A Batik Painting Workshop

E organized an afternoon of batik painting workshop for us. Since I wasn't the one to sort out all these, I didn't bother to remember details. Hahaha. I simply turned up at the stated timing for lunch and coffee at the correct venue, and then toddled over to The Art Faculty for the workshop.

This workshop is led by Iolana of Raya Artisans. The batik painting is done on wood — coasters, boards, cups and plates, and even a table lamp. You could buy them. But the bad news for me today is, I have actually sit down and commit the time and effort to produce two coasters to take home. Arrrrrrgh.

Art classes used to be compulsory for me in school, as well as on the weekends. I'm not particularly interested in them. I ended up being half decent at certain things, but not others. Often, it's a matter of putting in the hours and effort to practice.

The Art Faculty loans out its space for artists to host their events. My only complaint — it's so eco-friendly that the AC is almost non-existent, and the temperature hovered at like 27dC, and I perspired like crazy. I skipped the complimentary drink since I just came from lunch, and was fed and hydrated. I also had a bottle of lovely chilled water, so I didn't need extras. 

Now, this batik thing. Batik is the art of wax-resist dyeing techniques used to create intricate patterns on the cloth. I've seen artisans at work. I have done some on fabric, but with stencils, not freehand. Today's workshop is done freehand using a tjanting to drip the hot wax over the wooden coasters. Haizzzz. Tracing and drawing patterns. I'm not patient, and it really tests my grit in tracing those lines. And painting them. My hand isn't that steady, and without the experience of the professional artisans who've had years of practice, I know my coasters are going to turn out juvenile. So I opted for the easiest patterns. I wouldn't even call it replicating. They looked nowhere similar to the ones (hand-drawn) on retail. Hahahahah.

Iolana has done these workshops for a few years, and it's obvious she's got her logistics down pat. I have sufficient information and guidance in dripping the hot wax over the wood. Whether I can create the neatness or lines I envision, is quite another thing. These workshops can travel to someone's living room with a big enough table to seat 6-8 pax, or to a corporate seminar room. As long as there're electrical points for the bubbling pots of wax, a water point and sink for hand-washing nearby, the workshop is a go. The set-up is clean and not messy. Hot wax isn't dirty that way. 

Our coasters are made of untreated mahogany wood. Once we were done, we waxed it, and then added another layer of resin (food grade) to seal it. Mine didn't turn out too bad. E and S made much nicer ones since they really put their hearts into it. I simply wanted to complete it without them looking too crappy.

Our completed coasters.
It's obvious who put more heart into having them look presentable.
Teehehehe.

Chilling Out at Empress Lawn

I have a fair bit of work to do at Singapore Art Week that's still going on, but I'm glad I can have Choya come along for many events. One of them is the 10th edition of 'Light to Night Singapore'. Over two evenings last week, the Good Pet Fair hosted the festival's first-ever 'Pet Weekend' at Empress Lawn in the Civic District, featuring 'low-noise' performances and 21 vendors selling pet items, as well as food and drinks for humans.

We didn't intend to have dinner here, and actually took a late lunch so that we wouldn't be hungry while checking out the area, and I got my hosting duties done. How long we stayed would be dependent on how comfortable Choya would be. We stayed on quite bit. We hung out near the pods (lit when night fell) on Empress Lawn. These sculptural pods are done by Weixin Quek Chong, titled 'Instar Dreaming (in slow wave)', part of the 'SANTAI' series of installations across five locations by various artists including Amanda Chong and Michael Lin, Firdaus Sani, Syahmin Huda, and the duo Amanda Tan and Irsyad Ishak.

Choya enjoyed the transition of well, light to night — from the 6pm sunset hues to nightfall. She wasn't perturbed by crowds or humans, or other dogs and cats. She happily chilled out on the nice grass. Choya was absolutely comfortable tonight. She just didn't like the drums very much.  

Of course I advocated for her. My RBF ensured that not many people would come near. At our timing, and where we were perched, most pet owners were respectful of our space and kept their dogs on leash and away from Choya. The ones who did approach, asked for permission or got the vibes right. Heh. Choya didn't mind those floofs who approached.  

Besides hanging out and checking out the going-ons and flood-watching, we also watched projections on the iconic Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall, we also took a stroll over to National Gallery, then back to The Arts House. The projections on the heritage buildings are always lovely to watch, to see what the artists created come to life in a big way. 

These light projections across the buildings are always a sight to behold. Even Choya was fascinated and she took in all the changing colors and patterns. And we should know the artists behind them. We have, National Gallery Singapore: 'Ansiblomoo' by Fyerool Darma (fiber-optic ecosystems) and 'Memory Gesture' by Ngoc Nau (Vietnam agriculture), The Arts House: 'Larut’s Tears' by Gerimis Art Project and Youngsook Choi, and 'Start Here: From Every Vantage Point', Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall: 'Flower Power' by Noah Tan and Dr. Azariah Tan. 

SIFA 2025 :: ‘The Sea and the Neighbourhood’

I loved it that the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) built a pavilion at Bedok Town Square and held its Festival Opening Night there as well. The Opening Show is ‘The Sea and the Neighbourhood’. It is a a multi-disciplinary collaboration with Philip Tan and The Orchestra of the Music Makers, Christina Chan and Singapore Ballet, and vocalists Claire Teo and Mathilda D’Silva.  

The orchestral piece 'Ode to the Sea' and the dance 'Pact of Water' have separate names, but they all came together in one cohesive show as ‘The Sea and the Neighbourhood’, along with visual artist Wang Ruobing's installation 'Beneath Tide, Running Water' that's integrated as part of the stage at this pavilion.  

