Staff, Lecturers & Guest Speakers


Staff


Lecturers


Guest Speakers - Talks & Workshops 2004-2005
Gradimir Aleksic
Head, Academics

Mr Gradimir Aleksic acquired his BA from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade. He started his career in Media in 1978 and was active in Media Art industry. Mr Aleksics experience ranged from electronic media, photography, advertising to experimental art projects.

With two others, Mr Aleksic founded The End Media group in the mid eighties. This group focused on experimental electronic imaging and multimedia. The End Media groups premiere at Bohn Videonale in 1986 with six video projects was regarded by Italian ZOOM magazine as the "multimedia centre of Belgrade". The group participated in and contributed to major video art events.

Within The End Media, Mr Aleksic founded The End Band, a musical division which experimented with a variety of correlations between the aesthetics of video image and sound. They produced four albums of music (W.C.H., Children of the R., The Worse of... and O' Wari). The End Band experimented with cable TV and the application of new technologies for Art for TV.

Besides electronic media, Mr Aleksic had a special interest for photography. He exhibited in Europe and the US as well as published a monography W.C.H. as a component of a wider media project using the same title. Mr Aleksics artistic focus in photography was straight photography and portraits of artists. He photographed celebrities such as Sir Elton John, Tina Turner, Marc Knopfler, Nico, John Mayall, Stephane Grapelli, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Iggy Pop, Joe Cocker, Peter Green, Eric Burdon, Max Bill, David Cooper to name a few.

Mr Aleksic contributed a number of essays and articles on art, design and media on Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, Victor Macarol, Robert Frank, Milton Glazer, Ko Nakajima, Bill Viola, Andy Warhol... Mr Aleksic also interviewed film directors and actors such as
Stephen Frears, Aki Kaurismaki, Uri Barbash, Jeannine Meerapfel, Barbara Sukowa and musicians Muddy Waters, Dizzy Gilespie, B.B.King, Dave Brubeck, John McLaughlin, Joan Armatrading, Paco de Lucia, George Duke

In 1993 Mr Aleksic founded Luna Park studio with animator Nenad Vitomirac. The Studio produced numerous video clips, 2D and 3D computer graphic animated works as well as music and experimental electro, Belgrade's Int'l Festival, Editor of SKRIPT film Magazine and Editor of NON Magazine and POLET weekly.

Mr Aleksic is one of the twenty five founding members of LED ART, anti-war artistic movement in former Yugoslavia and contributed to the introductory article for the photo book Walking on the Spot (ninety days of civil protest in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1996).

In Singapore, Mr Aleksic was Media producer at Nanyang Polytechnic (Educational Development Department) and lecturer and coordinator at School of Multimedia Art at LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, teaching in both the Diploma and Degree programmes. Mr Aleksic was also the video producer for the development of computer based training for the Nanyang Polytechnic - School of Health Sciences.

At Orita.Sinclair-School of Art and New Media, Mr. Gradimir Aleksic is the lecturer for Moving Image Video - Concept studies, Integrated Media Project Development, Perceptive skills and History of Electronic Art.

"..In order to highlight the highest value of photos of Grada Aleksic it is not enough only to say that he is the author who is seriously treating serious problems...He possesses the adequate dose of objectivity and preciseness as well as belonging to the contemporary recent art according to the typically nurtured and sensitive observation of the meaning of the photographed scene. Finally, the inscription on the photographic material, resulted with the atmosphere of exciting and active creative presence..."
Jovan Despotovic, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade

" ...Grada Aleksic quietly observes the world quietly from the Belgrades Boulevard. From time to time he takes out his camera and overrules the space with his equipment. He admires in moderation, in fragments...He does not shoot unnecessarily, sometimes he does not shoot at all. Piece by piece he puts together the mosaic of Labacuum. The dire strait promise, an epilogue..."
Branka Krilovic, Radio Belgrade

