2
0
0
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Collection showcases the various projects and programmes at 72-13
Performance
14 & 15 December 2007, 8pm
Tickets at $5
If history is signal, then time itself must be recognised as noise: an infinitely complex mess of data that resists interpretation.
Our project is therefore to listen to the noise of history, moments, which yield no discernible signal: the insignificant events. Herein lies a paradox.
As artists, as humans, we have a natural impulse to transmute chaos
into art.
Is our goal then to reclaim the forgotten into the field of recorded time?
Or should we resist, in our representations of insignificant events, our instinct to render them significant?
​
INTERFERENCE is about unwanted signals that disrupt or construct movements of nature. It is about the interventions of patterns in history, time, signal and noise.
INTERFERENCE explores the concept of listening to the noise of history: moments that are insignificant in our collective memory. This presentation researches our techniques of remembering and the recollections of irrelevant episodes of unrecorded history.
INTERFERENCE is a space as well as an organism. This mediated space functions as an interactive installation and a performance environment where moving bodies, electronic sounds, visual documents and light are interwoven into a constantly changing artefact of unhistorical events.
​
INTERFERENCE is done in collaboration with Grace Tan-kwodrent, Joavien Ng, Khoo Eng Tat, Lim Woan Wen, Ling Hock Siang, Mohd Fared Jainal, Ng Yi-Sheng, Patricia Toh, Torrance Goh-FARMWORK and Zulkifle Mahmod.
​
INTERFERENCE is the second of three presentations of V.I.S.T.A Lab Cycle 1.
The third presentation will be held in February 2008. There will be a Q & A session after the presentation.
V.I.S.T.A Lab Presentations
V.I.S.T.A Lab Cycle 1 is a series of 3 presentations resulting from workshop and experiments with the 10 Singapore-based artists/designers across the wide spectrum of artistic discipline. The project is based on the central theme of re-looking at historical events that escape our people's memories, seemingly deemed insignificant in our invention of a vibrant, global city. We are interested in the lapses of our recent histories and the understanding of the past to imagine the future.
V.I.S.T.A Lab 1.0: Impetus
Process-Presentation
Friday, 21 & Saturday, 22 Sep 2007
Impetus explores how insignificant events in our history are being recorded, forgotten and fabricated, focusing on the moments and impulses before they transpired. This presentation researches on the origin of data transmission and how information can be made consumable.
​
V.I.S.T.A Lab 2.0: Interference
Process-Presentation
Friday, 14 & Saturday, 15 Dec 2007
Interference explores the concept of listening to the noise of history,
moments which are insignificant to our collective memory. This
presentation researches on the technique Of remembering and the re-
collections of irrelevant episodes of unrecorded history.
V.I.S.T.A Lab 3.0: Insignificance
Final-Presentation
Thursday, 28, Friday, 29 Feb & Saturday,1 Mar 2008
Insignificance is about events that history forgets. Insignificant events commonly overlooked by historians often reflect the true character of our time, and promises of future drama. Based on the re- collections of events in Singapore from 1979 to 1991, in events that happen yet have become insignificant to our beings and becoming.
V.I.S.T.A Lab
Visual. Interactive. Sound. Text. Architecture
A laboratory for performative experiments
A multiform exploration of aesthetics, forms and possibilities
A space for artists to interact, create and present ideas
​
V.I.S.T.A Lab focuses on the experiential interactions, the potential of live performance and the interplay between image, sound and space.
V.I.S.T.A Lab employs a modular workshop structure where the diverse energies of the various artists are engaged in the same space. These incubation spaces open up at irregular intervals, inviting the public for process-presentations. The modular cells may coalesce into a full-scale multimedia production. However. the modular workshop structure encourages a continuing growth beyond any product that may arise out of these interactions. V.I.S.T.A Lab curates ten artists who work unconventionally in their realm. Each Of these artists work across disciplines, creating work that defies classification, in turn casting fresh perspectives onto conventional forms.
​
V.I.S.T.A Lab series is conceived and directed by TheatreWorks Associate Artistic Director Choy Ka Fai in collaboration with Grace Tan/kwodrent (Clothing Artist/Designer), Joavien Ng (Choreographer/Performer), Khoo Eng Tat (Interaction Engineer/Designer), Lim Hock Siang (Musician), Lim Woan Wen (Lighting Designer), Mohd Fared Jainal (Graphic Designer/Performer), Ng Yi-Sheng (Writer/Performer), Patricia Toh (Actress/Performer), Torrance Goh/FARMWORK (Space Maker) and Zulkifle Mahmod (Sound Artist).
​
From 1990, TheatreWorks has committed to its central philosophy of processes and research as the route to art. V.I.S.T.A Lab is Choy Ka Fai's second project after the successful Drift Net. Harnessing new talents in the Singapore scene, it is an indication of the curiosity of young artists and their exciting visions.
​
With support from National Arts Council, Lee Foundation, Hong Leong Foundation, 72-13, Webvisions and POWER 98FM. With additional support by Mixed Beauty Lab Singapore.
Choy Ka Fai / Grace Tan-kwodrent / Joavien Ng / Khoo Eng Tat / Lim Woan Wen / Ling Hock Siang / Mohd Fared Jainal / Ng Yi-Sheng / Patricia Toh / Torrance Goh-FARMWORK / Zulkifle Mahmod - V.I.S.T.A. (Visual. Interactive, Sound. Text. Architecture.) Lab 2.0: INTERFERENCE
Performance
Friday, 14 & Saturday, 15 December 2007, 8pm
​
If history is signal, then time itself must be recognised as noise: an infinitely complex mess of data that resists interpretation.
Our project is therefore to listen to the noise of history, moments, which yield no discernible signal: the insignificant events. Herein lies a paradox.
As artists, as humans, we have a natural impulse to transmute chaos into art.
Is our goal then to reclaim the forgotten into the field of recorded time?
Or should we resist, in our representations of insignificant events, our instinct to render them significant?