What a fabulous Opening Show!!! I was pleased to run into many friends whom I hadn't seen for a while. Sure, we're in touch via social media and texts, but it was way more fun to catch up very quickly IRL. SIFA is always a festival in which I get to see all the friends, especially those who flew in to watch the shows!

Bedok Town Square is extremely friendly for Choya to attend too. So she put a batik sailor bow and came along. She wasn't the least bit perturbed, except when the flashbulbs went off as the Guest of Honour arrived and did his rounds. The flashes were non-stop for ten minutes and The poor girl thought it was lightning, that well, preceded thunder. I'm very proud of Choya. She got plenty of attention and head rubs from all her aunties and uncles, kor-kors and jie-jies. She didn't mind that one bit tonight; she was in a super sociable mood.

The SIFA team that organized this post-show reception is a gem. Whose idea was it to have chilled sugarcane juice? That was so awesome. I couldn't resist post-show nibbles of the cutest nasi lemak and vegan otak, and vegetarian rojak. I was really tickled by the 'white rojak' because that was all freeze-fried. It really felt like Choya's food. 

I loved the venue and the whole concept the SIFA Pavilion at Bedok Town Square. I was very tickled by the backdrop of hawker stalls. We’ve never attended a performance in which the scents of kway chap, satay and Hokkien mee wafted by intermittently. Belachan too. Hahahaha.

I had stared at that signboard for spinach soup for the past two hours, before the show and after. Everyone else had been staring at different signboards of the stalls at the hawker center in the background. We all decided that we would get supper. So we did. I got spinach soup. Heh. It was really satisfying.

NHK 放送博物館

Shuto-ken told me to visit NHK Museum of Broadcasting / NHK 放送博物館 at Atagoyama. So I did. Shuto-ken is the weather mascot accompanying the weatherman. I'm a huge fan of this little fluffy-stuffy.

It was so coooool that they provided an interactive set-up for visitors to sit in the chairs of the news journalists at the broadcast studios, recreating exactly what you see on the news channel on television. 

The 8K Theatre was a bit of a let-down because of the audio that isn't on par with the screen resolution. It was also playing a very boring version of Swan Lake. At the point of time we sat for 8 minutes or so, we couldn't see the definition of 8K in this dark set. Couldn't they have chosen something brighter or perhaps more action-packed? :P

I wasn't interested in the station's famous broadcasters or actors. I was more keen to see their relics of the 'past' — the older technology used before streaming came in. The piano and the synths. Ahhh... truly old school.

I know some of the giant characters from the cartoons, retired or otherwise. Hahaha. There's Chiko-chan, and Gonta-kun (remember Dekirukana / できるかな?), then there's Little Charo (the dog), and puppets from Hyokkori (ひょっこりひょうたん島). I really liked Ninja Jajamaru-kun! Too bad they didn't make fluffy stuffies of Shuto-ken for sale. (Of course I asked about it.)

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MoT)

Stopped by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoT) to look at poop. Hahaha. Yes. There're three current exhibitions going on, till the first week of July. I stopped by the rooms for 'Where My Words Belong', and Ho Tzu Nyen's 'A for Agents', but I didn't linger. I only had eyes for one artist, really — Saeborg.

One is a Singaporean artist (Ho Tzu Nyen) whose works I've seen and understand. It's hilarious when I heard a Singaporean accent explaining to me about the name 'Singapura' and 'Utama'. Okaaaay. That's a hard pass. For 'Where My Words Belong', it's a tad too cerebral. It explores language, words, perceptions and thought languages. That's too close to work things. I have no wish to think about cultural identity today.  I literally walked through it and left. 

The one I was keen to see featured the winners of Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024 — Saeborg and Michiko Tsuda. I'm not big on film installations — I only appreciate the concepts and the way it's set up in an exhibition. I walked through quickly. I was more interested in the other room.

Michiko Tsuda's video and film installations in this exhibition explore the roles of family members and others' expectations of them. The notion is rather interesting. Lots of screens and videos of characters, and audiences walking by. 

Saeborg is the creator whom I've been absolutely fascinated by. Her latex creations are ridiculously bright, colorful, cute and poignant. She has painted caricatures of the relationship between animals and humans, the slaughter of livestock, its consumption and intentional reproduction. Too bad that there isn't an artist performance on a week day, otherwise that would have been an excellent experience. 

I saw loads of inflated poop. Yay. Choya's sitters keep me updated about poop and such daily. Her poop is the only clue we all have as to whether her meds are okay, if she's feeling secure enough to toilet properly, or if her GI tract is stressed out. I LOVED THESE POOP INSTALLATIONS. They made me so happy that I was chuckling for ten minutes after leaving the room.

I like to pop by Mori Art Museum (MAM) too since so much of their focus is on commercial art or totally experimental mash-ups. This time, I went and totally didn't get 'Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei'. MAM's museum shop is fantastic for souvenir shopping. MoT is a nice medium-sized museum that is edgy enough to draw visitors, but not so experimental as to keep away traditional audiences. I enjoy their current curation. Got some postcards from their MoT's museum shop too. 

Lunch at SOUL

Made it to a lunch at SOUL 소울 at Yongsan-gu. I didn't exactly check with the girls if they would like to eat at this restaurant. I made the arbitrary decision to book this restaurant for lunch. Well, I kinda know their preferences. But this was mainly because I wanted to check out the neighborhood that isn't full of concrete buildings or anything close to Myeondong (that is not an area I like).

I didn't need to have a fancy meal in a fancy mall or a hotel. Give me some character in the location of the restaurant. Truly, the icing was a long afternoon stroll around the Haebangchon neighborhood located on the steep slopes. Navigate using Naver and get a ride via Uber. We had no problems getting to and fro the area. 

