Founded in 2008, RCGNTN was an online platform created to spotlight Singapore-based creatives across art, music, design, fashion and other creative disciplines. It emerged from a simple observation: at a time when Singaporeans frequently looked overseas for cultural and creative talent, the work being produced locally was often overlooked. Within the local creative community, there was also a growing frustration that attention remained concentrated around a limited number of familiar names, leaving many others without meaningful visibility.

RCGNTN was created as a response to this condition. From its inception, the platform was committed to featuring 100% Singapore-based content. At a time when Singapore's small size was often seen as a limitation (raising questions about whether there would be enough local work to sustain such a platform) this restriction became central to its purpose. The platform sought to demonstrate the breadth of creative activity already taking place within Singapore.

Its decision to bring together art, music, design, fashion and other disciplines was equally deliberate. By placing different creative communities alongside one another, RCGNTN created opportunities for audiences to encounter practices outside their own fields, with the hope that greater visibility and exchange might lead to new collaborations.

Over the years, the platform developed beyond online publishing. Through interviews, features and documentation, it became an ongoing record of Singapore's creative community and an attempt to understand the social and cultural conditions in which it operated. RCGNTN also organised street parties, curated exhibitions, connected brands with creatives and developed its own merchandise, while maintaining its commitment to presenting only Singapore-based content.

The experience of building and sustaining the platform became an education in Singapore's creative and socio-political landscape. Conversations with artists, designers, musicians and other practitioners revealed the structural conditions affecting the creative community, and raised questions about recognition, access, visibility and cultural value.

These observations eventually led to the creation of XIV: the more confrontational and proactive counterpart to RCGNTN. Where RCGNTN sought to recognise and connect the existing creative landscape, XIV sought to intervene in the conditions shaping it. Together, these platforms marked the beginning of a practice that would move between cultural production, public engagement and artistic investigation- and ultimately led to the development of my career as an artist.