Diary of an NUS Museum Intern is a series of blog posts written by our interns about their experiences during the course of their internships. Working alongside their mentors, our interns have waded through tons of historical research, assisted in curatorial work, pitched in during exhibition installations and organised outreach events! If you would like to become our next intern, visit NUS Museum’s student development page for more information.

Sin Melia is a third-year Sociology major and Southeast Asian minor at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Working as an Exhibitions Interns for the South & Southeast Asian Collection, Melia was involved in the curatorial processes of the on-going exhibition another diorama.

The shock I experienced when I was informed that I had been accepted into this programme was quickly followed by anxieties of what exactly this internship would entail. Of course, having applied for the program, I, like many of my fellow interns (and I’m sure many before us), began with an interest in art, curation, and just the preservation of heritage in general. However, this interest can manifest in many different ways―as I’ve learned during the course of this internship.

Our batch of interns was lucky enough to enter this programme during a rather exciting period of time in the international museum community. As the International Council of Museums (ICOM) had recently postponed their vote on a new museum definition, we took the opportunity to critically evaluate the current and proposed definitions. This discourse was supplemented by field trips to institutions such as the NUS Baba House, Golden Mile Complex, the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Singapore Science Centre (and accompanied by relevant readings). From these field trips emerged dynamic conversations about how we could go about conceptualising these institutions―institutions that for so long have simply been passive receptacles of artefacts and art.

Naturally, these conversations and excursions got me thinking about what a museum was supposed to be―based on the definition (current or proposed), what would the ideal museum look like? Could there ever be such thing? If not, why bother with a museum definition at all?

Personally, I was struck by a phrase from an article by Alfonse Chiu: “the negotiation of remembrance”. The idea that the act of preserving, of safeguarding―of remembering―is, in itself, a process and we have to treat it as such. With that being said, I think the proposed museum definition is correct in bringing specific attention to the “polyphonic” nature of our social world. Furthermore, we have established that museums have and should make a conscious move away from traditional museological conventions―specifically the imperialistic practices that promote passive transmission of knowledge and intellectual dominion.

The official internship period ended with a final workshop where we came together to properly consolidate our thoughts and perspectives. Here, we were able to further probe the role and contributions of museums in contemporary society as well as the values that should be reflected in the new museum definition moving forward. Needless to say, the workshop ended on a pretty open-ended note, but with the consensus that further discourse had to continue in some way, shape or form in order to ensure that we can eventually get closer to a museum definition that more appropriately encapsulates modern-day goals of heritage conservation and narrative building.

During my time at the museum, I was given a variety of tasks that all revolved around the Coordinates Project by Shanghainese artist Hu Yun titled another diorama. The first of these tasks was to put together an exhibition kit, where I consolidated all the materials related to the exhibition, which required me to compose the artist biographies for both Shui Tit Sing and Hu Yun. This relatively straightforward task was followed by a meeting with Sidd, my supervisor, where she gave me prompts and potential research areas to look into with regards to dioramas, Shui Tit Sing, and Hu Yun. I was then given a week to consolidate my research and present my findings to her. This is Sidd’s way of teaching―providing us with a selection of material and leaving it to us to decide what to do with that information. “Tell me what interests you,” she said. “If nothing about dioramas interests you, that’s perfectly fine too!”.

Little did I know, that presentation turned out to be a mere teaser to the most formidable assignment that was set for me, which came towards the end of the internship.  Sidd asked me to use what I had learnt from preparing my presentation to put together a zine for another diorama. This zine was meant to be an extension of the exhibition, allowing anyone who picked it up to engage in a more critical dialogue about the works on display and its context. I had never embarked on a project of this nature or scale before and knowing that I would be doing it largely by myself made me both extremely eager and anxious.

This apprehension led me to approach this task rather methodologically. After a few meetings with Sidd, I found that my initial ideas made it seem like I was tasked to create a textbook and not a zine! However, with Sidd’s guidance, I was able to adjust my focus and think deeper about how to probe readers meaningfully―how to moderate their contemplations rather than impose a set narrative, how to find a balance between sufficient contextual knowledge and complete digression. More than anything, I think this project has given me the first proper taste of curation as I attempt to amalgamate my research material with the appropriate intellectual intervention. My internship has been extended as I continue to tackle these issues and challenges, and I can only hope that the final product provides decent supplementary materials and prompts for future visitors to the exhibition. Fingers crossed!

I’d like to end off by expressing my immense gratitude to my mentor-supervisor, Sidd Perez for her eloquence, profound insights and patience with me throughout this internship, and to Michelle for planning out such a wonderful programme that definitely maximised our learning and reflection. Lastly, I’d like to give the biggest shout out to my fellow interns―thank you for all the lunch shenanigans, for the discourses (the academic and not-so-academic) and for an unforgettable end to the decade. Cheers!