I love it that the restaurant made it casual-chic at lunch. We sat at the counter that wrapped the open kitchen and immediately felt comfortable. We loved its ambience. The lunch menu at SOUL 소울 was excellent. I actually didn't do that much homework before coming to lunch. I simply turned up to read the menu, and was pleasantly surprised by how solid the presentation was, and how well the flavors mesh together. 

I love their rendition of yukhoe with Hanwoo beef. The mul-hoe was cleverly not done spicy, and it used Korean sea bream (domi). Both dishes were gorgeous! I wouldn't have minded seconds for these. Hahahah. Lunch was accompanied by a light bottle of Bourgogne pinot noir. 

S had the Hanwoo striploin, and it arrived in the form of a Korean hansik. Lovely. A total feast for the eyes before she began the meal. There was multi-grain brown rice to go along too. Yay! 

My main of lamb tteokgalbi, which is supposed to be minced meat, came in a 'sausage roll', with the 'crust' being thinly sliced mushrooms. The accompanying cucumbers were presented exactly like the handle of the meat knife it came with. The meat knife's handle holds five colors, and Chef Dae Hyun Yoon explained that the five colors represented the harmony of yellow, blue, white, red and black, like how "we put our hearts, ethics, passion, efforts, and hospitality in our food as putting “soul” in the food." 

We felt it. It is truly so.

We were so tickled that a course of noodles/capellini had chopsticks that matched the colour of our earrings. Hehehe. Those are the details that the servers caught when we sat down, and they opted to match it. S wore a pair of gold earrings, and she got one yellow chopstick! E had on black earrings, and had black chopsticks; mine were diamonds and I got grey chopsticks. Oooof. Too cute. 

This E is an ice-cream/soft serve/gelato person. She's super into it. She's been having a soft serve daily. Oddly, we haven't had many chances to sit down for a bingsu. Too cute that the dessert included bingsu with truffles, leaning on the savory side instead of the sweet. Of course I liked it! 

Chef Dae Hyun Yoon and Chef Kim Hee-eun have put some much thought into the food and the flavors at SOUL. Our lunch menu today indeed told a story of Korean food traditions, and each dish had been uniquely presented with the chefs' contemporary signature touches. 

Chef Kim Hee-eun also does pasta upstairs at the roof terrace — Egg & Flour Fresh Pasta. It's so awesome to have the restaurant's ceramic plates and bowls made by the ceramic studio in the same building. The pleasing aesthetics and clean lines are made by ceramic artist Shin Boegun at Mujagi Studio. We popped downstairs to take a look at the works. Almost bought half the studio home. Heh!

Port City 2.0 :: Nasi Dagang

I was going to take a stroll around the National Museum area to check out the installations, projections and performances at Singapore Night Festival over the next two weekends, weather permitting. 

Then I saw a pop-up of nasi dagang done by Z (Global Mat Soul Kitchen) x Laut Singapore at the Armenian Street where the party was themed Port City 2.0. The menu looked amazing. It's very different from Z's usual biryani boxes. 

Totally made Armenian street my first stop of the Singapore Night Festival. It rained all day, and thankfully it cleared by late afternoon. When I got there at 6.45pm to queue for food, it was actually cool, and conducive to hang around outdoors. The food stalls weren't allowed to sell till 7pm. Luckily the queue was not too bad; quite short, and the moment 7pm came around, it moved fast. We got our portions. We didn't need a table; we were okay to sit on a spacious bench to munch.

There was free Heineken Silver being given out. They urged us to follow their IG account to get the cans of beers. Well, I don't want to, but I can do a post about Heineken on Choya's public IG for them. Heh! Happily swept up four cans for the four of us! This Silver is touted as a premium lager, and the beer generously gave out 320ml cans. It tasted pretty decent!

There were many little stalls along this street. I think I spied shopkeepers selling mineral stones and uhhh singing bowls. Okay, hard pass. Saw some performances too. On the other side, SMU was participating in the fest too, but they themed it SMU Arts Fest, and also had a festival village that had food stalls as well. That was a fenced off area with teenage and shelter. I didn't get to see those since Choya was with me, and she's a 'prohibited item' inside the festival food village. 

At Armenian Street, we had to get all the bowls! There were three types on the menu. At $10 each, they were totally manageable and absolutely delicious. Since it's a partnership with Laut Singapore, then we got all seafood. There were lemak padi with fried ikan basa, prawn raja with shrimps, and oddly, tuna tataki. Heh. All the nasi was sooooo good.

The friends went down the street and came back with cookies and macarons from The Flour Department. Heh. That was randomly, dessert. We didn't want to have more beer and adjourned home for AC, iced water, bit of wine and conversation.

Friday 18 August was the first night of pop-up at the Port City 2.0 festival, and the bowls sold out in 45 minutes. Tonight, Saturday 19 August was insane- it sold out in 32 minutes! What the. People sure like their food. I think there'll be tweaks to the menu next weekend, and Z promised to prep more bowls. So I guess the queues next weekend will be much longer than this weekend's!

'ART' by NUNi Productions

The whole point of taking this trip to Bangkok, is to see friends and watch Yasmine Reza's 'ART' staged by NUNi Productions. The show has traveled to Chiang Mai, Songkhla, Isan, Hat Yai, and is going to Hua Hin, and Chiang Mai again. It will always return to Bangkok, so I was determined to catch the show in Bangkok, and I was so pleased that I made it. 

Directed by Pattarasuda 'Bua' Anuman Rajadhon, this iteration is shorter at 90 minutes, and felt a lot more compact. It was absolutely delightful! It was heavier on the comedic lines and stressed a lot more on friendship between the three men and their relationship since the director and actors wanted to reach out to a wider audience across Thai provinces. The set is kept simple so that it's adaptable to any performance space the team turns up at. This Bangkok July run is held at Jim Thompson Art Center. 

