After much anticipation, Art Outreach is proud to announce that the IMPART Art Prize 2023 has been awarded to artists Kent Chan and Jon Chan, and curator John Tung. Organised by Art Outreach, the IMPART Art Prize aims to support the professional development of emerging artists and curators by providing impactful career building opportunities, while building awareness and appreciation of Singapore art and practitioners.

Kent Chan (b. 1984, Singapore) is an artist, curator and filmmaker based in the Netherlands and Singapore. His practice is porous in form, content and context, and revolves around how we encounter art, fiction and cinema. He holds particular interest in the tropical imaginary, past and future relationships between heat and art, and the legacies of modernity. The works and practices of others often form the locus of his projects, which have taken the form of film, text, conversations, and exhibitions. He is a current resident at Medialab Matadero in Spain (2023) and was a former resident of Gasworks (2022), Jan van Eyck Academie (2019/20), NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (2017/18) and Rupert’s Residency Program (2015).

His works and films have been exhibited internationally, and are collected in the Rijkscollectie, Netherlands and Bonnefanten Museum. He is the 2021 winner of the Foundwork Artist Prize. He holds a BA (Hons) in Film from LASALLE College of the Arts, and an MA in Fine Arts from the Sandberg Institute in the Netherlands. Chan previously received an Honourable Mention for the IMPART Art Prize 2022, and the Jury applauded his achievements in continuing to develop a refreshing body of work with significant socio-cultural discourse and strong aesthetic vision.

Since introducing the Prize in 2017, Art Outreach has sustained it annually through fundraising efforts, supporting 15 winners over the past 5 editions. The 2023 edition, which was the 6th, marked the first deliberation without former Jury Chair, the late Tan Boon Hui’s presence, whose visionary leadership and expertise were critical to the success of the Prize. In honour of his legacy, the prize for curators was renamed the Tan Boon Hui Curatorial Prize, with curator John Tung as its inaugural recipient.

A new addition to the long-standing Jury was Dr Adele Tan, Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore, whose research interests include modern and contemporary art in Southeast Asia, performative practices, photography and new media, signalling the Prize’s continued commitment to supporting inter and multidisciplinary practices.

For the first time, Art Outreach will also be presenting an IMPART Art Prize Winner’s Showcase, a public exhibition of works by the winners Kent Chan and Jon Chan, and curated by John Tung. The exhibition will be open daily from 18 – 26 February 2023, 11am to 7pm, at Art Outreach’s new premises in Gillman Barracks, located at 5 Lock Road, #01-06. Admission is free.