Done and Started

Just Done

Just Started

Currently at the Singapore Art Museum

SAM

Is It Tomorrow Yet? – Highlights from the Daimler Art Collection
27 Nov ‘08 – 1 Mar ‘09

An extensive showcase of Daimler’s art collection. This traveling exhibition currently takes over the space used to display the museum’s permanent collection. Mostly modern contemporary art from the last 80 years or so with emphasis on minimalism, Bauhaus, and the like.

Recommended route: start from Gallery 1.3 (oldest works, basis of the collection), then go upstairs to cover Galleries 2.1 – 2.6 and finish in Gallery 1.1 (latest works). Not to be missed.

Transcendence: Modernity and Beyond in Korean Art
8 Nov ‘08 – 15 Mar ‘09

The exhibition examines Korean contemporary art development over the last five decades and features over 40 works by 12 artists. I like this one, especially the earlier works.

Recommended route: start from Gallery 1.10 (across the courtyard, near the glass hall), climb the stairs up to level 2, and don’t miss the gallery on the 3rd floor (just follow the arrow).

APAD: Tradition, Innovation and Continuity
13 Dec ‘08 – 5 Apr ‘09

This exhibition showcases works by current and former members of APAD (Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya), a society of artists with Malay heritage founded 46 years ago.

The galleries are quite hard to find, make sure you cover Galleries 2.8 – 2.10 and take the lift next to 2.8 up to level 3.

8Qsam

This is Not a Print!
10 Jan ‘09 – 26 Jul ‘09

A play on Magritte’s “Ceci nes’t pas une pipe” – this exhibition features a selection of over 70 multiples and prints from the SAM Tyler Art Collection; presented to the museum from master printer Kenneth Tyler’s collection in conjunction with the inception of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Don’t miss works by Jasper Johns, David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, and Roy Lichstenstein.

I Don’t Know…

Yesterday in NUS my colleague (sort of, I don’t actually have a colleague. Long story) – anyway, this colleague and I dropped by the Forum after lunch and it happened that there was some sort of bazaar going on. One of the booths was by Youth.sg and we wandered there, wanting to see if they have freebies and such. There, we were given pieces of paper with the question: “What’s your motivation in life?”. For a moment I was struck by a deep sense of sadness, because I really don’t know. I don’t know what makes me excited to wake up in the morning (I rarely do), I don’t know what my cause is, I don’t know what I actually love, I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know if I’m on the right track, I don’t know what I want to achieve. So I scribbled down some cliche answers and got my picture taken and tell them I’m a student. (Why? I don’t know. It’s complicated.)

I feel so miserable.

p.s. You can submit your own motivation in life via www.feedme.youth.sg

Looming the Memory

Guiness Theatre, The Substation
7-8 January 2009

Part of the M1 Singapore Fringe festival

Who would’ve thought a handmade rug  could transport us to a rural village in Greece? Thomas Papathanassiou does just that. His astounding one man show, Looming the Memory, is a memoir that draws on the theme of identity, family, heritage, and home – things that are close to the hearts of people in immigrant countries such as Singapore.

The stage is bare but for a rug rolled on the floor. The play opens with childhood memories: an old woman at her loom, weaving strips of garment of a deceased relative – weaving the memories. As the play unfolds and the rug unrolls, snippets of memories are brought to life, one interwoven with the other.

Thomas Papathanassiou’s parents migrated from Greece to Australia, leaving all their relatives behind. Papathanassiou spent part of his childhood in Greece and he tries to explore his own  family history through stories told by relatives and neighbours during his visits to Greece many years later. He discovers untold grudges, connections, and stories through his conversations with people from his childhood.  It’s his  struggle to understand where he actually belongs, as with many migrant children who never feel they fully belong to one place.

Papathanassiou plays eighteen characters that makes up episodes of the story, including grandmothers, uncles, neighbors, himself and a chicken, very effectively – even when they are conversing between themselves. With just the slightest change in posture or expression we can easily identify the character he’s become. The transition between characters are done seamlessly, making it look almost effortless.

With his powerful emotions and effective story-telling, we are taken through a crowded market, rows of fig trees, an old school building, just as if we are walking with the characters themselves. We can feel the festivity of a dance, the blue skies and warm sun of a Greek summer, and the commotion of a village fire.

As we leave Greece, the rug is rolled up and the characters were flashed once again in rapid succession without Papathanassiou ever losing one bit of control or intensity. The phrase uttered at the end reverberates with me: it is a difficult thing to have your heart in two places. This journey of self-discovery asks us to question ourselves how family and culture has shaped us to who we are.

Looming the Memory is a very personal and intimate storytelling that grabs the audience’s attention right from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the end.

Thomas Papathanassiou trained in Curtin University (Theatre / Literature), WAAPA (Music Theatre), and VCA (Grad. Dip. in Animateuring – Performace Creation). He is an actor, writer, choreographer, dramaturge, and theatre-maker. Looming the Memory won Best Actor (2006 Perth Theatre Trust Equity Guild Awards) and Best Production (2007 Blue Room Theatre Awards)

Filling The Void Within

Just being weird. Click to see the rest of the set (Facebook).
Thanks to Billy and Els for assistance.

Doodle of Me Dog

New Year

Much like the previous years, I spent New Year’s Eve doing nothing. I’m always too scared to get squeezed among the new year crowd. What’s so special about January 1st anyway? It doesn’t mean everyone in the world have to step out of the house then. Why are some days more special than others anyway?

Oh well. I was in Jakarta over last weekend. I should go back home only during long holidays (like X’mas + New Year) from now on. Whatever their reason is, long holidays are used by half of Jakarta’s population to either pulang kampung to their hometown or blow an obscene amount of money away somewhere overseas preferably. With the absence of half of its usual residents, Jakarta is cleaner, the air doesn’t choke and (most) traffic jam hot spots are gone.

But the TV always make me upset. Local TV, that is. We have a myriad of free (non-cable) channels, but it seems everything are just meant to make people upset. Well at least, me. The news broadcast are always about corruption, gov’t funds getting corrupted, corruptors escaping their sentences due to “insufficient evidence”, corruptors wanting to get elected as president, and murderers, and poverty. The entertainment programmes show inane celebrity gossips. Starting from “the most exposed crying incident” to the most common gossips about marriages, divorces, and who’s dating who. Annoying. Both to the celebrities and to us watching. The local drama series hasn’t improved by one bit, and the make up worn are still about 6 inches thick.

Here’s to a happier year for all people, despite whatever’s happening to the world.