arts,
​New York, USA

PUBLICATIONS

The Little Things - A Book about Kindness
Children's Book,
Singapore, Singapore

The Social Art Award 2017 - Invigorating the Rise of Social Art
The Institute of Art and Innovation e.V.
Berlin, Germany

SELECT AWARDS

2017
Social Art Award 2017 
The Institute for Art and Innovation e.V., 
Winning work to exhibit at WHITECONCEPTS Gallery, Berlin, Germany 
Published in Award book: The Social Art Award 2017 – Invigorating the Rise of Social Art

2016
The Gold Award 
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

2015
3rd Runner-Up in Young Artists Category
Singapore Airlines Open House & Art Competition 2015, Singapore

2014                     
"Mummy, Can I Wash Your Hands" 
Singapore Youth Festival Art Exhibition, Singapore

Academic Award - Top Art Student 
Dunman High School, Singapore
                                                          
2013                     
Academic Award - Top Art Student
Dunman High School, Singapore
                              
2012                     
​Academic Award - Top Art Student
Dunman High School, Singapore

Most Photogenic Design Award 
National Azimuth NDP Watch Design Competition
supported by DesignSingapore Council

Top 5 Finalist 
National Azimuth NDP Watch Design Competition
supported by DesignSingapore Council

3rd Prize
Singapore Youth Photographers Convention, Singapore