Monday 04 December, 2023

This lecture is open to the public and will be held at the ACM Ngee Ann Auditorium at 11am (SGT).

ORIGAMI: ART THROUGH ENGINEERING

"Origami" refers to the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, stemming from two Japanese words, "Oru" (to fold) and "Kami" (paper). This lecture will discuss how this art form, which largely stagnated for hundreds of years, has grown exponentially during the last century, thanks in part to the application of mathematics. Conversely, the growth of origami as an art has in turn informed and inspired many interdisciplinary applications in engineering, sparking innovations in fields as diverse as architecture, biology, robotics, and aerospace.

About the speaker:

Dr Jason Ku is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NUS. Before coming to Singapore, he served as a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, where he also received multiple degrees in Mechanical Engineering. He has been folding and designing origami for over 30 years, complementing his research which applies the tools of computational geometry and algorithms to the design of transformable folding structures. He currently advises two collegiate origami clubs, OrigaMIT & NUS Origami, and has served on the Board of Directors for OrigamiUSA since 2011.

Monday 11 December, 2023

This is an FOM member-only event. The lecture will be held on-line 11am-12 pm (SGT).  To register for the event please click here.

COLONIAL FOOTPRINTS: THE LEPO'TAU KENYAH MURALS OF THE SARAWAK MUSEUM

From 1958-1960, six Lepo’ Tau Kenyah men from Long Nawang (Kalimantan) were commissioned by the colonial curator of the Sarawak Museum, Tom Harrisson, to paint four traditional murals inside the Museum. The murals have unquestionable significance not only as a traditional  artform, but in their historicity and narratives. This talk will cover three areas of significance. Historically, they are part of several narratives including that of the Sarawak Museum during its colonial period of 1946- 1963 and are remaining evidence of the migration of Kenyah economic refugees of the Konfrontasi. Ethnographically, they contribute to the understanding of former beliefs and traditions. As museum objects, their biography holds a rich source of enquiry and inspiration, the least of which is the unique way in which the paintings were created—painted in relief.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr Louise has been living in Asia for the past 25 years starting in Shanghai, then Singapore, and now in Kuching Sarawak since 2010. She has been a member of Friends of the Museums, Singapore since 1999 and is a founding member of Friends of Sarawak Museum established in 2012. As an FoSM member, she was executive director (2012-2018) and presently is the Advisor. She has been involved in many heritage and history related programmes that promote Sarawak’s rich natural and cultural heritage. She was the only docent for the Sarawak Museum until it closed for renovation in 2018, has published in the Sarawak Museum Journal and contributes regularly to the FoSM Dayak Daily online column “Heritage Snippets from Sarawak”. She has curated and co-designed two exhibitions in Kuching: “Shattered Perspectives: Tom Harrisson’s indelible mark in history” (2015), “Berawan 1955” (2017), and managed the online exhibition under Friends of Sarawak Museum “Plant People: Unearthing Botany in Sarawak” (https://friendsofsarawakmuseum.org/beccari/exhibition/).