Hi, I'm Yun Teng. I'm a curator, writer, and arts producer.

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With a background in contemporary art practice and art history, as well as anthropology (material and digital culture), my work explores the intersections of design, materiality, and technology. I am currently Assistant Curator (Design), at the Asian Civilisations Museum (Singapore), where I research on contemporary design practices in Asia, particularly in product and furniture design.

 

A keen alignment to the material world and embodied processes of making underlies my practice. I work closely and collaboratively with artists to develop long-term, interdisciplinary, and research-based projects, ranging from the visibility of space debris to tropical technologies. 

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Recently completing my MA in Material & Visual Culture (Anthropology) at University College London, my dissertation titled "Conjuring Forms: Digital Translations, Material ‘Truths’, and Speculative Fictions in Post-Digital Contemporary Art Practices" was awarded a Distinction. This ongoing research, exploring how contemporary artists navigate materiality in digital contexts, was grounded in fieldwork with 10 London-based artists & collectives. You can read the introduction here. I obtained my BA (Joint Honours in Fine Art & History of Art) from Goldsmiths, University of London.

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​I'm also working on a new platform, Making Material, to make available some of the writing I've done recently. On this platform, I publish essays, conversations, and reflections that unravel the ways that material objects shape—and are shaped by—the people and societies that create them. Some of my other research interests include: the cultural and social history of technology; digital infrastructures; affective modalities in contemporary art; artist-co-operatives and independent artist-run spaces in Southeast Asia; weaving and textile histories, craft practices, and critical craft discourse.

 

With an interest in alternative formats of exhibition-making and interdisciplinary collaborations, I have worked curatorially and produced across a range of cultural institutions and galleries. These include Appetite, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, Supernormal, Feelers, and Constance Howard Gallery and Goldsmiths Textile Collection London, amongst others.

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I have previously also written in a freelance capacity, specialising in exhibition reviews, artist interviews, catalogue essays, and critical pieces. With a sustained interest in writing as both a critical and processual tool, I believe writing is key in shaping cultural discourse.