​
INTERFERENCE is about unwanted signals that disrupt or construct movements of nature. It is about the interventions of patterns in history, time, signal and noise.
INTERFERENCE explores the concept of listening to the noise of history: moments that are insignificant in our collective memory. This presentation researches our techniques of remembering and the recollections of irrelevant episodes of unrecorded history.
INTERFERENCE is a space as well as an organism. This mediated space functions as an interactive installation and a performance environment where moving bodies, electronic sounds, visual documents and light are interwoven into a constantly changing artefact of unhistorical events.
​
INTERFERENCE is done in collaboration with Grace Tan-kwodrent, Joavien Ng, Khoo Eng Tat, Lim Woan Wen, Ling Hock Siang, Mohd Fared Jainal, Ng Yi-Sheng, Patricia Toh, Torrance Goh-FARMWORK and Zulkifle Mahmod.
V.I.S.T.A Lab Presentations is a series resulting from workshop and experiments with the 10 Singapore-based artists/designers across the wide spectrum of artistic discipline. The project is based on the central theme of re-looking at historical events that escape our people's memories, seemingly deemed insignificant in our invention of a vibrant, global city. We are interested in the lapses of our recent histories and the understanding of the past to imagine the future.
V.I.S.T.A Lab 1.0: Impetus
Process-Presentation
21 & 22 September 2007
Impetus explores how insignificant events in our history are being recorded, forgotten and fabricated, focusing on the moments and impulses before they transpired. This presentation researches on the origin of data transmission and how information can be made consumable.
​
V.I.S.T.A Lab
Visual. Interactive. Sound. Text. Architecture
A laboratory for performative experiments
A multiform exploration of aesthetics, forms and possibilities
A space for artists to interact, create and present ideas
​
V.I.S.T.A Lab focuses on the experiential interactions, the potential of live performance and the interplay between image, sound and space.
V.I.S.T.A Lab employs a modular workshop structure where the diverse energies of the various artists are engaged in the same space. These incubation spaces open up at irregular intervals, inviting the public for process-presentations. The modular cells may coalesce into a full-scale multimedia production. However. the modular workshop structure encourages a continuing growth beyond any product that may arise out of these interactions. V.I.S.T.A Lab curates ten artists who work unconventionally in their realm. Each Of these artists work across disciplines, creating work that defies classification, in turn casting fresh perspectives onto conventional forms.
​
V.I.S.T.A Lab series is conceived and directed by TheatreWorks Associate Artistic Director Choy Ka Fai in collaboration with Grace Tan/kwodrent (Clothing Artist/Designer), Joavien Ng (Choreographer/Performer), Khoo Eng Tat (Interaction Engineer/Designer), Lim Hock Siang (Musician), Lim Woan Wen (Lighting Designer), Mohd Fared Jainal (Graphic Designer/Performer), Ng Yi-Sheng (Writer/Performer), Patricia Toh (Actress/Performer), Torrance Goh/FARMWORK (Space Maker) and Zulkifle Mahmod (Sound Artist).
​
From 1990, TheatreWorks has committed to its central philosophy of processes and research as the route to art. V.I.S.T.A Lab is Choy Ka Fai's second project after the successful Drift Net. Harnessing new talents in the Singapore scene, it is an indication of the curiosity of young artists and their exciting visions.
​
With support from National Arts Council, Lee Foundation, Hong Leong Foundation, 72-13, Webvisions and POWER 98FM. With additional support by Mixed Beauty Lab Singapore.
Brian Gothong Tan (Singapore) / Caden Manson (New York City) / David Subal (Vienna) / Francis Ng (Singapore) / Julie Atlas Muz (New York City) / Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba (Ho Chi Minh City) / Kaffe Matthews (London) / Katarina Eismann (Stockholm) / Kim Ngoc (Hanoi) / Koosil-Ja (New York City) / Luigi de Angelis (Ravenna) / Marco Cavalcoli (Ravenna) / Meg Stuart (Berlin) / Melati Suryodarmo (Solo) / Michikazu Matsune (Vienna) / Naeem Mohaiemen (Dhaka) / Nibroll - Mikuni Yannaihara & Keisuke Takahashi (Tokyo) / Ong Keng Sen (Singapore) / Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky (New York City) / Rachid Ouramdane (Paris) / Raqs Media Collective (New Delhi) / Tadasu Takamine (Tokyo) / Tiffany Chung (Ho Chi Minh City) / Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore) - Flying Circus Project 2007: Travelogue
Research, Process, and Discourse
31 October – 4 November 2007 in Singapore
5 – 9 November 2007 in Ho Chi Minh City
Free admission
"100 Perfect Hours in the casual company of international artists"
2007 marks the 6th edition of the Flying Circus Project (FCP). This year's programme, TRAVELOGUE, begins in Singapore and then travels to Ho Chi Minh City. The themes of this TRAVELOGUE are memories/local wisdoms/future-ness. The FCP 2007 brings together artists from different cultures, disciplines and politics.
Established in 1994 by Ong Keng Sen, the FCP is a major programme exploring creative expression in Asia NOW! This transcultural, inter-disciplinary, long-term research and development programme consists of performances, screenings, conversations, laboratories. workshops, talks and engagement with local communities — food for thought for the future. The focal points are on individual creative strategies, diversities, cultural negotiation and the process of art practice.
In 2007, for the first time, the artists from Asia, Europe and North America will travel together to two different sites, interacting with the cities, localities and contexts. The Flying Circus Project artists will make presentations with invited guests of each city.
"Some Thoughts from Hanoi
The Flying Circus Project (FCP) has matured immensely over the last 12 years. It has always been a gathering of artists interested in investigating our processes. In the larger scheme of our individual artistic trajectories, the FCP can be said to be many small processes which happen intimately, quietly and continue to resonate thereafter. Presently as I am here in Hanoi, accompanying Raqs Media Collective on their FCP Residency through Vietnam, I am struck by their words describing their practice. 'Talking and Listening' for instance is something which completely relates to the FCP practice. How little this is valued by artists and by audiences as we become overwhelmed by preconceived contexts and expectations. The beginning platform of the FCP is to provide a broad enough space that all invited artists of multiple disciplines from urban research to burlesque, individual interests. diverse contexts can participate. The actual tasks together are simple, we share a short intense time together, almost mundane. But hopefully, the communications amongst ourselves become more compassionate and sharper. Conversations across boundaries within and without ourselves. Leaving our usual contexts to see again. Hear again, experience again. reflect again. Being challenged to leave our artistic contexts to travel, an activity of the everyday, of mere mortals!
