The Art Of Intimacy

IN FRENCH, CHAMBRES D'AMIS means 'guest rooms' or more literally 'friends' rooms'. The term was coined for an exhibition concept in the late 1980s by Jan Hoet, then-director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent, Belgium, to show art in 58 houses belonging to everyday people. The idea was to take art out of the august spaces of museums and galleries, and place it in all sorts of ordinary homes. The art would then interact with lived-in space that has its own character, history and occupiers.

Art consultant Benjamin Hampe, formerly director of Chan Hampe Galleries, is taking a first step in replicating the concept with Vacancy, an art exhibition in his Chay Yan Street walk-up apartment in Tiong Bahru.

Working with Arndt Art Agency, Hampe has curated a strong selection of artists that includes Singapore's young guns Ruben Pang and Loi Cai Xiang, Indonesian maestros Eko Nugroho and Entang Wiharso, as well as the Philippines' Kawayan De Guia, Nona Garcia and Yeo Kaa - all names that lovers of South-east Asian art would recognise. He's also created a deeper aesthetics dialogue by hanging works by European and American artists such as Gerhard Richter, Man Ray and Julian Rosefeldt next to them.