" ...Mr Gradimir Aleksic has exhibited widely in Yugoslavia, Austria, Great Britain...he frequently contributes critical essays on art and aesthetics. A multi-talented artist, Aleksic`s interest and involvement with the arts is complex, ranging from visual arts and literature to music... "
Bits & Pcs, New Jersey

" ...In a silent and dramatic way, using the language of genuine straight photography Aleksic sharply focuses not only on one event but wider social turbulence..."
Slavko Timotijevic, Happy Gallery, SKC Belgrade

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Stephanie Choo
Course Coordinator

Ms Stephanie Choo was educated at Aiglon College, Chesieres-Villars, Switzerland. She acquired her BA from the University of San Diego, California, USA and MSc in Visual Communication from Pratt Institute, New York, USA. Ms Choo's professional practice includes Baldi, Bloom and Whelan, New York, USA and PICO Art International, Singapore.

In 1996, encouraged by late brother Joseph McNelly, Ms Choo acquired a grant of S$997,000 from the National Computer Board for the establishment of the Department of Multimedia Art at LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts. One year later the Department became the School of Multimedia Art with Ms Choo as Head. Ms Choo was involved in the School's development of its curriculum, offering a Diploma in Video Art, Animation Art and Interactive Art, BA and MA in Multimedia Art (in collaboration with the Birmingham Institute of Design at the University of Central England).

In 2002, Ms Choo co-founded, Orita•Sinclair - School of Art & New Media and co-developed the courses for the Diploma in New Media Art, Diploma in Design Communication and Advanced Diploma in New Media Art.

From September 2005 - April 2008, Ms Choo was Course Manager for Diploma in Moving Images at Temasek Polytechnic, Temasek Design School.

Ms Choo has been involved in Art and Design Education for more than sixteen years and has been involved in various committees such as Forum on Creativity in Arts, Science and Technology, National Arts Councils New Media Arts Fund Committee, Siggraph Singapore Chapter Advisory Committee. Ms Choo is 2008 Co-Chair, Art Gallery for Siggraph Asia.

Ms Choo is the Course Coordinator at Orita•Sinclair - School of Art & New Media.

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Nur-Azna Sanusi
Academic Officer

A graduate from LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts, Azna, has been serving mainstream television as Video Editor since attaining a Diploma in Multimedia Art 2004.

Azna’s most current projects include 2 fast-paced reality programs under the local Malay language TV Network Suria, catering to improving the lives of local youths. She has also contributed to the regional market with trailers edited for the colourful Asian Food Channel which has been broadcasted in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore for more than just pleasant viewing.

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Ms Maya Vidanovik graduated in Fine Arts at the Univeristy of St. Cyril and Methodius, Macedonia. As a practising artist she exhibited in Macedonia Greece, Poland, France and Portugal.

Ms Vidanovik is an experienced artist with expertise in graphic design, drawing, painting and printmaking.

As a lecturer at Orita-Sinclair - School of Art and New Media, Ms Vidanovik is involved with teaching drawing and painting.

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Ms Elke Eskes Frey acquired her MBA from the University of Marseille, France. Her advertising and Public Relations portfolio comprises employers such as Leo Burnett , DMB&B, and Bozell Worldwide and clients such as Phillp Morris, Kellogg's, BASF, Barbados Tourism Authority, Clairol, Hilton, Davidoff, CNBC, Subway, NEC, Prudential and PSA amongst others.

At Orita.Sinclair - School of Art and New Media, Ms Eskes Frey is involved in teaching Creative Presentation Techniques .

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Ms Milica Bravacic studied at the Academy of Applied Arts and Academy of Fine Arts and has a MA in Visual Arts from Belgrade`s University of Arts.
As a painter Ms Bravacic exhibited throughout Europe and her works are in many private collections in Europe and United States. For her fourth solo exhibition, she was invited by Jose Sommer Ribeiro, Director, Modern Art Center, Foundation Gulbenkian, Lisabon, Portugal.

