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DOKYU
DOKYU is a series of collaborative workshops and conversations that seeks to reconsider the notion of document. Bringing together the practice of three artists, three historians, two writers and one curator, whose work has involved the use of historical archives, DOKYU attempts to critically reexamine conventional practices of history and offer alternate modes of writing about the past. It seeks to create a space of making, a way of writing, that cuts across the disciplinary boundaries of history, creative writing, and art.
There are four stages to DOCUMENT:
Sandbox (January 2021- June 2021)
In this stage, the 3 artists, 3 writers, and 3 historians gather and correspond online to introduce their work and begin collaborating. Pairings and trios of collaborative members were arranged in playful groupings where cross-pollination of ideas in progres occurred monthly. Results of these conversations and presentations were documented and shared via this website launched to the public in July 2021.
Workshop (July 2021-December 2022)
This stage stimulated ongoing collaborations between the 9 artists, writers, and historians with conversations that question "documents" through intersecting methodologies. Continued online meetings occurred bimonthly for a period of one year supplemented with in person gatherings in Singapore to facilitate and organize interdisciplinary collaborations. Participants gathered regularly for intensive workshops, presentations and creation of overlapping ideas with DOKYU. Participants shared works in progress, received feedback from the group, and began preparation for collaborative writing and artworks in the form of book and exhibition proposals.
Birthing (January 2023 – December 2023)
To share publicly the constellations in an exhibition of artworks, visual texts and creative documents to birth preliminary contents related to the anthology for wider audiences. This includes roundtable public talks in Singapore and Japan to discuss the collective work process of DOKYU as spaces to reflect upon this collaborative project with an expanded community of practitioners. Publication preparations will continue in correspondence with editorial work to prepare for the next stage of the project.
Bibliofilia (January 2024 – December 2025)
This stage is dedicated to the completion of new works by all members for the publication of the anthology with new collaborative works by all members. This involves an editing phase, final feedback on the work by organizers and submission of the book contents with all permissions, copyediting and proofing aiming for the book to be made available to the public by the end of 2025.
There are four stages to DOCUMENT:
Sandbox (January 2021- June 2021)
In this stage, the 3 artists, 3 writers, and 3 historians gather and correspond online to introduce their work and begin collaborating. Pairings and trios of collaborative members were arranged in playful groupings where cross-pollination of ideas in progres occurred monthly. Results of these conversations and presentations were documented and shared via this website launched to the public in July 2021.
Workshop (July 2021-December 2022)
This stage stimulated ongoing collaborations between the 9 artists, writers, and historians with conversations that question "documents" through intersecting methodologies. Continued online meetings occurred bimonthly for a period of one year supplemented with in person gatherings in Singapore to facilitate and organize interdisciplinary collaborations. Participants gathered regularly for intensive workshops, presentations and creation of overlapping ideas with DOKYU. Participants shared works in progress, received feedback from the group, and began preparation for collaborative writing and artworks in the form of book and exhibition proposals.
Birthing (January 2023 – December 2023)
To share publicly the constellations in an exhibition of artworks, visual texts and creative documents to birth preliminary contents related to the anthology for wider audiences. This includes roundtable public talks in Singapore and Japan to discuss the collective work process of DOKYU as spaces to reflect upon this collaborative project with an expanded community of practitioners. Publication preparations will continue in correspondence with editorial work to prepare for the next stage of the project.
Bibliofilia (January 2024 – December 2025)
This stage is dedicated to the completion of new works by all members for the publication of the anthology with new collaborative works by all members. This involves an editing phase, final feedback on the work by organizers and submission of the book contents with all permissions, copyediting and proofing aiming for the book to be made available to the public by the end of 2025.
"There is this idea of staging."
"I wonder how much of that is true interest or if it’s because you work with archives."
"It looks so tenuous, the way it is set-up."
"I feel detached, like what you said. He’s the one with his eyes closed."
"I think of the incredible labour it takes to stage the military as totally secure but also benign towards people it’s not at war with."
"I am interested in how artists look at how stories are being recalled."
"I’m trying to document people’s lives that have gone undocumented in textual form."
"The name of the plant becomes a document."
"It seems like the Malays are the focal element in the Garden’s history."