Quoting from travel magazines. using taglines like "100 perfect hours" to be in a city: opening up the space to be shared with the audiences who can join us on observerships throughout the time in both cities -" in the casual company of'. The travel by the community of artists is also accessible for the audiences to partake. The performance of travel. Open spaces, secret spaces, shared spaces. A shared space of where there is no dumbing down. these are artists working all over the world who have not been seen in Singapore before and whose work i enjoy, appreciate. An occasion like this is also one to ask the question of why we are only seeing Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba's video, 6 years after it was first premiered in Yokohama? What is the role of the audiences? How are the independent arts groups to articulate the kind of artistic and social discussion that we would like in our cities? How do we want to inhabit our cities? Conversely is it about making a mark or about leaving traces in the urban noise for those who desire to discover you?"
- Ong Keng Sen, Curator, FCP 2007
FCP 2007: Singapore Programme
31 October – 4 November 2007
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Opening
Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 8 pm
On 31 October 2007, FCP 2007 will open at 72-13, Singapore with an exhibition of two video installations, Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex - For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards (2001) and Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas: Battle of Easel Point - Memorial Project Okinawa (2003) by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba and a performance by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky.
Superintense
Friday, 2 November 2007, 8pm
Artist Presentations under the moonlight on Pulau Ubin.
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Saturday, 3 November, 11am – Sunday, 4 November 2007, 4am
Artist Presentations at 72-13.
Superintense is a marathon of personal strategies of creativity in the urban context, in our worlds. From one morning to the next at 72-13, all the FCP artists will have an hour each to present their work, their practice to themselves and a public audience. A table, a projector, a microphone. an audience: which can all be reconstructed into an open space — the same conditions are given to each artist. They are invited to share their practice with the audience; past work, present work, future work. It can take the form of a talk, a lecture demonstration, a performance, slides. a video, a dj session, a workshop, a discussion. Without a break, all the artists relentlessly articulate their practice. communicating an insight to the myriad ways of inhabiting, dissolving, thinking, making, living, destroying, rejuvenating. An actor, an audience, a shared space. Take a cigarette pause on the run.
FCP 2007: Ho Chi Minh Programme
Art Tour
5 – 9 November 2007
The FCP 2007 invites audiences to visit Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) with us and experience the interactions between FCP artists and artists in HCMC over five days. For the price of an air ticket and hotel accommodation, audiences get to be part of a series of non-public and intimate art events presented by the Flying Circus Project 2007. This is a unique art tour, the first of its kind by independent artists created sensitively for friends of the arts. In between a free-and-easy schedule to enjoy the sights and sounds of HCMC, be privy to the art practice of Vietnam and its contexts.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Departure in morning for Ho Chi Minh City
Mapping the Local with Saigon artists: a walk
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
The Texture of Memory l: Vietnamese artist-in-focus,Dinh Q Le @ San-Art
Vietnam Now! with Hoang Ly, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Hoang Hung and Khuong Van Muoi @ San-Art
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Visit to Titan Visual Cafe with contemporary art curator, Nguyen Nhu Huy
Writing In the Vietnamese Context @ San-Art With Open Mouth & Vo Hong Chuong-Dai.
Superintense Artist presentations @ Galerie Quynh
Thursday, 8 November 2007
8 + 8: experiments in documenting the vernacular — documentaries made by young film makers and video artists in collaboration with diverse communities. Facilitated by Wu Wenguang from Beijing. @ Le Fernetre Soeliel.
Superintense Artist presentations @ Galerie Quynh
Friday, 9 November 2007
The Texture of Memory II: Conversations with War Painters @ Galerie Quynh
A Wonderful Evening at 44 curated by Wonderful District —closing night of club music with sound and video installation by Thierry Bernard.
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Departure from Ho Chi Minh City
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Click here to access the FCP07 blog.
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Residency by Raqs Media Collective in Vietnam
For the first time, The FCP 2007 has invited artists to an extended residency in South East Asia. This is unique as the residency does not take place in Singapore, it involves travelling through Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam. Unlike any residencies. the central spine is the intimate one-to-one conversations with intellectuals and artists covering a wide spectrum of different subjects both in the Indian experience and the Vietnamese experience.
Raqs Media Collective has been variously described as artists, media practitioners, curators. researchers. editors and catalysts of cultural processes. Their work, which has been exhibited widely in major international spaces and events, locates them squarely along the intersections of contemporary art, historical enquiry, philosophical speculation, research and theory - often taking the form of installations, online and offline media objects, performances and encounters.
Their work engages with urban spaces and global circuits, persistently welding a sharp, edgily contemporary sense of what it means to lay claim to the world from the streets of Delhi. At the same time, Raqs articulates an intimately lived relationship with myths and histories of diverse provenances. Raqs sees its work as opening out a series of investigations with image, sound, software, objects, performance, print. text and lately, curation, that straddle different (and changing) affective and aesthetic registers, expressing an imaginative unpacking of questions of identity and location, a deep ambivalence towards modernity and a quiet but consistent critique of the operations of power and property.
In 2001 Raqs co-founded Sarai at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in Dehli where they coordinate media productions, pursue and administer independent research and practice projects and also works as members of the editorial collective Manifesta 2008 (Biennial of Contemporary European Art) in the Sud-Tyrol-Alto Adige Region of Nothern Italy.
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FCP 2007 Commission
“BreathingisFree: 12,756.3”
A running project for global refugee crisis by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba
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It is my reflection and offering to the refugees whose lives are to run or to perish. And this is what I see as the desire of refugees running away from their circumstances; they want to be on the 'other side’ instead.
– Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba
An ongoing project to last approximately 6 years (with the current running pace of the artist), BreathingisFree: 12,756.3 is the most recent episode of the “Memorial Project” series, where Nguyen-Hatsushiba attempts to run the distance of 12,756.3 km (the diameter of the earth), the shortest distance to the other side of the planet. The total distance will accumulate as he runs through cities of various countries.
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The project was started in spring 2007 in Geneva where historically many peace talks are held. However there are still overwhelming number of displaced individuals in many places of the world. The crisis seems to continue to escalate. As the project continues, we can expect to see the artist excavating many chapters buried in the histories of places and people.
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The Singapore run is funded by TheatreWorks The Flying Circus Project 2007.
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Artists for the Flying Circus Project 2007 - TRAVELOGUE
Brian Gothong Tan, Singapore
Caden Manson, New York City
David Subal, Vienna
Francis Ng, Singapore
Julie Atlas Muz, New York City
Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Ho Chi Minh City
Kaffe Matthews, London
Katarina Eismann, Stockholm
Kim Ngoc, Hanoi
Koosil-Ja, New York City
Luigi de Angelis, Ravenna, Italy
Marco Cavalcoli, Ravenna, Italy
Meg Stuart, Berlin
Melati Suryodarmo, Gross Gleidingen, Germany
Michikazu Matsune, Vienna
Naeem Mohaiemen, Dhaka-New York City
Nibroll - Mikuni Yannaihara & Keisuke Takahashi, Tokyo
Ong Keng Sen, Singapore
Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, New York City
Rachid Ouramdane, Paris
Raqs Media Collective, New Delhi
Tadasu Takamine, Kyoto
Tiffany Chung, Ho Chi Minh City
Yuen Chee Wai, Singapore
To learn more about the artists, visit http://theatreworks.org.sg/international/flying_circus_project07/biographies.htm
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Main funding from The Ford Foundation, Asian Cultural Council with special funds from The Rockefeller Foundation. With support from National Arts Council, Saison Foundation, Lee Foundation. With additional support from The Arts Fund, The British Council, The French Embassy, The Goethe-institut Singapore, Hong Leong Foundation, International Artists Studio Programme in Sweden, CSP Productions.
Angels of FCP 2007: Mrs Ho Lien Fung, Mrs Chong Yuan Jian , Mr Paul Khoo, Lena and William Lim.
Angkrit Ajchariyasophon / Bartolome Ferrando / Ferial Affif / Herma Auguste Wittstock / Jason Lim / Juliana Yasin / Kai Lam / Kenny McBride / Khairuddin Hori / Kim Kang / Kim Youn Hoan / Lee Wen / Lynn Lu / Monika Gunther / Nicola Frangione / Rich Streitmatter-Tran / Ruark Lewis / Ruedi Schill / Vasan Sithiket / Zhou Bin - Future of Imagination 4
Performance
27 – 30 September 2007
Free admission
Future of Imagination 4 (FOI4) intends to cross-examine performance and live art practice within the international context. Featured this year are guest artists from Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Scotland, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
It is a curated performance gathering of artists whose works have questioned or attempted to share a continuing interest in the cultural constructs of identity in the global situation and current trends of contemporary art practice. In the present age of intense globalisation we as artists organisers believe that such an event will help increase understanding of, as well as being an accentuation of, our artistic practice, research and development.
The artists will make live presentations to articulate ideas and engage the audience in a revelatory and immediate form. We also hope to stimulate discussion by holding forums to question the status of performance in our rapidly changing society.
Future of Imagination 4 is led by Artistic Director Lee Wen and Co-Directors Kai Lam and Khairuddin Hori.
Programme
Day 1
Thursday, 27 September 2007
6pm till late
Durational performance:
Kai Lam (Singapore)
Kim Youn Hoan (S.Korea)
Monika Gunther & Ruedi Schill (Switzerland)
Vasan Sitthiket (Thailand)
Khairuddin Hori (Singapore)
Day 2
Friday, 28 September 2007
6pm till late
Durational performance:
Kenny McBride (UK)
Jason Lim (Singapore)
Angkrit Ajchariyasophon (Thailand)
Kim Kang (S.Korea)
Zhou Bin (China)
Day 3
Saturday, 29 September 2007
2pm to 5pm
Durational performance:
Lynn Lu (Singapore)
Ferial Affif (Indonesia)
Juliana Yasin (Singapore)
Kim Kang & Kim Youn Houn (S.Korea)
Nicola Frangione (Italy)
Rich Streitmatter-Tran (Vietnam)
6pm till late
Durational performance:
Ruark Lewis (Australia)
Bartolome Ferrando (Spain)
Herma Auguste Wittstock (Germany)
Lee Wen (Singapore)
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With the support of 72-13.
Choy Ka Fai / Joavien Ng / Ng Yi-Sheng / Patricia Toh / Torrance Goh-FARMWORK / Zulkifle Mahmod - V.I.S.T.A. (Visual. Interactive. Sound. Text. Architecture.) Lab 1.0 Impetus
Performance
Friday, 21 & Saturday, 22 September 2007, 8pm
IMPETUS is about the moment before something happens, the catalysis of actions, and the enactment of impulses.
IMPETUS explores how insignificant events in our history are being recorded, forgotten and fabricated. These occurrences often escape people's memories, yet are impetuses to our invention of a vibrant global city.
IMPETUS researches on the origin of data transmission and how information can be made consumable. Using analog audio-visual technology and self-made/customised devices, IMPETUS is a performance deprived of digital flexibility and embraces the unpredictable nature of analog simplicity.
IMPETUS is the first of three presentations of V.I.S.T.A Lab Cycle 1; the second and third presentations will be held in December 2007 and February 2008 respectively.
IMPETUS is an installation performance by Choy Ka Fai, Joavien Ng, Ng Yi-Sheng, Patricia Toh, Torrance Goh-FARMWORK and Zulkifle Mahmod.