The actors use their own names in the show, and used national artist Kamol's name as the artist for the 'white painting'. Heh. The production sees Pawit Mahasarinand as Pom, is the buyer of the painting, Nikorn Saetang is Nikorn, the one slated to be married and works at the his uncle-in-law's stationery business, and Damkerng Thitapiyasak is Dam, the 'antagonist' and 'rebel' of the play who is appalled that his friend bought a white painting for 1.2 million baht.

Stayed on for the post-show talk, conducted in Thai, of course. I wasn't actually sure that I could comprehend all of it, especially if it had theater references. But I pretty much understood the conversation. I had to translate for the man, but I didn't do an everything-translation. I simply translated the gist of the questions and the answers provided by director Bua and the actors. There were some comments from the audiences that weren't framed as questions, but rather, as a statement or by way of thanking the actors for their hard work.

The man was rather tickled. He has seen this play in different languages, but not in English. Hahah. He really enjoyed the show. The English and French surtitles projected on the screen had excellent timing vis à vis the actors' delivery of lines. He also preferred this iteration in Thai over the Taiwanese adaptation (presented in Mandarin) by Godot Theatre Company. 

At the post-show dialogue.
From left: Pawit, Dam, Nikorn, and director Bua.

M+

Made sure that I spent a few hours at M+. The visual arts museum was supposed to be opened in 2017, but that never came to fruition. It finally opened in November 2021, and I really wanted to visit it. We got tickets via Cityline, but you could also just buy from M+ ticketing counter upon arrival. The queues are still non-existent.

It's a beautiful venue at the West Kowloon Cultural District, and I was struck by how it gives out distinctly Tate Modern vibes. The gorgeous Hong Kong Palace Museum is next door to M+, and I think many people are surging there to view the current exhibition (ticketed) hosted by jewelry house Cartier that runs till 14 August 2023. 

I was secretly relieved that we missed the Yayoi Kusama exhibition that ended on May 14. I'm not a fan of her pumpkins or polka dots. I've seen her installations twice as standalone shows, and come across so many of her works dotted (pun intended) here and there. I don't think I can deal with more polka dots. M+ still has a number of the artist's pieces on the ground floor and basement. 

I took my time looking at the exhibits; the brain cells were in overdrive. I think the friends were a tad bored. LOLOL. Art is subjective right? So it all depends on what you're interested in. It's like, I can deal with Renaissance and Classical. I cannot deal with Romantic and Impressionism. I definitely cannot deal with Monet or Van Gogh. (Hence I absolutely hated having to play Beethoven and Chopin piano exam pieces.) I didn't dare to drag the friends to the Affordable Art Fair at the HKCEC that ended on 21 May. Teehehehe.  

In the East and South Galleries, there're also design and architecture highlights from around Asia. Singapore's Marina One designed by Ingenhoven Architects was shown, as well as Hans Tan's three works from his 'Spotted Nyonya' series (2011) by way of a kamcheng, a candle holder and a dish. I also liked the two 1950s rattan pieces from the now defunct Kowloon Rattan Ware Company (九龍藤器公司). They're chairs, you know, those saucer chairs that are pretty comfortable to curl up with a book and chill in. 

These galleries don't just note architecture in the region. They also note design and quality elements from living makers in Asia. While the design elements in the visual galleries are cool, I got a bit tired of them after seeing them endlessly displayed. 

My personal preference is the works shown at the Sigg Collection's 'From Revolution to Globalisation' (till 23 July 2023). Those works are a great summary of the development of Chinese contemporary art from the 1970s till today. The Sigg Gallery is huge, and this exhibition is so well curated, showcasing all art forms through the decades. I really lingered over them. 

'Art and Politics' 2006 / 《藝術與政治》
Oil on canvas / 釉彩布本
Wang Guangyi / 王廣義 
(born 1957 in Heilongjiang, works in Beijing)
Donated to the M+ Sigg Collection.

华艺节 :: 'ART' by Godot Theatre Company

We're all familiar with 'ART' by French playwright Yasmina Reza. It's an observation about the complexities of friendship between three men, sparked by a heated discussion over the purchase of a piece of art, and if this piece is worth the price paid. Ultimately, it's about how much friendship is worth to you, and its intrinsic value. I was pleased to watch a production of it staged by Taiwan's Godot Theatre Company (果陀劇場) at Esplanade's Huayi Festival.

Directed by the Company's Artistic Director Liang Chi-Ming, this production stars popular celebrities Pu Hsueh-Liang (卜學亮), Chu Chung Heng (屈中恆) and Tseng Kuo Chen (曾國城). They took the respective roles as Marc (the supposed antagonist), Serge (the buyer of the painting) and Yvan (the supposed pacifist). But the English names have been changed to Chinese names. The blurb (written in simplified Chinese for the Singapore audience) explained,

“友谊”到底为何物？都是ART惹的祸！ 

是艺术？还是异数？   

《ART》跟艺术无关，跟朋友有关。 

你有没有朋友？我是说“真正的朋友” 

你在朋友眼中是什么样子？

I giggled quite a bit. WHAT IS ART ANYWAY. Recalling the recent works seen at ART SG, that 'lone boot stepping on a yellow balloon' placed on the floor boggled my mind. Did you see that boot? Whyyy. Hahaha. I wonder who bought the New York-based Taiwanese Huang Benrei's (黃本蕊)  fibreglass and stainless steel giant Yellow Rabbit (Nini 尼尼) simply titled 'Rainy Days Variation'. That was a really cheerful piece.