Ms Bravacic artistic work covers various areas from painting to fashion design. She exhibited her art in Belgrade, Rijeka, Dubrovnik, Venice and Lisbon among others. Ms Bravacic contributed to stage costume design for theatre performances (Evil Spirits, Dostoyevsky) and ran her own successful line of children fashion and household accessories. Ms Bravacic was also commissioned by Mothercare & Ikea.

In the areas of Theory and Research, Ms Bravacic focused her work on a number of essays such as "Russian Avantguard Movement 1917-1930" (1982), "Enclosed by the City Walls' (Baroque in Dubrovnik,1985), Art Management,(1998), "Modern Times-concise on western Modern Art",1999, critics and rewiews...
As an educator, Ms Milica Bravacic taught Western Art History at NAFA and Western and Asian Art History, Design and Society, History of Fashion, Drawing and Visual Thinking at LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts. Ms Bravacic also taught Art and Design at Chatsworth Int'l School.

In Orita.Sinclair-School of Art and New Media, Ms Milica Bravacic teaches Fine Art courses/subjects.

When I visited a modest studio in which Milica Bravacic had created her paintings about a year ago, I was interested in her way of presenting Portuguese themes.

I believe that it is of great interest how she has treated themes such as "feiras", "azulejo" and Portuguese architecture. At the same time Milica's sojourn in Portugal has not deprived her from the Mediterranean touch in her work...
Exc.Jose Ribeiro Sommer,director of the Galleries of Modern art of the Gulbenkian Foundation

With her 19 pieces exhibited in the Goulbenkian Foundation, M. Bravacic displays a colorful vision of Lisbon, abundant with imagination,through which anxiety and humour have been interlaced.

Painting procedure in the work of M.Bravacic has been developed through the superimposition of various pictorial layers, in an interplay of the transparent versus opaque pictorial effects.
Chake Matossian, curator-critic, Goulbenkian Foundation / Diario de Noticias, Lisboa

Milica is a sensitive traveler through centuries which have been reflected in the beautiful ambiance of Dubrovnik, her hometown. In her canvases she constructs pictorial stories using various planes and dimensions of existing artifacts: a shape of the Romanesque window has borrowed the format to her paintings; the ideal geometrical order of the city streets she turns into abstract structures of philosophical meaning.

St. Blaise, a patron of the city, has been positioned highly on the city walls in order to protect it's citizens-his invisible presence over this famous medieval town has turned into a symbol of higher order, and his raised arm worshipped as a relic.

Milica evokes other symbols of the city, it's Renaissance and Baroque sculptures and edifices and gives them a contemporary dynamics and vitality .
Dr. Irina Subotic, Head curator- art historian , National Museum, Belgrade

 

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Mr Justin Lee received his education from the Conventry University Centre of Performing Arts in the UK. He also received his teaching certification in English from the English Language Centre, London and English Theatre Certificate from the Job Force theatre Workshop.

Mr Lee's experience covers supervising and training in Speech and Drama as well as writing and directing for film, television and theatre. Mr Lee was also the co-founder and artistic director of 'Who Are You?' Theatre-in-Education Co, Isle of Wight, UK.

As a lecturer at Orita-Sinclair - School of Art and New Media, Mr Lee is involved with Creative Writing.

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Mr Wong Ming Roong graduated from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. He acquired his MA in Interactive Multimedia from the Royal College of Art, London, UK (European programme), a MA in Image Synthesis & Computer Animation from the Universitat de Illes Balears, Palma, Spain and the Centre de Bande Dessine et de LImage, France.

Mr Wongs strong industry portfolio stretches from market planning for Texas Instruments (AP Division) to Consultant for AT&T Labs NJ,USA, until he founded his own company, PIX@L PACIFIC Pte Ltd. His company specializes in the development of multimedia content in education, linguistics and commercials.

Besides being active in industrial practice, Mr Wong has been lecturing part-time in the School of Multimedia Arts, LASALLE-SIA College of Arts (Diploma and BA Programmes),Temasek Polytechnic (Specialist Diploma Programme) and the London Institute, UK (Marketing MA Programme).