V.I.S.T.A Lab
Visual. Interactive. Sound. Text. Architecture
A laboratory for performative experiments
A multiform exploration or aesthetics, forms and possibilities
A space for artists to interact, create and present ideas
V.I.S.T.A Lab focuses on the experiential interactions, the potential of live performance and the interplay between image, sound and space.
V.I.S.T.A Lab employs a modular workshop structure where the diverse energies of the various artists are engaged in the same space. These incubation spaces open up at irregular intervals, inviting the public for process-presentations. The modular cells may coalesce into a full-scale multimedia production. However, the modular workshop structure encourages a continuing growth beyond any product that may arise out of these interactions. V.I.S.T.A Lab curates ten artists who work unconventionally in their realm. Each of these artists work across disciplines, creating work that defies classification, in turn casting fresh perspectives onto conventional forms.
V.I.S.T.A Lab series is conceived and directed by TheatreWorks Associate Artistic Director Choy Ka Fai in collaboration with Grace Tan/kwodrent (Clothing Artist/Designer), Joavien Ng (Choreographer/Performer), Khoo Eng Tat (Interaction Engineer/Designer), Lim Hock Siang (Musician), Lim Woan Wen (Lighting Designer), Mohd Fared Jainal (Graphic Designer/Performer), Ng Yi-Sheng (Writer/Performer), Patricia Toh (Actress/Performer), Torrance Goh/FARMWORK (Space Maker) and Zulkifle Mahmod (Sound Artist).
From 1990, TheatreWorks has committed to its central philosophy of processes and research as the route to art. V.I.S.T.A Lab is Choy Ka Fai's second project after the successful Drift Net. Harnessing new talents in the Singapore scene, it is an indication of the curiosity of young artists and their exciting visions.
​
With support from Hong Leong Foundation, Lee Foundation, 72-13 and Webvisions.
Tan Pin Pin - Invisible City
Residency
Friday, 20 July 2007, 8pm
The film screening of Invisible City chronicles the ways which people attempt to leave a mark before they and their histories disappear. From an avid amateur film director trying to preserve his decaying trove of Singapore footage to an intrepid Japanese journalist hunting down Singaporean war veterans, Tan Pin Pin draws out doubts, regrets and the poignantly ordinary moments of these protagonists who attempt immortality. Through their footage and photos rarely seen until now, we begin to perceive faint silhouettes of a City that could have been. Quiet, elegiac and memorable, this is a singular cinematic experience not to be missed.
Tan Pin Pin, one of Singapore's best-known filmmakers directed the critically and commercially acclaimed Singapore GaGa as well as the multi award-winning "Moving House". She now turns her sharp and witty eye to the subject of memory.
Public Talk
Thursday, 26 July 2007, 7pm
Free admission
Tan Pin Pin will give a talk on the process of making Invisible City and her other films.
Rizman Putra / Robert Guth / Zulkifle Mahmod - The Elegy of A Man and his Weapon of Choice
Residency
Thursday, 24 & Friday, 25 May 2007, 8pm
Free admission
The Hyperbolic Alpha Male (H.A.M) together with the fabulous master of puppets and the obsessed toy maker from hell. Presenting a spectacle of bona fide souls in liberation for the celebration of life coming together hand in hand like twisted rubber band shooting paper bullets to the sky.
Bodies search of meanings in a synthetic space, souls all itching for a ride. The self is lost in the vortex of rapid transformation of ideas and lame conversation. The elegy is the irony of how one observes the self and the external factors that evolve around him or her. Based on his or her perception, the weapon of choice is the execution of ideas into various forms, and the medium is performance.
An installation and performance piece, The Elegy of A Man and His Weapon of Choice is conceived in collaboration with Zulkifle Mahmod and Robert Guth.
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"A Man’s Weapon"
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Tell us a little bit about your proposed project for your residency here at 72-13 — The Elegy of A Man and His Weapon of Choice. What an interesting title!
I have been struggling to find the meaning in my work by re-tracing my journey as an artist. Presently, as part of my Masters research. I have been investigating the notion of the self with regards to society, class and culture. I am interested in presenting a work dealing with pretence, self as different forms of representation.
What was the inspiration for it? Why the focus on the Self, Society, and Perception?
The inspiration came from watching television. When I was a child, I was brought up thinking that Michael Jackson was related to Mickey Mouse, and everyone can be as famous as Cindy Lauper or by watching Richard Simmons aerobics programme, you can always be healthy. From this, I came out with an analysis of the self; I realised that I was brought up consuming most of the subcultural junk on TV or should I say I am a product of the 80s residue. Then, I started to question the role of a poseur in the society, questioning pretence and superficiality.
Does this project bring together your various experiences in dance, theatre, music and visual arts, or are you going to concentrate on any particular one?
As I have a great interest in presenting works of hybrid nature. the process will definitely be combination of many elements. I am not sure if its going to be a theatre or a dance piece, but I have always been fascinated in presenting a performance with a multitude of influences from varied sources.
What are the challenges you meet in the process of putting together your creative works?
Constantly, I have problems trying to make sense of what I do. It has always been a slow process in understanding. The difficulties are partly because of my nature in problematising the issues and subjects I am dealing with. As art making is pretty much a healing process for me, at times I do get frustrated if the works do not speak for me as when I see them first hand. There is a certain rapture to my process development. If I don't see the joy in doing a work, I don't see the point in doing it.
How has The Elegy of A Man and His Weapon of Choice changed and evolved since its conception?
It has been an evolving process for me. I presented the first series as part of The Singapore Biennale exhibition. an installation/performance piece of a jaded Superstar known as Sontol Al Loyo. It was like a form of "visual puking" (in a good sense) to start with, and at this moment I am in the process of restructuring and reconstructing my ideas for the second series for 72-13 in 2007.
