4000 words 24 hours

CURATORIAL PROPOSAL: Singapore Re(re)membered

Singapore Re(re)membered is an exhibition of contemporary artists who use the

construct of memory to re-examine aspects of ‘The Singapore Story’. Through a blend of

archival footage and documentation, this exhibition invites the audience to reflect on ‘The

Singapore Story’ and revisit their assumptions.

Singapore became a sovereign independent nation on August 9, 1965 when the

Parliament of Malaysia voted unanimously to expel it from the Federation of Malaysia. While

the country has indeed developed into a First World nation, the ruling People’s Action Party

has been criticised for its style of benevolent dictatorship. Its authoritarian style of

government includes a state controlled media, media and artistic censorship and the

successful suing of political opponents and foreign publications. Artistic expression in

Singapore is subject to restrictions. Most chillingly, in 1994, a protest by performance artist

Josef Ng (“Brother Cane”, 1993-94) over police entrapment of homosexuals resulted in a ten

year restriction on performance art and forum theatre.

In 2000, the Renaissance City Master Plan was endorsed by the government. This

plan sought “to establish Singapore as a global arts city conducive to creative, knowledge-

based industries and talent; and second, to strengthen national identity and belonging among

Singaporeans by nurturing an appreciation of shared heritage.”1 On the back of this and

subsequent master plans, new institutions such as the National Gallery Singapore and art

schools were built while an arts marketplace was created through the parachuting of an art

fair alongside a state supported gallery district.

Despite signs of relaxation, restrictions on artistic expression remain especially on

politics. Even in present day Singapore, the state continues to jealously guard its account of

1 Ministry of Information and the Arts. (2000). Renaissance city report: Culture and the arts in Renaissance

Singapore (p. 4). Singapore: The Ministry

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the national narrative. In 2015, a graphic novel on Singapore politics told through the eyes of

a fictional cartoonist, “The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye”, had its publishing grant

withdrawn by the National Arts Council due to “its sensitive content"2. Nonetheless the novel

became a bestseller.

Given Singapore’s high cost structure, under-developed art market and the lack of

private sector support for the arts, the State is omnipresent in the arts through statutory boards

such as the National Arts Council and the National Heritage Board. Through these vehicles,

the state funds the bulk of the country’s museums, selects artists for prestigious platforms

including the Venice and Singapore Biennale and provides artists grants and arts housing.

This places many Singaporean artists in a gilded cage as they are unable to openly critique

government policies due to the implicit threat of reduced support.

While due credit must be given to pioneer artists such as Vincent Leow (“Money

Suit”, 1992) Tang Da Wu (“Don’t give money to the Arts, 1995”), Lee Wen (“Journey of a

Yellow Man No. 11, 1997”) and Amanda Heng (“Let’s Walk”, 1999) who created art that

critiqued Singapore’s cultural policies and social issues. Singapore Re(re)membered focuses

on a younger generation of artists who have had the benefit of a longer tableau to provide

subtle but pointed social and political commentary. Through art works which evoke

documentation, allegory and the invention of fictional institutions to stir recollections, it is

hoped that a contemporary audience will be able to better appreciate these works which

revisit and re-interprets government policies and state supported narratives.

For example, through using his photographs as building blocks to construct fictional

narratives, Robert Zhao Renhui has created a fictional institute, the Institute of Critical

Zoologists (ICZ). According to its website, the aim of the ICZ is to “develop a critical

2 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/nac-withdraws-grant-for/1881738.html

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Zoological Gaze” which examines the “appalling state” of relationships between urban

societies and nature and calls into question Singapore’s ‘Clean and Green’ image.

2015 marked a year-long state sponsored campaign to celebrate Singapore’s Golden Jubilee

and was construed by the opposition as a propaganda tool by the PAP ahead of elections

which were held the next year. While the proliferation of social media has provided space for

alternative voices, it has also led to the rise of ‘fake news’ which a previously trusting

populace is gradually coming to grips with. The unquestioning respect Singaporeans have for

authority has even led to the ICZ receiving requests for support from students and more

troublingly, zoologists. As Singapore enters its next fifty years of development in an

increasingly uncertain geo-political climate, it is essential that its people develop more

critical thinking and independent analysis skills.

