The Past and Coming Melt is an exhibition by artist and archivist Koh Nguang How. Koh has developed significant influence for his itinerant archive of news clippings, print ephemera, catalogues, and artist documentation spanning over nearly four decades. This is matched by a remarkable correspondence, with his recollection of errata and amendments to the art historical records as manifest in museum publications and academic journals.
What is less known are Koh's performative installations and photographs that situate him as a pioneer of environmentally engaged art, a practice that draws attention to global warming and climate change. The exhibition highlights this little-written aspect of Koh's practice, arguing for Koh’s crucial, early artistic position on some of the most pressing environmental crises of our day. The exhibition includes archival and new recreations of previously destroyed or unavailable work and material.