Wonderful District (Alexander Raima / Bertrand Peret / Be-tong / Damien Maziéres / Fugu / Jean Phan / Julie Tseselsky / JVC / Leila Albayaty / Madame Patate / NS 101 / Rich Streitmatter-Tran / Robert Cianchi / Sandrine Llouquet / Stéphane Cochard / Tam Vo Phi / Vu Nhat Tan) - A Wonderful Weekend
Exhibition, Performance, Moving Image, Concert, Talk
Thursday, 5 – Saturday, 7 April 2007
Come April, TheatreWorks presents A Wonderful Weekend of video, electronic music and performance from French artists based in Belgium, Vietnam and from Vietnamese artists; specially curated by Wonderful District of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).
Initiated by two Vietnam-based artists, Bertrand Peret and Sandrine Llouquet, Wonderful District is a project that lends itself to being an exchange zone situated at the crossroads of diverse creative fields and cultures.
In November 2005 a month of exhibitions. performances and concerts took place in Ho Chi Minh City. Titled "RENDEZVOUS", this ground-breaking month-long event served to introduce a collusion of contemporary art and digital culture into the Vietnamese art scene. Organised by the Saigon-based Wonderful District and presenting both Vietnamese and foreign artists to Vietnam, the objective of this artistic and public event was to support the emergence of contemporary art culture in Vietnam and to introduce it to the general public. The outcome was a turnout and extremely positive feedback from those involved.
TheatreWorks has invited a special compilation of "RENDEZVOUS" to Singapore, this special compilation is A Wonderful Weekend — TheatreWorks' Good Friday Weekend Event.
A Wonderful Weekend will see the works of different creatives, ranging from architects, visual artists, filmmakers to DJs, being showcased.
Thursday, 5 April 2007
6pm – 8pm
Opening of exhibitions
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Light installation by Sandrine Llouquet and Bertrand Peret - Le temps est magnifique
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Video animation and installation by Sandrine Llouquet - Untitled (Every time the bell rings and I take off the cover, I seem to find something I've never seen before)
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Video projection by Stéphane Cochard - Variations in ASCIImation (ASCIImations)
[Opening hours: 5 April (from 6pm) 6 & 7 April (from 2pm)]
8pm – 9.30pm
• DJ session by Be-tong + video by Sandrine Llouquet
9.30pm – 10.30pm
• Live music performances by Vu Nhat Tan (Hanoi) + video by Jean Phan (HCMC/France)
• Live music performance by Robert Cianchi (HCMC/UK) + videos by Rich Streitmatter- Tran (HCMC/USA)
11.30pm – 3am
DJ sessions
• JVC + video by JVC
• Fugu + video by Stéphane Cochard
• NS 101 + video by Stéphane Cochard
6 April 2007
2pm – 4pm
• "Attitudes and Project: Art centre and programmatic modularity / Creating architectures in the specific situation of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City," talk by architect Tam Vo Phi (HCMC/France)
• "From Wonderful to Wonderful District," talk by Bertrand Peret and Sandrine Lloquet (HCMC)
4.30pm – 6pm
• "Vietnamese experimental and contemporary music scene," talk by Vu Nhat Tan (Hanoi)
• "Conditions for Contemporary Art Production in Vietnam and the Mekong Subregion," talk by Rich Streitmatter-Tran (HCMC/IJSA)
8pm – 9.30pm
• DJ session by Fugu + video by Rich Streitmatter-Tran 9.30pm - 10.30am
• Live music performance by Madame Patate (Belgium) + animations by Sandrine Llouquet (HCMC)
10.30pm – 11.30pm
• Live music performance by NS 101 + video by Stéphane Cochard (France)
11.30pm – 3am
DJ sessions
• Madame Patate + video by Stéphane Cochard
• Be-tong + video by Bertrand Peret
Saturday, 7 April 2007
4pm – 6pm
Video Screenings:
Pacman, by Bertrand Peret (doc, video). 2002-2003
5 untitled animations by Sandrine Llouquet (flash animation), 2002 – 2003
Tribute to Patrice Gaillard et Claude, by Damien Maziéres, Alexander Raima, Sandrine Llouquet (flash animations), 2004
Missed Connections, by Rich Streitmatter-Tran, 2004
Vacances, by Leila Albayaty, 2000
The River Goddess, by Julie Tseselsky, 2006
8pm – 9.30pm
• DJ session by JVC + video by JVC
9.30pm – 10.30am
• Live music performance by Robert Cianchi + videos by Rich Streitmatter-Tran
10.30pm – 11.30pm
• Live music performance by Madame Patate + animations by Sandrine Llouquet
11.30pm – 3am
DJ sessions
• Fugu + videos by Jean Phan
• NS101 + video by Stéphanie Cochard
With support from the French Embassy in Singapore and National Arts Council.
aspidistrafly / Choy Ka Fai / Daito Manabe / Fujimoto Takayuki / Motoi Ishibashi / Rizman Putra / Satoshi Horii / Torrance Goh - Drift Net
Open studio
Friday, 23 – Saturday, 24 March 2007, 8pm
Free admission
Performance
Thursday, 29 – Saturday, 31 March 2007, 8pm
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An expedition into blogosphere...
Drift Net explores a man's second life on the internet, drifting between desires and dreams...
Drift Net is a sensorial experience that triggers your imagination…
Drift Net is an interactive performance exploring the concept of the blogging phenomenon; where blogging is a virtual way of living and re-living a moment in time or perhaps even as future memories.
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Drift Net is conceived and directed by Choy Ka Fai, in collaboration with aspidistrafly (Music & Visual Performance), Daito Manabe (Sound/Visual Design & Programming), Fujimoto Takayuki (Lighting Design & Set Design), Motoi Ishibashi (Interaction Design & Programming), Rizman Putra (Performance & Choreography), Satoshi Horii (Visual & Network Programming) and Torrance Goh (Graphics and Web Design).
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"Mood = expository"
posted by
Ng Yi-Sheng
(72-13 '07 Creative-In-Residence)
4:16 am
0 Comments
"It begins with a sentence: September '05, two Singapore bloggers charged for making seditious comments online: for shame, The Web, our last stronghold for free speech, falls also to the stormtroopers, but does that flip the status quo?: no. Despite its potential, the mainstream blogosphere persists primarily as an aggregate diary of minutiae: shout-outs, documents of holidays, kawaii-ographs, quotidian babble.