The matinee show included a birthday celebration for Tseng Kuo Chen. They said that it was his 55th birthday, and it felt apt to celebrate it since their three shows in Singapore were their 55th, 56th and 57th show. So I watched the final show, hence, the birthday cake to celebrate Kuo Chen's 55th. Okaaaaay. Ha! Apparently these are Taiwanese celebrities who are also household names in the entertainment circle, and host game shows and act in films and television series. Most in the audience obviously know them. I have seen their names around, but I don't know who they are. 

It's quite a brilliant adaptation by Godot Theatre Company. It was a two-hour and 15 minute performance without intermission. I enjoyed it immensely but, TBH, it was quite long. If they shortened it slightly to two hours that would have been ideal. The Chinese script is clever and full of puns that only Mandarin speakers understand. The humor was lost in the translated surtitles, I felt. It can't be helped. Some things are not able to be translated well to English. 

ART SG 2023

I couldn't be more pleased to spend an afternoon at ART SG. It was billed as "Southeast Asia's largest art fair", and it didn't disappoint. Spanning two floors, there were many many galleries from all over the region, and the global cities were well-represented, along with their stable of artists. Contemporary art, mainly, of course. Many pieces looked great in the lobbies of buildings or if your house has a spacious foyer and plenty of wall space. 

Unfortunately the purchase of art is one of those things that I've decided not to adopt. I don't want the accompanying baggage of the social circle or the houses/apartments used to display these pieces. It's a lifestyle and way of living that I don't want. Neither do I want to be a secret collector/investor and squirrel them away in storage rooms and let them go at the right prices. I'll simply be part of an audience, and study a little more about an artist if I should like his/her vision, creative vibes and final creations. Purely theoretical.

I skipped the VIP Preview evening because, well, I wasn't keen to see acquaintances and I didn't want to schmooze. I needed to spend some time with the dog that night because she went to play school all day. I was glad that J asked if I wanted to join her in the day for a browse at the fair. That would be awesome. It was a chance to see her, have a chat and look through lovely artworks together. The afternoon wasn't as crowded as the preview night, and there was plenty of space to browse and stroll. It was also ME-TIME. Yay!

The contemporary artworks held a wide spectrum of medium, genre and methodology. It was a feast for the eyes and such a treat for the senses. There're illustrations, digital art, ink paintings, sculptures, installations, et cetera. We have Yayoi Kusama's big-ish 'Flowers That Bloom Now' (2017) in stainless steel and urethane paint, as well as Takashi Murakami's large 'Flower Parent and Child' (2022) in fibreglass reinforced plastic.

Giggled so hard at Eslite Gallery's prominent push of BenRei Huang (黃本蕊). This is my first view of her work. She worked primarily as a children's book illustrator before turning to creating paintings and 3D work. She has chosen to incorporate the bunny NiNi in all her works. Her rabbits might just be the runaway hit of the whole fair. They're ridiculously cute, decently priced, and many pieces have been sold. 

Leiko Ikemura's corner. 

I didn't actually go through the list of exhibiting galleries or artists. While I might have heard of them, I wouldn't know their works in detail unless I like them. I only took a quick glance at the list; I wanted to be surprised. I found a few new artists whose works I would go read up more about and be familiar with them. I'm less keen on sculptures, 3D pieces and installations. I could easily knock those over. LOL I very much prefer paintings or illustrations. Things on the wall tend to be out of my way and can be protected from my clumsiness. 

I really liked Leiko Ikemura and I was soooo happy to stumble upon her works at the fair and lingered a little to admire them. I was rather taken with Yuichi Hirako's pieces at the fair. I'm fascinated with his concepts — plants for heads, and the overflowing flora in interiors, asking audiences to reconsider our relationships with nature. Well, I also really like the black cats in his paintings. 

I was very disciplined. I only had ONE glass of champagne. Ruinart was the official brand, and its blanc de blancs held court. (Although I couldn't help grinning at 'Ruin-art'. Come on, all of us thought it. 🫠) I was so pleased that J invited me out. Otherwise I'd have totally given this a miss, and it would have been such a loss because art is balm to my soul. I'm inspired by art in so many different ways. The afternoon was much much needed.  

SIFA 2022 :: Devil's Cherry

I was glad that I could catch a play at SIFA 2022. Managed to do a night show. That would be festival commission 'Devil's Cherry', co-written and co-directed by Kaylene Tan and Paul Rae.

The stage was expansive, set in steps to adhere to the different spots of the Australian landscape in the show. Audiences were handed headphones, nicely adjusted for volume and such. We were to listen to the show's dialogue and music through it. 

On stage we had actors Lim Kay Siu, Neo Swee Lin, Elizabeth Sergeant Tan, and "mohiniyattam-trained Indian-Australian queer dancer" Raina Peterson. The blurb also listed the performance as an "experience [that] blends striking visuals by Andy Lim, Brian Gothong Tan and Wong Chee Wai with immersive spatial audio by Darius Kedros and the gothic Outback blues of fabled Australian songsmith, C.W. Stoneking."

Singaporean middle-aged couple Mo and Debbie sold their house and are on a caravan trip around Australia. They're also facing personal crisis and running away from their own demons. Still, these demons caught up with them in the vast Australian forests and dessert. Based on the program notes, I'd assume that they camped out somewhere near present-day Melbourne, maybe around Yarra Valley, which was the land the Wurundjeri settled on.

As the play opens, Debbie and Mo have realised their dream. They've been on the road for months, “at home anywhere and everywhere.” But the land is charged by the energies of the past: strange residues of memory and meaning in almost-human form; one hungry for souls, feeding off their prey's inmost desires, the other beaten down over centuries, but nurturing an epic capacity for love.

