Singapore Art Sandbox I
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june yap seni 2004 moving pictures
June Yap page 109 SENI 2004 booklet: A quick search of art exhibitions with titles containing the phrase ‘ moving pictures’ brings to light an exhibition of photography, film and video, and exhibito nf of mixed media works inspired by dance and moving epxeriences, a biennale exhibition focusing on film, art, and culturala spectatorship. The notion behind the motion seems to be the act of perception fof movement. This familiar term, ‘moving pictures’ has been used to describe a medium where movement and activity are defined as fundamental, as if oft references in film theory, citing english phiysician peter mark roget’s essay ‘persistence of vision with regards to moving objects’ (1924) where one’s perception of objects appear to be retained momentarily after the withdrawal of said object. It is used to explain the even of how images in quick secession elicity a sense of movement though this may appear a plain enough explnation, its full theory is not quite a s simple. As others such as joseph and barbara anderson point out, the theory has its inadqueacies. By introdycing this, the pupose here is not the epouse theories of perception or cite the history of film and cinema, but rather to highlight one aspect of the anderson’s claim, that the persistence of vision myth erroneously defines a passive viewer upon whom images impinge upon.
michael sullivan keynote page 4 nafa symposium new asian imaginations
michael sullivan's keynote paper: pg 4. new asian imaginations. [Michael Sullivan, the founding curator of the University of Malaya Art Museum / first curator of nus museum] there still remains the question of quality. in the more conventional forms, that is not a problem. although we have our individual preferences, a general consensus emerges about what is good and what is bad, in art. there is no problem here. but when forms are subverted and accepted rules and principles abandoned, by what criteria are we to judge the work? many critics today avoid this challenge by simply describing what the artist does, for a value judgement is thought to be purely subjective. express a critical opinion and youll be told "that's only what you think". the result is that today "anything goes" so long as it is exhibitied or performed. \
This is especially tru of much of today's conceptual art. which is based on the notion of the importance of the idea. but this is a fallacy, and a dangerous one. to appreciate a rembrandt self portrait, or a beethoven sonata, we do not need to look for the idea or the meaning behind it. the meaning is the work itself. when a journalist asked picasso the meaning of his work, he turned on her in a fury and said "since when do you have to explain teh language of painting? it's not meant to explain anything... but to foster emtotion within the soal of the viewer. no work of art should leave people indifferent, they should be moved... the viewer must be dragged from his torpor.... shaken and grabbed by the throat." if it doesn't do that, he seemed to be saying, it's not a work of art.
few artists are profound critics, and if they are, they should be practicising philosophy, not art. but in today's atmosphere of competitive commercial exposre they are provoked or bribed into talking about their work, formulating ideas in words, when their natural language is paint, to give it respectability and seriousness in the eyes of the criticis. in a poem, goethe wrote: 'bilde, kunstler! rede nicht! "paint, artist, dont talk". Artists should be left in pece to get on with their work, not be badgered by journalists to make, or make up statements about it. artists who are deeply thoughtful and articulate with both the brus hand the pen... are rare.
what i find most fascinating about singapore is its constance desire to forge its own identity - out of what, you might ask. the fact that this conference is being held shows how urgent this question is for singaporeans. but will it provide the answers? only if we believe that scholars, historians, and critics are the ones who will do this. i attended a conference recently in canton , one purpose of which was declared to 'strategise' (what a horrible word!: the future direction of art and art education in china, as thought the future direction and character of art could be determined by a conference or committee. we can describe, record, analyse what is happning, we can give it support. this is the backup, as it were, to create the conditions in which singapore's cultural consciousness can find expression. but we cannot create that consciousness ourselves., or find he means for its expression. that is done by the artist and musicians, writers and poets, dancers and dramatists who translate their feeling and experience into form.
what is our role? if it is not the create the arts, then it is to help to create hte conditions under which the arts can flourish.
a history of curating in singapore nus museum curating lab
[A History of Curating in Singapore, 17 January 2013, 7PM] At the heart of this exhibition is a proposition – not through the presentation of a history, but in the suggestion of its existence. History cannot be defined singularly, but rather, is a process of becoming. One can only propose a narrative to history; it has to be encountered, pulled at and questioned. Here, A History of Curating in Singapore has merely cast the first dice.
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