The Managed Heart: Art and Emotional Labour

2024

Artworks are often analysed through the lenses of prevailing art historical or cultural discourses, mediums and techniques, and the themes and narratives they challenge or convey. Rarely do studies delve into the emotional labour invested by artists in their creations. In sociological circles, emotional labour has been described as the management of feelings and expressions to meet the emotional demands of a job. In the realm of artistic practice, creative emotional labour can refer to the hidden, internal and psychological efforts necessary to produce something new, or to navigate in a society that often prioritises the unspoken, sometimes at the cost of personal agency.

Emotional labour can also be viewed as a driving force in socially-engaged art, where artists use social relationships and structures as the focal point of their work.

Curated by Michelle Ho, the exhibition at the ADM Gallery, School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological University delves into the possibilities of viewing emotion as a creative force in art-making. By reevaluating how artworks can emerge from the intricate relationship between task and temperament, we may begin to see how emotion – muted, subtle or overt – can challenge preconceptions about artistic expression, identity, intimacy, as well as the profound impact of history.

The exhibition branding features a sensitive handwritten typography overlay that is juxtaposed with the bold formalist title, to visually represent the intricate interplay between the emotional and the structured aspects of artistic expression.

Turning Points

2024

Turning Points Turning Points chronicles the defining moments within the artistic practice of three artists with disabilities – Deaf photographer Isabelle Lim, mixed media artist with Down syndrome Fern Wong, and autistic artist Kenneth Lee. Organised by ART:DIS and curated by John Tung as part of Singapore Art Week 2024, the exhibition highlights a pivotal moment of change within their practices, marking the moment of critical development in their output. Beyond serving as a testimony to their commitment and adaptability in the face of personal and professional challenges, the artworks within the presentation convey a shared narrative of persistence, introspection, and growth.

FACTORY was engaged to design the exhibition and its marketing collaterals. Considering the narrative of the show, we designed a logo that symbolises metamorphosis through the motif of a rotating canvas. Paired with an elegant and accessible typographic system that prioritises readability, it conveys both the gravity of the moments showcased and the resilience of the artists. A sophisticated and nuanced colour palette was also selected that reflects the themes of introspection, growth, transformation and the diversity of experiences and artistic practices within the exhibition.

Write a Christmas Card 2023

2023

#WriteaChristmasCard is our studio's yearly self-initiated campaign to encourage people to send a handwritten note or a card to someone they care about for Christmas. Through the joy of receiving a beautiful and uniquely themed card from us, we hope it in turn inspires the recipients to do the same. This edition's theme is Santa Claws taking over the city, featuring an exploding function that is triggered via a pull tab, spraying cat confetti in the process!

C2A Creative Communication Awards 2024
Winner 2024 / Other Print (Magazines, Newspapers, Calendars) / Other

The Unfaithful Octopus: Image-Thinking and Adaptation

2023

The artworks in this exhibition are like essays: playful and partial, intelligent and inquisitive, attentive as they make their experiments and attempts. These artists are (in Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook’s words) “occupied by the lengthy, persistent need to revisit stories that can’t easily be discarded.” Curated by Roger Nelson, visitors are invited to take a seat, and to participate in the image-thinking endeavour.

The visual identity for the exhibition features a graphic representation of a literal unfaithful octopus with seven legs instead of the usual eight. The playful form serves as a container for information on artwork labels and various promotional collaterals. Expanding on that concept, the cover of the catalogue is uniquely designed using a die-cut shape resembling the octopus. The artist names are presented via blue-foil onto its twisting tentacles which intentionally obscure the catalogue title; representing the complex and tangled narratives explored by the artworks within the show.

Gallery Director: Michelle Ho

C2A Creative Communication Awards 2024
Winner 2024 / Books / Art & culture books

For the House; Against the House 2023: _____ is Dead

2023

For the House; Against the House returns for the Singapore Art Week 2023 with two new motions up for debate. Through a unique debate format where art illustrates the arguments, OH! works with collectors to present selected works from their collections alongside new commissions from Singapore and international artists.

Set to _____ is Dead, the third iteration of the show presents a double bill exploring the mortality of two cherished concepts, The Museum is Dead and Desire is Dead conceptualised by Singaporean curators John Tung and Adele Tan respectively. Taking place within Tanglin Shopping Centre – a mall scheduled for enbloc – the exhibitions’ manifestation at the site goes beyond their topics of inquiry, revealing the entanglements between Singapore’s ubiquitous shopping malls and our cultural identity.

We've created two distinct symbols (a museum and a pair of lips) to represent the two motions as a form of way-finding to guide visitors through the two distinct areas of the exhibition spread across both levels of the shopping mall.

Dispersed across various empty storefronts and corridors, the exhibition design conjures an immersive and unique setting for the various displays. The combination of the abandoned mall atmosphere and the use of neon lighting in the way finding also creates an intriguing contrast between the soon-to-be forgotten past of the mall and the vibrant and eye-catching present of the exhibition.

For the House; Against the House 2023: _____ is Dead Publication

2023

For the House; Against the House returned for the Singapore Art Week 2023 with two new motions up for debate. Through a unique debate format where art illustrates the arguments, OH! worked with collectors to present selected works from their collections alongside new commissions from Singapore and international artists.

Set to _____ is Dead, the third iteration of the show presented a double bill explored the mortality of two cherished concepts The Museum is Dead and Desire is Dead conceptualised by Singaporean curators John Tung and Adele Tan respectively. Taking place within Tanglin Shopping Centre – a mall scheduled for enbloc – the exhibitions’ manifestation at the site went beyond their topics of inquiry, revealing the entanglements between Singapore’s ubiquitous shopping malls and our cultural identity.

