About

I received my PhD from the Cultural Studies Graduate Group in the University of California, Davis, with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory.

My dissertation project, titled “Models of Growth: Imagining Complexity in Sustaining the Urban”, analyses the aesthetics, epistemologies and ideologies of the global sustainable city in the context of global ecological risk. I trace the development of the notion of city as a metabolic laboratory from 1960s onwards in articulations of the city as an organism that are seen in urban design theories, spaces and practices to do with emergent urban forms such as the ‘smart city’, ‘eco-city’ and the ‘future city.’

My broader research interests include critical conceptions of the urban and urban space, architectural and design history and culture, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and history of technology, critical theory, cultural politics, visual culture and aesthetics. I was a member of the Global Cities and STS research clusters during my Masters in Literary Studies in the National University of Singapore (supervised by Professor Ryan Bishop). At UC Davis, I was affiliated with the STS program, the Militarization, Policing, and Security Studies working group,  and the Reimagining Indian Ocean Worlds Research Cluster.

A member of the Singapore chapter of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), I have collaborated on projects such as The Venice Biennale Ideological Guide 2013 and have contributed to publications such as Reflect/Refract: Essays on Photography in Singapore and CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS+CULTURE Broadsheet.