LOCATING SUBCULTURE : TRANSITIONAL SPACE FOR SUBCULTURE AND MARGINALIZED ARTISTS

Abstract

This thesis strives to provide a home for marginalized artists and subcultural groups. The National Arts Council (NAC) provides funding and housing for artists but there are strict criterias that need to be met. Certain art forms tend to be easily embraced, provided for and thus represented but just like the stratification of society, some are marginalized. These artists find it almost impossible to receive funding and space from the NAC, and risk being unrepresented and unrecognized. Existing at the periphery of societal norm and acceptance, there is a need to provide an appropriate and distinctive space for these marginalized practices in the urban condition. The space is seen to be deviation from the institutionalized art centers found in the city centre. It strives towards a less deterministic end condition and presents a transgression to the way art is being presented and made. The proposed site is an industrial estate in a transitional state that is awaiting new development. Reflecting the transient nature of youth subcultural practices and the transitional status of the site, the space is designed to be temporary and flexible. It is meant to be dismountable, easily transported and erected in another industrial estate when the site is to be redeveloped.