About Critical Craft Collective

Founded by Adeline Kueh & Hazel Lim in 2021, the Critical Craft Collective is an initiative that seeks to examine at the relationship of craft in the 21st century at the intersections of contemporary art, design and technology. The impetus for this collective is precipitated by the pandemic and our relationship to the home (and the activities around it) as a site of radical domesticity.

  • Adeline Kueh


    Adeline Kueh makes installations and socially embodied works that reconsider the relationship we have  with things and rituals around us. Using drawing as a conceptual tool, Adeline looks to cartographies, craft  and oral tradition to map out the historical trajectories across time and space through her use of found  objects and new productions. As a co-founder of the Critical Craft Collective (Singapore) and the pan Borneo Serumpun Collective, the centrality of craft in contemporary practice as well as the politics of care  are the core focus in her research practice.  

    Presently a Senior Lecturer with the MA Fine Arts programme at LASALLE College of the Arts, Adeline has  exhibited internationally. She was involved in the World Architecture Festival (2016-7), Hermes Singapore  (2016), Venice Biennale (2019), and Singapore Tyler Print Institute’s Visiting Artists Programme (VAP)  Residency (2021). In 2023, she was involved in NTU CCA IdeasFest 2023: Eat. Secure. Sustain, and Asia  NOW Paris. In January 2024, Adeline was involved in The Fabulous Stories to Save the Green Planet, 2024  Cultural Olympics Exhibition Programme, Gangwon Cultural Heritage Exchange Exhibition, Gyeongpo  Beach, South Korea.  

    Since 2001, Adeline has been the driving force in advocating interdisciplinary rigour in contemporary  research practice in both postgraduate and undergraduate studies in the McNally School of Fine Arts at the  college. She was instrumental in developing curricula that were sensitive to art history, theory and studio  practice for the validation processes for Open University, and Goldsmiths. She has held many portfolios  including being the Programme Leader/Director of Studies for Art Theory and Art History (2000 – 2004) and  Programme Coordinator for MA Art History (2006-2008). She has been actively supervising a significant  number of postgraduate dissertations and research practice including luminaries in the contemporary  Singapore arts, design and media scene including a Cultural Medallion winner, Designer of the Year winner  and President’s Young Talent Award winners. Adeline has co-curated graduation showcases for the MA Fine  Arts programme and has spearheaded Open Studios, industry and outreach projects with the alumni  community of the college in Singapore and beyond. 

    Adeline is also a 2024-2026 Ewha Global Fellow (EGF) with Ewha Womans University, South Korea.

  • Hazel Lim


    Hazel Lim is a visual artist with a background in painting and employs text, crafting methods and drawings  to articulate her interests in the production of narratives, notions of displacement, construction of histories  and imaginary landscapes. Her research inquiries delve into aspects of painting and utilise text, paper folding  and sometimes include participation with audiences. In her current research on the Aesthetics of Care and  through her involvement in developing the Craft Council of Singapore, Hazel is employing crafting techniques  such as needlework and paper craft to investigate the utility of diagrams, image making and colour theory,  whilst at the same time, interrogating the relationship of craft to the domestic and feminine. 

    Hazel currently leads the BA(Hons) programme in the McNally School of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the  Arts and has taken part extensively in exhibitions showcased regionally and internationally. Hazel was an  Associate Artist with Substation, Singapore from 2004-2012 and is one of the artists commissioned for  Singapore Biennale 2013/2014 with the work entitled A Botanical and Wildlife Survey at the Singapore  Peranakan Museum. She collaborated with her partner, Andreas Schlegel on a commissioned installation  work, The Oort Cloud and the Blue Mountain for The Children Biennale 2019 in The National Gallery of  Singapore, the Kinderbiënnale 2021/2022 at Groninger Museum, Netherlands and Staatliche  Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany. More recently, Singapore Art Museum commissioned the Oort Cloud  and the Blue Mountain for the new Tanjong Pagar Distripark where it will be installed till end 2024.  

    As the co-founder of the Critical Craft Collective together with artist Adeline Kueh, they have been involved in  exhibition-making and curatorial work of craft-related projects such as the story of calico, Between the  Covers of our Daydreams , XOX-Creative intersections at Funan as well as n o o n (at play) - A Public Art  Trust project at Punggol Waterway.

Our Research

This initiative seeks to examine/relook at the relationship of craft in the 21st century at the intersections of fine arts/contemporary art practice and technology. The impetus for this project is precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and our relationship to the home (and the activities around it) as a site of radical domesticity. 

Citing historical trajectories of these communal practices, the Critical Craft Collective (CCC) will also foreground elements of storytelling that are embedded in the process of making. The CCC is focused on highlighting different ideals and reimagining notions of nurturing and care away from traditional (gendered)norms. As a forward-facing entity that enables a range of partnerships, collaborations, and curatorial projects to take place, the Critical Craft Collective aims to be the Craft Council of Singapore in the  near future—one that will further expand dialogues and conversations at the intersections of craft, design, and contemporary art practices, and to connect with other craft councils and collectives around the world. 

We subscribe fully to Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s notion of “speaking nearby”: “a speaking that does not objectify, does not point to an object as if it is distant from the speaking subject or absent from the speaking place. A speaking that reflects on itself and can come very close to a subject without, however, seizing or claiming it.”

Research approaches for gathering data for this project will include: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), postcolonial/decolonial approaches, fieldwork & participant observation, interviews, critical/collective thinking & dialogues. 

Citing historical trajectories of these communal practices, the collective will foreground elements of storytelling that are embedded in the process of making. Different ideals and reimagining notions of nurturing and care away from traditional (gendered) norms will also be considered in light of our present daily realities and the ecological turn. The later part of the research will work towards development, planning of projects and fundraising for exhibition components for the sustainability of the council. 

The Critical Craft Collective is currently exploring research trends and future developments around “craft” and the ensuing problematics in a cross-disciplinary manner.

Our position is one that seeks to remember and to resist forgetting, therefore the ‘craft’ that we are interested in are grounded on materiality and making, as well as expanding the definitions and notions of craft and what it may entail in the contemporary contexts. 

With a 3-prong approach, we intend to facilitate research via the concept of a lab for the first 2 years. Our research objectives include: 

  1. Expanding elements of the haptic, analogue & digital with a focus on craft research practice/making and supporting the various traditional and modern technologies associated with craft.

  2. Public outreach, education and awareness—to enable conversations and discourses on craft, and thus providing more access & empowerment to the communities involved. 

  3. Networking and collaborative exchanges with other makers by researching, examining other forms of making, and preserving and expanding knowledge systems