Singapore Re(re)membered encourages visitors to see these artworks in a new light to

recall and question previously embraced narratives. Through the re-examination of fables,

movies and archival material, Singapore Re(re)membered helps amplify the voices of

marginalised communities such as sexual minorities and the indigenous Malay population

who often find themselves muzzled in a restricted media-scape. It is hoped that this

exhibition encourages Singaporeans to reflect on the compromises made in the name of

progress and spur them to imagine a new future.

In recommending the exhibition site, different locations such as the Singapore Art

Museum which focuses on contemporary art and Singapore’s longest-running independent

arts space, the Substation were considered. However, to attract a broader audience and to

better contextualise the show, it should be staged at the National Gallery Singapore. While

the critical nature of this exhibition is not lost to me, the Gallery has shown a willingness to

critically examine Singapore’s history and narrative. It has staged shows by controversial

local artists and its current collaboration with the Tate, Artist and Empire is an effort to re-

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contextualise Asia’s colonial legacy. Housed in Singapore’s former Supreme Court and City

Hall, the Gallery is the centrepiece of Singapore’s cultural policy. More importantly, it has

been the setting for many of the nation’s historic moments including the surrender of the

Japanese during World War II and the country’s National Day Parades; it serves as a

poignant reminder that history is written by the victors.

Additional Programs

I would like to propose apart from inviting the artists to conduct educational talks on their

works over the weekends, Ho should conduct his performance lecture to accompany the

video work Utama, Everyman is I.

Loo should re-enact his performance for Cane and to be accompanied by an interview

between himself and Josef Ng and add another piece of archival material to this exhibition.

(Word count for Curatorial Proposal + Additional Programs - 1018)

Image from Cane (2012) http://www.loozihan.com/cane2012/

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2. Wall Labels

Ho Tzu Nyen

Singaporean, b. 1976

Utama, Every name is I, 2003

Single channel video, duration 23min

Ho is an artist who has evolved from working primarily with film and video to create multi-

sensory environmental installations. In this early work, Ho revisits the legendary account of

the founding of Singapore. While official records of Singapore’s founding date to 1819 when

it was founded by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles as a colony of the East India Company, little

is known about the pre-colonial founder of Singapore, Sang Nila Utama. A Malay prince

from Palembang, Utama coined the name Singapura (Lion City) in approximately the 14th

Century, when he encountered a lion on the island’s shores. However, this fable has been

questioned as lions are not native to Singapore.

Ho crafts a genre-bending film part documentary and part fiction. Through the deployment of

a small cast who play interchangeable roles including one Malay actor who depicts a mythic

lineage of conquerors and explorers from Julius Cesar, to Christopher Columbus to Utama

and eventually Raffles who wrests control of Singapore from Utama’s descendant. Ho

collapses time and space to query Singapore’s founding narrative and asks cryptically, “Who

defines the truth?”

Ming Wong

Singaporean, b. 1971

Four Malay Stories, 2005,

4 channel video installation, 25 min loop

Ming Wong is a multimedia artist based in primarily in Berlin. He is focused on the image as

a form of collective memory and as a medium for cross-cultural experiences and

performances. In "Four Malay Stories," Wong re-enacts scenes and plays all 16 roles (male

and female) from four films by Malay movie icon, P. Ramlee. Ramlee was an icon of the 50s

and 60s, the forgotten golden age of Singapore’s film industry, whose popularity cut across

the racial divide and social strata. To this date, his memory is a beacon for cultural pluralism

and racial harmony.

Apart from exploring gender and evoking stereotypes of yesteryear, Wong speaks of the loss

of language. While Singapore’s national anthem is sung in Malay and Malay is the national

language, the majority of Singaporeans, including Wong do not learn the language. Each

monitor repeats scenes where Wong repeats his lines in Malay, until he is almost able to

reproduce them correctly.

This video not only questions Singapore’s presumed national identity, but by recalling an era

where the local cinema industry produced and exported Malay and Chinese films regionally,

questions the current lack of demand for Singapore’s artistic production.

(195 words)

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Loo Zihan

Singaporean, b. 1981

Archiving Cane, 2012

Installation and mixed media performance

Loo is a performance and moving-image artist who builds his performances on archival

material and history. He focuses on issues regarding politics, queer identity and shame.

Archiving Cane is an installation comprising documentation and props from Loo’s live

performance of “Cane”, newspaper reviews of “Cane” and documentation including

newspapers and videos from Josef Ng’s original “Brother Cane” performance.

