Reading the NUS Museum and Baba House

“…I think it’s also strange that we tend to think of publications as sort of secondary materials. Particularly in the context of an exhibition catalogue, there’s the usual idea that the publication merely functions as an index to the exhibition (like Adam’s rib, perhaps?) This is strange because a publication typically outlasts the duration of any exhibition, one month, three months, a year, and what have you – such that our only way of ever accessing the exhibitions are through the publications themselves. In such a setting, I’m no longer sure if the publications are to be read merely as secondary documents or as controlling texts themselves. Paratexts that we would have to read and go through in order to have any sort of access to the exhibitions.” (Kenneth Tay, CONCRETE ISLAND, p. 7)

The NUS Museum and Baba House carry a strong selection of over thirty publications. Each has direct connection with and complement the four permanent collections and temporary exhibitions that have been held at both the Museum and Baba House over the years. These publications have been presented as either iterations of, or readers to complement and depart tangentially from exhibitions revolving around themes of art history, curatorial practices and methods, social, political and economic environments, and artists, their work and practices. They also often feature a wide variety of voices that intersect with the Museum, such as artists, curators, students, academics and many others, tracing their thoughts, analyses, responses and contributions. Most importantly, these publications serve as literary reads for enjoyment, as much as for discovering and learning new perspectives.

The publications, like the various lectures and talks, temporary exhibitions, film screenings, excursions and outreach initiatives, generate deeper insights into the collections and exhibitions,  and create opportunities for students, the academia, and the wider community beyond NUS to further discussions and learn about how our heritage carries strong influence to our development today.

We invite you to view the full selection of our publications here. Unfortunately, purchase of these books is temporarily suspended and will only resume when the Museum reopens to the public, where purchases can be made directly at the NUS Museum or have them mailed over by contacting museum@nus.edu.sg. In the meantime, you can take a look at some of our online material such as the ‘exhibition catalogues’ which are appended in each exhibition listing’s page found at https://museum.nus.edu.sg/whats-on/.