.....................

Devil's Cherry was conceived and developed in Melbourne on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We acknowledge and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

We have Rain and Bella Donna (the title 'Devil's Cherry' is also a name for nightshade, and yes, belladonna), both of whom I couldn't decide if they were hallucinations in Mo and Debbie's minds or they're truly sprites on the land. The actors moved effortlessly between dance and speech, human and animal and spirit.

The venue was comfortable. Pasir Panjang Power Station couldn't be chilled easily, but it was cool enough, and the ventilation was sufficient. The logistics of getting tickets and a valet spot were impeccably smooth. This is a great display of experimental theater. I love the set design, and how it has been presented to audiences. 

Most importantly, the script works well in its ambiguous ending. Some didn't like it. Some were like, whuuuut. I didn't mind it. Mo died, that's a fact, but how he died, would remain open to interpretation. Did he die of being poisoned by his wife? Or did he die in the elements while in the throes of a hallucination, did he truly see a spirite? Or was he poisoned by eating nightshade? It didn't matter. It has served its purpose. We all carry losses, some deep, some lighter but all of them hurt. We shoulder them and they weigh down our hearts. These, we felt keenly throughout the fairly emotive performance.  

SIFA 2022 :: Holly Herndon

The Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA) has come round again. It's lovely to have it back IRL, and to attend performances and all. I'm unable to watch all the show that I want, but I can do some. I began the festival with a show by Berlin-based musician and programer Holly Herndon. I wasn't sure if I could make it to the show because Choya was unwell. But she stabilized enough for the man and I to both zip out for 1.5 hours, and she stayed at home on her own. 

Titled 'Holly Herndon: PROTO' after her 2019 third full-length album, the experimental musician's work has been described as 'electronic music and avant-garde pop'. She studies computer-based technology both as an artistic medium and as a research tool. She also uses many AI voices derived from her own in her music, uses machine learning to teach her AI twin named Holly+. Pitchfork summarized the album for us,

On her third album, PROTO, she opens her process to include not just her own voice but the voices of a choral ensemble. The group includes Spawn, a “nascent machine intelligence” that runs on a modified gaming computer and was created in collaboration with AI expert Jules LaPlace. Trained to process audio, Spawn uses neural networks to riff on music she hears; Herndon, who uses she/her pronouns to refer to Spawn, considers the AI not as an instrument or a tool but as an ensemble member.

The man had no idea who Holly Herndon is, and started googling when he sat down, in the ten minutes before the show began, and stared at her stage set-up. He was intrigued. The show tonight uses gadgets thattotally fit what he's into right now — making music at home with an Ableton and Max for Live. Holly Herndon uses an Ableton, of course. Nobody would use Pro Tools nowadays for these types of music-making. 

Creating music like this, she's weaving dreamscapes and leading the audiences to do vivid dreaming. It's up to an artist to add on fun elements to her show. Tonight, the focus was on the voices. There was Holly, and then on vocals — Colin Self, Albertine Sarges, digital artist + technology researcher Mat Dryhurst, and I forgot one vocalist's name. She also brought along a sound engineer. In her Singapore show, she got the audiences to sing along to contribute the data for machine learning. 

The man was interested in her creation process and would have loved to see how the vocalists infused their voices with Spawn, how they did the plug-ins and such. I laughed. Wouldn't that be artists' trade secret?! In experimental music, I also thought that a black box setting would be preferable. And maybe, turn it up by a few more decibels. This was my belated birthday gift to him. It took a while to pick it out. I'm glad that he enjoyed the show. 

Documenting Stockholm’s Chinese Restaurants

For a while now, I have been following Swedish artist Lap-See Lam’s work. She explores the Cantonese diaspora in Sweden through multimedia, using 3D scanning, VR and animation to capture pieces of disappearing Chinese restaurants in Stockholm. She questions the relationship we have with time and space, and memories of physical venues. 

Many years ago, I was intrigued by Lap-See Lam’s creative project titled ‘Mother Tongue’ (2017). It began life as an interactive smartphone app modeled after those virtual/digital tours. Visitors to the show could sit around a Chinese dining table, part of the set, put on VR goggles to take a tour. Viewers are transported into Chinese restaurants which have fantastical hyperrealistic interiors. The Chinese restaurant itself is the narrator, a female. There're subtitles, but the voice uses vocabulary and phrases from a mixture of Swedish and Cantonese. I love it! To me, it's hilarious, because I understand Cantonese, and I could vaguely make out the Swedish since it is rather similar to Norwegian which I haven't entirely lost. 

It’s fascinating to read about what Chinese restaurants mean to the diaspora, and how many of these restaurants were owned by Cantonese-speaking folks churning out familiar-to-me foods. It is no longer like this now. A new generation of Chinese migrants opening up restaurants and cooking have redefined ‘Chinese’ menus in cities outside of China. Every continent’s Chinese restaurants trot out different foods. Hotpot is ubiquitous. However, American Chinese food (died laughing when I realized what the heck ‘moo goo gai pan’ is. 蘑菇雞片 in a pan lah) isn’t anything like Swedish Chinese food. Care for a Swedish smoked salmon wrapped in a Chinese bun (mantou)? Anyone?

Eva Heisler’s interview of Lap-See Lam for Asymptote noted that,

Mother’s Tongue has several iterations, and the same 3D scans of Chinese restaurants used as a source for Mother’s Tongue have been reworked in other creative projects. The recent 2020 exhibition Phantom Banquet at Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, included an immersive virtual reality work as well as sculptural objects. The objects—archeological, speculative—are ghostly fragments of Chinese restaurant décor assembled from 3D scans using a process similar to archeological and forensic reconstructions.