Yet Choy Ka Fai, newly appointed Associate Artist at TheatreWorks: i)is inspired: ii) is intrigued by the blogosphere: iii) researches & digests it: iv) conceptualises Drift Net as a performance/installation recreation of the "virtual blogger", the everyman of the Internet, ten thousand disembodied voices now embodied onstage. Blog as arena of desire/dreams, repository of memory/voice.
Collaborators include Japanese sound artist Daito Manabe & lighting/set designer Fujimoto Takayuki of Dumbtype, who will simulate the "metaphysical space" of the man venturing into his second life on the Internet. Singapore performance artist, 72-13 creative-in-residence, Rizman Putra's shifting body shall be upholstered with motion sensors biofeedback to Daito's audio software, Fujimoto's LED display conceptual scenario (of heightened sensation) whereby movement dictates landscape, rather than landscape movement.
There's an inside joke here, re: real-life tech research into surgical implants that will enable bloggers to automatically upload every moment of their lives; captain's log of sleeping, eating, shitting, fucking, taking medication. No kidding: open-source body, private-public, secular rapture, flesh word. Therefore Japanese network programmer Motoi Ishibashi brought in to implement art with hard science. Interactive website supplied by Torrance Goh of FARM (another 72-13 creative-in-residence), proposed as interactive community site in run-up to big show.
Of course, real workshopping only begins 5 – 11 Feb/open studios for new media wannabes 23 – 24 Mar/sharing the luv. At present. international collaborative conversations occurring only (how else?) in cyberspace.
In fact: as artist Choy is hungry for reaction: finds standard
passive & insufficient "some sort of black hole," he calls it, with no urgency of response from lackadaisical audience: hence multimedia theatre. Also live: Singapore experimental/pop indie band aspidistrafly, mad photobloggers themselves: Choy thus also curator of diverse visuals from Daito and aspidistrafly, collator of the random.
You see, glorious, bohliao-itude of blogosphere is also its saving grace: bloggers, una raid of looking stupid, say what they mean: keep it real, says Choy. Drift Net is thus from one perspective a celebration of free to recreate cyberspace: Imagineering, electronic phantasia, yadda yadda.
From perspective of artists, however, all is just another subtle game of police and sedition. Choy & Co. control all the technical parameters: there may be no way to dance beyond the border."
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Partners: i21 shop, Japan Airlines. With support from National Arts Council Singapore, Webvisions, POWER 98FM.
Noor Effendy Ibrahim / Ranger Mills - Embrace Rooms: Study I
Exhibition
Thursday, 22 – Monday, 26 March 2007
2pm – 8pm
Free admission
The Embrace Room: Study I is part of a continuing research and study on behaviour and psychology of peoples within a domestic setting — examining the politics of the public and private space, and relationship and power issues between people and peoples (gender, ethnicity, sexual, culture, etc) within the home. This Study I will present kinetic installations (machines and devices) and textual instructions that attempt to articulate these dynamics. In collaboration with Ranger Mills.
This project is supported by the National Arts Council (Singapore) and 72-13.
Brian Gothong Tan - Signs, Omens and Relics of Faith
Residency
25 January – 4 February 2007
12pm – 8pm (Tuesday - Saturday), 12pm – 6pm (Sunday), Closed on Monday
Free admission
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72-13's Creatives-in-Residence (CIR) programme serves as an incubator to innovative and interesting Singapore artists and creatives. It serves as a platform for their creativity and transdisciplinary processes and is a key component of SCAN (Singapore Creative Arts Nucleus). SCAN is an organic interface between the arts and the creative industries. For 2006 / 2007, 72-13 invited Brian Gothong Tan, FARM, fFurious, The Observatory, Rizman Putra and Joavien Ng to be our Singaporean creatives-in-residence.
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Asia is booming... so the newspapers tell us. Cities in the region are rapidly expanding, with shiny new skyscrapers popping up and changing the landscape, movement between cities becoming increasingly common. A transformation is happening before our eyes. Is this growth a manifestation of our inner world... a sign that our utopian ideal is just within our grasp? Or a symptom of our Society of the Spectacle with our fetish for progress?
Signs, Omens and Relics of Faith is an immersive and interactive multi-channel video installation. Filmed on location in Shenton Way, the heart of the Central Business District of Singapore, Brian Gothong Tan's new work for 72-13's Creatives-in Residence programme attempts to create a series of strategies for engaging with the city in collaboration with a new generation of performance artists in Singapore.
As a New Media creative, what are the biggest difficulties you face?
Finding the time to fully develop my works. I think that in Singapore most artists do not have the luxury of time to let their works grow and mature before they are presented to the public because we live in a very product-oriented society.
Your work, Living in a Dangerous World, was exhibited at the Singapore Biennale 2006. That must be great encouragement for you. Will this change the direction ff your work in any way?
I'm not really sure. I'm still going with the flow of things. If I find that there is no more meaning, I just move on to the next thing. I guess it's important to have constant curiosity in life.
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Tell us about your newest work — Signs, Omens, and Relics of Faith. What's the inspiration and theme behind it?
When I was in secondary school. I used to believe that the first thing I notice in the early mornings when I go to school will be an omen for what the day will be like - a portent of sorts. It could be a white butterfly, or a crack on the wall or a bus ticket folded into a heart, that will predict my day ahead: whether it was exam results, or getting attention from my object of affection... quite silly and arbitrary, really. But then I learnt about Marcel Duchamp - we can call anything art by simply assigning meaning to an object, gesture, ritual, space.... whatever you can think of, and immediately that object or action you were doing is transformed from something banal to something magical... existing on a different plane of consciousness. So I'm particularly interested in this idea of transformation by marking objects or space. The word SIGNS suggest a marker of something in the present, OMENS a marker of something in the future, and RELICS a marker of the past. So the element of time is very important, objects gain meaning. and somehow lose meaning as time progresses. Just a note, this is NOT a piece on religion.