At Orita.Sinclair-School of Art and New Media, Mr Wong Ming Roong teaches Interactive Media courses/subjects.

 

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Mr Stephen Ong is a graduate from the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, University of Central England, where he earned first class honours for his BA in Multimedia Art.

Mr Ong's industry experience as multimedia designer and systems engineer has provided him with a strong background in multimedia technology. This would include knowledge of several applications as well as networking and systems administration.

At Orita.Sinclair-School of Art and New Media, Mr Ong teaches Video editing.

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Ms Chen Kunyi is a graduate from Kingston University, UK where she earned her BA and MA in illustration. She is also a graduate from the Royal College of Art, UK and received a MA in Animation.

Besides teaching, Ms Chen has been very active in industry as director, animator and illustrator. She has also been involved with various TV commercials and short films (UK & Singapore) which were featured in several international film festivals.

Ms Chen has also exhibited several of her works in the UK and Singapore.

At Orita.Sinclair-School of Art and New Media, Ms Chen teaches Classical Animation.

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Mr Martin Yeoh attended Columbia College, USA and the Vancouver Film School, Canada.

Mr Yeoh has been actively involved with animation productions and is well versed in Computer Graphics Animation applications. Mr Yeoh continues to work on animation features with Southern Star, Singapore.

At Orita.Sinclair-School of Art and New Media, Mr Yeoh teaches Computer Graphics Animation and Storyboarding. .

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Dehumo Bickersteth's experience in digital media production spans the audio/visual field with production credits from personal and contract-based projects. Dehumo has been involved in sound and music production since the early age of 12. He has worked with choirs and music teams in Africa, the UK and Singapore.

Since 1992, Dehumo has been involved in training and developing music production skills using technology first with various organizations and more recently with schools in Singapore, India, Thailand and Nigeria. In 2005 he decided to focus providing consultancy services in the Creative Digital Media Technology (CDMT) course development and training design with schools in as far away as the UK and Africa.

At Orita.Sinclair School of Art and new Media Dehumo is involved as an Electrosonic and Creative Audio Studies lecturer.



Zul Mahmod majored in sculpture at Singapore's LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, graduating 1997. He is an associate artist with The Substation, Singapore and one of the figureheads in the group of emerging Singaporean contemporary artists. He has exhibited locally and internationally: Thailand, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Norway and Finland, where he completed artist-in-residence programmes in 2001 and 2004 respectively. His "Stilt" series forms part of The Swissotel Stamford Singapore’s permanent art collection.

Zul’s work is multi-disciplinary, ranging across sound, installation, drawing and sculpture. Each form is inspired and conceived in relation to objects in space. Formally trained in sculpture, he has continued to build and expand his practice over the last three years to include sculpted sound and live sound performances. Sculpted sound is built through the manipulation and reconfiguration of readymade and found materials in different contexts, revealing new properties, meanings and connections. The emphasis is on interpersonal relations – including collaborations – audience interaction, and the use of intimate methods of presentation.

In 2004, Zul formed Pink Ark, an art collective working in the realm of experimental sound, together with fellow artist Kai Lam. Pink Ark has appeared in several live performances (spatial installations that often collaborate with other practitioners – sound artists, dancers, singers and video artists), and also produced a music album. Pink Ark also organized the first 24hr sound art festival in Singapore.

In 2005 Zul produced the industrial-inspired soundtrack for a fashion presentation in collaboration with the Antoni Tapies exhibition, at the Singapore Art Museum, and conceptualised a series of 5 sound performances titled “False Securities”, using binaural field recordings and digitally enhanced sounds. Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore, also features the artist in the book Singapore Contemporary Artists.

Zul is one of the outstanding artist representing Singapore at 2007 Venice Biennale.

At Orita.Sinclair Zul is involved as Electrosonics and Creative Audio Studies lecturer.

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