Sotto Voce (禺)

Venue: INSTINC Space, 39 Keppel Rd, #03-10 Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore 089065

Exhibition Duration: 12 March to 21 March 2026, 1PM-7PM. Sat - Sun, 1PM-6PM

Opening Reception: 11 March 2026 (Wed.), 5:30PM–8:30PM

Performance/Artist Guided Tour: 14 March 2026 (Sat.), 3-4PM

Sotto Voce (禺) explores the quiet gestures and subtle rhythms that shape everyday life within the urban environment. Taking 禺 (yú) as a point of departure, a condition of convergence and in-between-ness, the exhibition reflects on how bodies move through shared spaces, adapting to constraint, proximity, and flow. Rather than focusing on visible transformation, the works attend to small accumulations of movement and gestures: pauses, adjustments, and traces that gradually shape how the city is experienced.

Across painting, installation, and performance, the exhibition unfolds in a restrained register. Sotto Voce (禺) invites viewers to slow down and consider the quieter dimensions of change—moments where stillness and motion coexist, and where everyday actions become part of a larger, evolving landscape.

Bio of Artist Chen Min Suen

Shaped early on by living alongside straits and tidal waters, Min Suen has long been attuned to the flow of tides and breath—a rhythm that continues to inform her artistic practice as both a visual artist and a music performer. Her work explores subtle gestures and emotional traces as they evolve in tandem with urban ecology, where bodily movement and the city’s rhythms mutually shape and sustain one another. She focuses on how everyday life leaves quiet imprints on the body and its surroundings. Her work has been exhibited in Singapore and Malaysia, and often engages the city as a site through which broader questions of urban ecology, emotional diaspora, and silent convergence can be observed. Working primarily with traditional Chinese water-based mediums, her artworks translate restrained movements and rhythmic strokes into moments of gentle resistance. As the city undergoes quiet and constant change, Min Suen’s practice draws out pauses from continuous motion, inviting reflection on transience, urban becoming, and the space between stillness and movement.

About INSTINC Space

Founded in 2004 by artist Yeo Shih Yun, INSTINC is a leading artist-run institution based in Singapore. With a distinguished presence in the arts ecosystem, INSTINC diligently sustains the growth of contemporary art through exhibitions, residency programs and curations. Their esteemed Artist-in-Residence program has cultivated invaluable regional and international networks since 2009. INSTINC is celebrated for producing immersive, large-scale exhibitions that encompass installation, new media, performance, painting and sculpture, showcasing the diverse range of artistic expressions.

Notable collaborations include partnerships with renowned brands such as Volvo and Guinness, further demonstrating INSTINC's commitment to fostering cross-disciplinary exchanges. Moreover, INSTINC takes immense pride in organising the highly anticipated INSTINC D:Art Festival 2022, generously supported by UOB Bank and the NAC start fund.

INSTINC continues to foster creative individuals and collective practitioners by establishing a platform for cross-disciplinary exchanges with their relocation in Tanjong Pagar Distripark. With expertise in exhibition curation, commissioned works and brand alliances, INSTINC endeavours as a vital presence in the cultivation of contemporary art.

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