Can you describe your creative process?
Basically, I start with a very strong image in my head, and then I go out and do research and talk to friends, artists, etc. I then develop my idea further until it crystallises into a form that can exist in reality.
Is there an underlying theme/issue that you try to explore in your works? Or are they individual pieces that have different messages?
Well, it depends... right now I think they are all different messages, but maybe with time, and after doing more works, I might see an overarching pattern that will sum up all my works in a single sentence, maybe not so much from the issues or topics I explore, but the form in which my art takes shape. Actually, I can already see part of it, and that's what I'm exploring in this new work that I am creating in 72-13 in January 2007.
The Observatory - 6x6
Residency
The Observatory comes out of the Wood-Shed. You can almost stop holding your breath because The Observatory is almost back with another album. As Creative-ln-Residence, this sextet (quintet no more since Blank Walls) will be holding a performance as freeform as its sons at 72-13. Wood-Shed gives fans a prelude to The Observatory's third album which is still a work-in-progress, and a taste of the band members' chemistry as each of them presents an idea/motif while the rest pick up the thread and follow it down the rabbit hole.
The Observatory consists of six members: Leslie Low (singer, songwriter, guitarist), Vivian Wang (keyboardist, singer), Dharma (guitarist), Evan Tan (programmer-sound artist-bassist), Victor Low (guitarist, bassist, percussionist), and the latest addition Adam Shah (drummer, percussionist). Each of them has somewhat respectable jobs in real-life, such as a film producer, a mechanical engineer and an archivist. Away from "real-life," band members bring their specialisations — from classical guitar and bass to electronic music and percussion — to the aural potpourri that is The Observatory.
"Unique" might well describe this local band, but that's almost trite given as how bandied about "unique" is. The Observatory doesn't do "pop" nor "nice" nor "cute" — the band produces NC-16 lullabies for adults. Its music lulls you into itself with its textured melodies and without preamble, just as you cuddle up in your mind, the music twists into a sonic maelstrom. And just as easily drops you back into the cradle and you are soothed once again. Like a dream, anything can happen within the un-structure of these Observatory songs.
But rather than be a spectator in these dreams, The Observatory invites you to partake in the consensual dreaming and watch them unfold. Each idea/motif is but a seed. "These concepts are the building blocks of the songs that will eventually be part of the third album," says the band. The audience will be witness to The Observatory's album growing before them. The band explains the performance will serve as a "learning experience for us while we perform these works-in-progress, allowing us to make adjustments to our songs as we play to an audience."
Six ideas, six permutations, a cavernous space, ambience as intimate as a dream, and yes, a Q-and-A session for you to pester the band about their "creative processes." Or just bring along a beanbag and cuddle up with the band.
Joavien Ng - Recipe for a Dance
Residency
"Joavien Ng brings her dreams to the stage."
White dominates her dreams. An empty white warehouse, a lone white chair in the middle. Sunlight through the many windows. Suffused with a glow, the space transforms into a dream within a dream. A white building, many flights of stairs, crazy architecture. "I'd look up and be amazed by the complicated and confusing architecture of the building," recalls Joavien Ng. Dreams that reveal dreams, convoluted flights of stairs and converging planes — sounds more like the dreams of Escher (if he dreamt in white), reproduced with pencil.
It's with dance though that Joavien is resolving these recurring dreams that have dogged her for fifteen years. "Dreams (White)" is Joavien's dream inspired dance presentation, her latest project as creative-in-residence at 72-13. She's going back to basics, exploring the relationship between dreams and the dreamer, and the dreamer and her environment. But here's quite a bit more work to be done besides dreaming. This work-in-progress began with researching dream interpretations and referencing her dreams with events recorded in her diaries to find a casual relationship. Sounds from everyday environments are also recorded. Joavien explains: "Sounds from my bedroom might have affected my dreams. or sounds that triggered emotions in me — they will be incorporated into the final presentation. without treatment."
Joavien is also redefining her body movement style. "Being taught various dancing styles have filtered out some of my natural body movements. I want to redefine the rawness and organic essence of my movement," says Joavien. This conscious elimination of "dance vocabulary" involves studying recordings of personal movements and developing a "new" set of movements natural to the body.
fFurious - Exhibiting On The Moon
Residency
What was fFurious' initial starting point? How has its work scope evolved and transformed?
We started the company in 1999 with no direction to pursue, except that we were interested in creative things. We didn't fancy the idea of specialising in any area of creativity. Right from the start, we were involved in print, web and motion graphics projects. Six years on, we've been involved in so many diverse projects that we couldn't have imagined, such as illustrating on a massage chair, photographing a bikini fashion shoot, or even having our artworks exhibited in museums.
How did you come up with the name fFurious? Does its underlying tone have something to do with your aims and objective?
fFurious is an intense feeling that is transported by passion. We often find ourselves in situations and with issues where beyond the anger, we need to solve it. That echoes the problem-solution process of creative work.
What's your work philosophy?
Only with good people and good company, which comprises the team, clients, suppliers and other collaborators, can we create the perfect balance for good work.
Your monthly comic strip (Ol' Leylio & Dan Seeky) in Play Times is an interesting way to extend your participation in the creative scene. Where else do you go from here?
Ol' Leylio & Dan Seeky came from an urge to create characters that gave a semblance of Singapore culture, Singlish included, of course. There is the comic strip now, but there might just be animations and toy figurines eventually.
fFurious has had many exhibitions locally and some overseas. Are there any plans to bring these exhibitions further?
Like to the moon? That'd be fabulous. maybe for a start we could do a projection show beaming onto the moon! While we sort out those technicalities, we're working on 2 shows in the meantime. We'll be in Tokyo in early December to do a series of video art shows with a group of Singapore's top musicians in an event called Singapore Spotlight In Tokyo in commemoration of 40 years Of bilateral ties between Singapore and Japan. and the 2nd will be our 72-13 residency exhibition in early 2007.