In this Asymptote interview titled ‘Lap-See Lam, The Chinese Restaurant as Portal’, the writer asked the artist to share more about “her interest in documenting Stockholm’s Chinese restaurants, her fascination with the immateriality and negative space of 3D laser scanning, and her creative exploitation of the vulnerabilities of the scanner to errors and glitches.” 

The artist explained how the sale of her 36-year-old family restaurant in 2014 pushed her to document the space she was so familiar with, only to have the new proprietor decline. So she was inspired to find other similar restaurants in the city to document. She began this project with fellow artist and friend Wingyee Wu. 

Mother’s Tongue is not only a fantastical hyper-real journey through Chinese restaurant spaces, but it is also a fictional narrative told in the voice of the Chinese restaurant. Where did this voice come from? Is it at all autobiographical, based on your family? Or did you conduct interviews with restaurant owners?  

The story is divided into three chapters set in the past, present, and future through fictional monologues led by three generations of women. All three women reflect on someone who’s in some way “foreign” to them. In “Peach Tongue” (set in 1978), a daughter reflects on the relationship with her mother; in “Miss China” (set in 2018), a former Cantonese restaurant proprietor talks about the restaurant’s new proprietor, a mainland Chinese woman; and in “Cyborg World” (set in 2058), a grandmother records a voice message to her possible future grandchild. These stories are not only about the history of Chinese restaurants in Sweden, but also stories about human relations, community, language, othering, and mortality. We created these characters so, no, they’re not autobiographical nor based entirely on my family. The idea of using the restaurant’s own voice came from a need to problematize ideas of representation.

The artist had a solo exhibition at Galerie Nordenhake in Stockholm last June themed and titled ‘Phantom Banquet’ (2020). She has a major solo upcoming exhibition in mid-January 2022 at contemporary art museum Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm. With all these global lockdowns, may that open as scheduled. Sweden is still holding out with no official lockdowns, although they’ve finally passed an emergency lockdown law last month. It’s a pity that I’m likely not going to be able to travel and see this show IRL.

More Than Thoughts & Prayers

'Mary's Song' by Australian artist Dianne Minnaar.

I've had so much time to read. It's not as if I don't mark out pockets of quietude with the Bible. I do. This week, I read even more, and whispered extra prayers for the faeriefolk. Life is too fragile. We all want loved ones to be well and happy.

I remind myself, as much as we pray, I do my best to keep the faeriefolk near too. They've been a better friend to me, than I to them. It's not about keeping score. It's about being there. My friends have definitely been here for me. I'm just not sure if I have been there for them. I need to do better!

[46] And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. [48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. [49] Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. [50] And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. 

~ Luke 1:46-50, Douay-Rheims

BAB :: ส่วนที่สอง :: วัด

Wat Prayoon

We have visited to most of the venues of Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) themed 'Beyond Bliss', and viewed many awesome art installations. If we didn't have the generosity of friends driving us around, we'd have booked a car to take us to all the venues too. Luckily for us, the friends are just as interested and keen on hunting down all the art pieces in the off-downtown venues. Yay! Two cars, eight people. It was fun!

I have a keen interest to view the works of Thai artists, and I'm glad to have seen lots, and understood the drive and inspiration behind many of these works. My favorite biennale pieces are placed at the three temples- Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan (Temple of Dawn or Wat Arun), Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn (Temple of the Reclining Buddha, or Wat Pho for short), and especially Wat Prayurawongsawat Worawiharn (Temple of the Iron Fence, or Wat Prayoon). These pieces effortlessly blend in with the decor of the temple, and as non-frequent visitors to the temples, we'd never know it unless we're looking out for it.

Ran into many friends at Wat Prayurawongsawat Worawiharn (Temple of the Iron Fence, or 'Wat Prayoon' for short) in Thonburi. For the first time in our time in Bangkok, my camera took the most photos of humans and with humans at this venue. Hurhurhur.

My first viewed installation here was 'Zodiac Houses' (1998-1999) by Thai painter, sculptor and artist extraordinaire Montien Boonma. He passed away in 2000 and was a talented artist who created deeply evocative art of the religion and mind. I've seen many of his works in other cities, but never in his native country. This is a piece of work about "Montien’s quest for bliss and incarnation through astrological signs and outer space in order to contact the dead...... the dark Gothic-like sculptures stand eerily facing the gilded Dharma seat offering a prayer to communicate with the dead and afterlife." Somehow, when 'Zodiac House' pieces are placed at Bangkok's Wat Prayoon's Sala Kanparien (Sermon Hall), I found them rather creepy.

There're other artists here too, like Paolo Canevari (Italy) with his 'Monuments of the Memory, the Golden Room' (2018), but my attention was drawn elsewhere to the other works.

I was quite enthralled by Krit Ngamsom's 'Turtle Religion' (2018) sited in the khao mor (ขาวมอ, 'temple garden') of Wat Prayoon. The pond held many terrapins and tortoises, and I thought saw one snapping turtle. Among the six metal sculptures of turtles holding up a religious site, there is one that doesn't hold any, and is colored in silver/stainless steel, and... it moves. I took a short video of the moving turtle, and couldn't stop giggling at it. I know it's not really funny, but it simply tickles me to no end. The information note read,

Krit has created a playful group of metal turtles carrying on their back symbols of many beliefs, a reflection of the harmonious interreligious faiths and multiculturalism that has long been prominent in this area of Klongsan.

On our way to the main stupa, I saw what is apparently a 900-year old 2-meter-tall stone Buddha statue in the temple gallery. I was all like, for a 900-year-old statue, security seemed rather lax. There was nothing to prevent visitors from touching it, not even velvet ropes. But I guess when it's stone, it's fairly solid.