Audience agency is encouraged through interaction with the artefacts and by providing your

account and interpretation of “Brother Cane” after this installation. Loo will be present to

interact with the audience and check your age in compliance of the censorship board’s

directives that the installation is accessible to persons aged 21 and above.

Archiving Cane is performance art in the guise of archiving Loo’s 2012 performance Cane.

Through this installation, Loo exposes the myth of objective impartiality in archival. All

archivists from Loo to journalists who covered the “Brother Cane” scandal have their own

agendas whether self-imposed or directed by the state. Power is wielded and yielded as the

past is manipulated and some narratives are inevitably privileged above others.

Archiving Cane raises pertinent questions over the subject of identity, collective memory and

who shapes Singapore’s narrative.

(195 words)

John Clang

Singaporean, b. 1973

The Land of My Heart, 2014,

15 photographs, fine art archival print

Clang is a photographer based primarily in New York City. In this series, Clang recalls the

commoditised images of female sensuality, the Singapore Girl and subverts her. An icon of

the national carrier and a symbol of Asian exoticism, the Singapore Girl is typically

showcased in exotic destination. Clang’s photographs resemble Singapore Airline’s typical

commercials, but she is now re-appropriated as an ambassador for Singapore’s heartlands.

Many of the photographs are set in Clang’s childhood housing estate and portray scenes of

everyday life are now under threat in the city’s relentless drive for efficient use of land. By

reclaiming a national icon and placing them in scenes relatable to Singaporeans, Clang is

reminiscing on a bygone era and protesting the erosion of memories.

Based in NYC, Clang’s sense of displacement from Singapore is growing and he has

included his personal reflections of home. In this series he has handwritten messages on each

photograph which reveal themselves only upon closer inspection. For example, the text in

“Flower Shop” (above) are from an uncle suffering cancer. The stark nature of the words “I

don’t want to die. Help me.” shock the viewer and are a loving memorial to Clang’s uncle.

(198 words)

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Robert Zhao Renhui

Singaporean, b. 1979

Ulu Tirum, Bukit Pangjang, Singapore and View from Ulu Tirum, 2014

Diptych, archival piezographic print

Zhao works mainly with photography, but often adopts a multi-disciplinary approach by

presenting images together with documents and artefacts which may or may not be fictional.

His work addresses man’s relationship with nature, paying close attention to how our

attitudes and opinions shape our assumptions about the natural world.

The Land Archive is another fictional institute created by Zhao to create dialogue between

Singapore’s man-made infrastructure and its natural spaces. Created as ‘documentation’ for

the archive, Zhao revisits Singapore’s policy of land reclamation which has increased the

island’s land mass by twenty two per cent. Landmarks such as the Marina Bay Sands

integrated resorts have been built on reclaimed land and profoundly altered the island’s

cityscape and economic destiny. Zhao weaves a fictional account of how in the 1990s as

Singapore was under-going rapid urbanisation and land reclamation; sand was stored in

remote parts of the island. These man-made sand dunes temporarily changed Singapore’s

urban-scape, eventually becoming attractions for local tourists.

Through this fictional account of a not too distant past by an assumed authority, Zhao invents

narratives for Singaporeans to ponder on national boundaries and collective memories.

(188 words)

3. Checklist

Image from https://www.gillmanbarracks.com/others/gillman-barracks/1057

Ho Tzu Nyen (b. 1976, Singapore), Utama, Every name is I, 2003, Single channel video

(23min), collection of National Gallery Singapore, Singapore.

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Image from http://www.initiartmagazine.com/interview.php?IVarchive=12

Ming Wong (b. 1971, Singapore) Four Malay Stories, 2005, 4 channel video installation, (25

min loop), collection of National Gallery Singapore, Singapore

Images from http://www.loozihan.com/archiving-cane-2012/

Loo Zihan (b. 1981), Archiving Cane, 2012, Installation and Performance (mixed media),

Collection of the artist.

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Images from http://johnclang.com/the-land-of-my-heart

John Clang (b. 1973, Singapore), The Land of My Heart, 2014, 15 photographs, Fine art

archival print, (96.5 X 142.2 cm), Private collection

Images from http://prudentialeyeawards.com/artists/photography-2/robert-zhao

Robert Zhao Renhui (b. 1979, Singapore), Ulu Tirum, Bukit Pangjang, Singapore and View

from Ulu Tirum 2014, Archival Piezographic Print in frame (121cm x 84cm), Diptych,

collection of The Land Archive, Singapore