Kita guyah lemah
Sekali tetak tentu rebah
Segala erang dan jeritan
Kita pendam dalam keseharian
Mari tegak merentak
Diri-sekeliling kita bentak
Ini malam purnama akan menembus awan
-Chairil Anwar
22 juli 1943
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Future of Imagination 4 - excerpt from 20th century theatre essay on drama as life imagined and possibility
Vasan (Thailand)
Khai Hori (Singapore)
Kim Youn Hoan (Korea).........
What is life imagined and possibility in performance art? In terms of themes that the artist touches on, a lot of times, it is based on issues that are personal to the artist. Their actions or gestures became a medium for them to express their emotions and thoughts. It is how the artist imagined their life and society to be and not an exact reproduction of life itself.
An example of a performance artist that I believe is about life imagined and possibilities is Korean artist Kim Youn Hoan. During the recent Future of Imagination 4 (FOI) he painted a 3 metre flag that reads “ARTISTS AS WORLD PRESIDENT – KIM YOUN HOAN, Seoul Presidential Election 2007/2008”. He paraded the flag for an hour on a trishaw that brings him around from 72-13 to Chinatown. Is he playing with the idea of imagining artists as world president and the possibilities of it in the future? At the same time, he is also an activist in Korea, would this influence the way he look at the possibilities that he can be Korea’s president? Or could it be a mockery of the state of how artists are perceived as?
Another example of a performance artist is Singaporean artist Lynn Lu. For FOI 4, she set up a large tent. The audience has to queue up to know what is happening. The act of inviting audience’s curiosity - having to queue to know what is going on inside the tent. As I wanted to feed my curiosity, I queued up. What happen inside was the play of imagination and maybe creating possible friendships in the future. The interior of the tent was simple – 2 chairs were placed near each other and Lynn is seated on the one of the chairs (left). She ask me to close my eyes and she spelled words like ‘sweethearts, darling’, (sweet-nothings that your loved ones may call you) on my left palm. After that, she asked me to give her something back. The act of spelling on one’s hand with the eyes close plays with the idea of senses and sensitivity of the audience. It is intimate and the experience of each audience is different. While she is spelling the letters out, one’s thoughts may fly to imagine what she is doing and why. I feel that, that simple act is about the possibilities of how life is played thru one’s imagination, pushing the limits of realities (as normally, we may not want a stranger to touch our hand and spell out sweet nothings on our palm). The idea of trusting a stranger or someone we may not have met before.
The international performance art event that is called the Future of Imagination is itself interesting. Are the organizers (Lee Wen, Kai Lam and Khai Hori) looking at performance art as the future of imagining thoughts, dreams and desires? It is possible. The postcard itself reads; “The future is not enough”. So what does the future holds for these performance artist? Perhaps, it is the power of possibilities based on imagination.
......
An example of a performance artist that I believe is about life imagined and possibilities is Korean artist Kim Youn Hoan. During the recent Future of Imagination 4 (FOI) he painted a 3 metre flag that reads “ARTISTS AS WORLD PRESIDENT – KIM YOUN HOAN, Seoul Presidential Election 2007/2008”. He paraded the flag for an hour on a trishaw that brings him around from 72-13 to Chinatown. Is he playing with the idea of imagining artists as world president and the possibilities of it in the future? At the same time, he is also an activist in Korea, would this influence the way he look at the possibilities that he can be Korea’s president? Or could it be a mockery of the state of how artists are perceived as?
Another example of a performance artist is Singaporean artist Lynn Lu. For FOI 4, she set up a large tent. The audience has to queue up to know what is happening. The act of inviting audience’s curiosity - having to queue to know what is going on inside the tent. As I wanted to feed my curiosity, I queued up. What happen inside was the play of imagination and maybe creating possible friendships in the future. The interior of the tent was simple – 2 chairs were placed near each other and Lynn is seated on the one of the chairs (left). She ask me to close my eyes and she spelled words like ‘sweethearts, darling’, (sweet-nothings that your loved ones may call you) on my left palm. After that, she asked me to give her something back. The act of spelling on one’s hand with the eyes close plays with the idea of senses and sensitivity of the audience. It is intimate and the experience of each audience is different. While she is spelling the letters out, one’s thoughts may fly to imagine what she is doing and why. I feel that, that simple act is about the possibilities of how life is played thru one’s imagination, pushing the limits of realities (as normally, we may not want a stranger to touch our hand and spell out sweet nothings on our palm). The idea of trusting a stranger or someone we may not have met before.
The international performance art event that is called the Future of Imagination is itself interesting. Are the organizers (Lee Wen, Kai Lam and Khai Hori) looking at performance art as the future of imagining thoughts, dreams and desires? It is possible. The postcard itself reads; “The future is not enough”. So what does the future holds for these performance artist? Perhaps, it is the power of possibilities based on imagination.
......
Friday, November 2, 2007
Global- Local, Arjun Appadurai (4)
The term primordialism which means constructed originality is vital in relating to idea of globalisation and the imagination. Imagination is deemed as a social practice in which one's future can be made possible. Primordialism which consist of ethnic, religious identification and original culture may changed due to globalisation. Globalisation can be loosely translated as ideas that came from the West. This is so as the West is constructed to be more advanced than the rest of the world. So to be advanced, we have to follow the West. As one become aware of the 'dangers' of being too globalised, we protect ourselves from globalisation by primordialism. In terms of art, the artist may choose to create works to defend his constructed identity.
Orientalism is the way the West looked at the east as self and the other. How is this linked to globalisation? As artist makes artworks that are primordial, are we actually agreeing to the Western's idea of us? The term constructed originality is problematic, as who constructs this identity? Is it the West?So, the act of defending oneself against globalization, it is actually a contradiction as one is actually conforming to the how we are perceived by the West. Global recognition is thought as a stamp that says that you are the best. At the same time, to be the best in the global arts market, we have to stay primordial.Looking back at Kai Lam's performance work. There is something about his work that shows a certain Asian-ness in it. Is it in the ritual-like performance that he does? In his performance, Anthology Blues, Kai was burning joss stick/incense and playing chant-like music on a modern instrument. What does this mean to him? It is related to his race and maybe a religious symbol to him. It could be a form of adapting his understanding of the traditional in his culture and appropriating it to his urban context. The understanding of how human condition change through time and at the same time how one takes, receive and change to suit themselves.
Playing the chant-like music and combining it with the sounds from his electric guitar, Kai was trying to put together his understanding of culture and Western instrument. Is his work primordial in one sense and neo-traditional in another aspect? I would think so, and would the act of combining culture and Western idea actually be more of a destruction rather than a route to globalization?
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