We designed a bold neon-inspired brand identity system for the third iteration of this event to reflect the two curatorial experiences within the same show. Whilst dystopian, the system is actually highly palatable within the context of the soon-to-be torn down mall, legible amongst the corridors and transporting visitors back to a different time period. The goal for the branding was also to open the brand to a younger generation and more diverse audience.

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue we designed in hopes to create mindset shift from a print material existing simply being a passive catalogue, to an active capture of this inflection point in time. The cover design introduces the concept of dislocations, with the title balanced within a working LED panel in a careful composition against a powerful full black cover. The changing colour bars echo this transient narrative, putting the viewer on the outside looking through the curtains of time.

Esplanade Annual Report 22/23

2023

An architectural icon with distinctive twin shells, Esplanade is one of the busiest arts centres in the world. Since opening in 2002 as Singapore's national performing arts centre, they have presented more than 53,000 performances and activities, drawing 34 million patrons and 116 million visitors. We were commissioned by Esplanade to design their annual report for the 2022/2023 financial year.

The cover and main section dividers features Wax and Wane, an artwork by urban art collective Rscls that is commissioned in conjunction with the opening of the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade and the centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations. As the name suggests, we took inspiration from the metaphor of the moon's phases and used it in a central role across our design motifs. Just as the moon goes through cycles of waxing and waning, the centre has experienced seasons of growth and change through the pandemic years till today. This metaphor is a powerful way to symbolise the theatre's journey over the past year.

Our primary goal was to create an engaging report that aims to be more than just a collection of financial data and statistics. We want it to be a reflection of the centre's vibrant spirit, rich history, and commitment to artistic excellence. To achieve this, we've employed a visually stimulating design that captivates the reader's attention from the very first page. The use of vibrant colours, dynamic layouts creates a sense of excitement and anticipation, much like attending a performance at the theatre. Drawing inspiration from the theatre's iconic 'durian' shaped architecture, we've also created many 'easter-egg' durian motifs shaped into characters and objects that are spread across infographics helping to convey complex information in an easily digestible format. All in all, the report's design aims to leave a lasting impression on readers, reminding them of the theatre's enduring magic and importance in Singapore's cultural landscape.

Read Annual Report here.

DNA Paris Design Awards 2024 – Winner

Legacies

2023

Legacies features five short films for cinema by New Zealand artists Edith Amituanai, Martin Sagadin, Pati Solomona-Tyrell, Sriwhana Spong and Thai filmmaker Ukrit Sa-nguanhai.

Commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image and curated by Dr May Adadol Ingawanij, the project developed from a series of propositions put to the artists by Ingawanij about the potential meaning and resonance of the term ‘Legacies’.

“Legacies as: the pre-modern artistic, cultural, linguistic and religious heritages of the place and land that you were born into and raised in; through to the legacies of colonisation, and the spectres of nations and nationalisms; the legacies of the modern art/film histories; the narratives and ways of knowing that shaped you, and that bring an ambivalence and a desire to undo.” – May Adadol Ingawanij. From this starting provocation, each artist was invited to make a short film which articulated the artist’s own personal sense of what a Legacy might be.

Staged at ADM Gallery, Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design & Media, we crafted a three-dimensional, super scale identity that uses a single point perspective to echo the weight, and sense of uncertainty that the works within the exhibition might conjure amongst visitors.

Visitors are fully immersed as soon as they enter, via the bold palette of yellow and black and the large exhibition graphics that spread from floor to ceiling and across perpendicular planes which provides a little extra punch in the treatment of the space. The artwork write ups are also typographically arranged to emphasise certain words and phrases which echos the branding of the exhibition, hinting at the shifts in perspective viewers might experience whilst encountering the films.

New World’s End

2022

New World’s End is a new immersive art experience & audio tour organised by OH! Open House that brings the old 1960s Singapore back to life through a stunning journey that marries stories, history and art; down the streets of the historic Jalan Besar, its back alleys and into hidden rooms & fantasy spaces with its backdrop. We were approached to brand, design its Front-Of-House, and craft the website that would help to launch this. The experience opened to great fanfare that saw sold out crowds leading to the end of the year.

Buy tickets to the physical experience here.

Accolades
Graphis Silver Award, Poster Annual 2023

We embarked on a period of research to identify the key emblems, landmarks, characters and stories that would define the rich tapestry of this historic area in Singapore. Through illustrations, we depicted the environmental images, archival photos, snapshots of characters to give the key visuals a friendly, approachable persona which is immersive and powerful at the same time. These elements were framed around the two central key characters of Rosa and Kiran: two seemingly ordinary people whose lives were changed forever by momentous events that took placed in the New World Amusement Park.

DamnKohl.com

2022

Dan Koh is a book editor, film producer, independent writer and a long-time friend of our studio. We were thrilled when he approached us to help craft his website which was made up of equal parts digital experience and repository of his works.

An important consideration for us was to create a tone of voice that represented his persona; above all things and his works, his desire to be a human first — to connect, to share, to live, to think, and to be. We utilised a series of primary coloured backdrops and bitmap icons across the site to create a bright, fun, and truthfully nostalgic (Windows 95 aesthetics) look. Together, the elements help establish an appropriately earnest visual personality for Dan, a welcome antidote to an Internet awash with people who take themselves too seriously.

Visit digital experience here