Nino Sarabutra's 'What Will We Leave Behind' (2018) is stark and evocative. You'd have to remove your shoes and socks to walk on them. I was absolutely mesmerized. Such a simple idea yet super effective, reaching out to every visitor's subconscious. 125,000 unglazed tiny porcelain skulls lined the walkway of the main stupa.

Rather than being morbid, Nino invites viewers to circumambulate along the white walkway where cremated ashes are stacked. It is a life-affirming question to ask every day, “If today was your last on earth, what will you leave behind?”

Honestly, I was extremely tempted to steal one of those tiny cute skulls. Okay, it's not as if I can't find small cute skulls elsewhere. But to have ONE of these skulls would be awesome. It's always about the creative impulse, and the art behind an item. I wistfully walked away without any. Yes yes, integrity, cultured tourist and all that. I would wait and BUY one or two. I was rather upset a few days later when I was told that many tourists had already stolen a fair number of the skulls.

Strolling into Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan at the hour of sunset.

We took a chance and timed our visit to Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan (Temple of Dawn) close to sunset. We were duly rewarded by a parking space right by the entrance gates, fewer humans on the grounds and a spectacular sunset.

Sanitas Pradittasnee's 'Across the Universe and Beyond' (2018) three sculptures used steel, mirrors and red acrylic to fully utilize the space within the khao mor (ขาวมอ, 'temple garden'). They're cleverly placed and you'd never know that it's quietly sitting there, unless you take slow steps to look out for them. The contemporary sculptures breathed new life into the space and remind us how tiny we are, "particles of dust and dirt".

Komkrit Tepthian created giant statues of Thai mythological figures for the biennale at Wat Arun. He adapted the story of In and Chan (อิน-จัน, known to us better as 'Chang and Eng') to create the 'Giant Twins' (2018)- as Yaksa and the Chinese Warrior (from stone figures China sent to Siam as a gesture of friendship), depicting the Sino-Thai friendship. With the backdrop of a temple hall, the statue 'Arun Garuda' (2018) practically looked like it's part of the temple decoration.

As an add-on, the artist also put up an interactive piece of a gashapon (ガシャポン) capsule machine titled 'Memorial Ball' (2018). The idea is ridiculously contemporary, on fleck and an absolute hit. I loved it! The tiny pieces depict Thai mythological figures. Only 100 capsules a day are given out, and all monies are handed over to the temple's charity fund. Initially, it was filled up at 7am, and the machine was free to be played. Apparently long queues formed, and now, it's open at 9.30am to dispense 70 figurines and at 1pm to dispense 30 figurines. WOOOOOHOOOO.

I wonder if this interactive piece will make it to Singapore. It'd be such a hit with the audience. The only issue, I'm not sure what figurines those capsules would hold if the artwork comes to Singapore. What would match the politically correct rhetoric? We can't just put religious figures in there, even if we do 10 representations. Some body or organization are bound to protest and raise hell over whatever pagan practices it might represent. We lack a strong Singapore identity unfortunately. And what Singapore mythology? Architectural fixtures will be so boring and so damn STB. Putting figures like Sang Nila Utama (myth myth myth!), swordfish, and OMG the Merlion, or those Youth Olympics mascots would be so clichéd. Duhhh.

BAB :: ส่วนที่หนึ่ง :: ตัวเมือง

Cleverly using a number of venues in downtown Bangkok that are pretty much accessible by the BTS skytrain, the inaugural Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) is themed 'Beyond Bliss'. As much as I'm not keen on walking into shopping malls, I strolled by a few just to take a look at the art pieces. Thankfully for us, some venues are away from the main stretch, and that translates into fewer crowds.

I'm not particularly keen on Yayoi Kusama's installations. I'm not hot about her combination of pumpkins and polka-dots. After seeing one too many, I'm just a little not bothered about them anymore. Her installations are in Central World ('14 Pumpkins', 2017) and Siam Paragon ('I Carry On Living With The Pumpkins', 2016 and 'Pumpkin', 2017). Luckily these are venues I tend to avoid, and I have no inclination to step into the malls unless I need the supermarket.

'ALIEN CAPITAL' 2018 by Sornchai Phongsa (Thailand).The artist reflects upon the marginalized life, the unnoticeable identity of migrant workers.
The container is wrapped with loose bamboo structures tied up together with red nylon rope
signifying workers’ united efforts against all hardship.

What I firmly placed on the itinerary for downtown, was a visit to Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC). Went up to Level 9 of BACC to view 'Hello Puppy, Greeting Piggy', an exhibition that holds a collection of photographs taken by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on her travels. This photography exhibition of the Princess's is curated by the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand and BACC.

BACC is a fantastic venue smack in town. A much-needed venue, I might add. A dose of heart and soul amongst the many glitzy buildings designed to empty your pockets and steal your IQ points. Many BAB pieces are exhibited there, and I'd get my fill of all the awesome pieces I've browsed online and in the handbook. It's really cool to see how the artists have interpreted 'bliss' and what is 'beyond' that. Also, there's good coffee to be found at Gallery Drip Coffee on the ground floor. I took my time with the installations to view every piece and soak it in. As it is with each piece, at different times of the year and the state of one's life, some pieces of art will resonate, others will simply be rubbish or incomprehensible.

Not all the English names of the art installations translate exactly into Thai, especially those created by Thai artists. For example, in the photo above of 'ALIEN CAPITAL' by Sornchai Phongsa, the piece is named ‘ผีในเมือง’ พ.ศ. 2561, which is kinda literally, 'Ghosts in the City', 2018. Well, in the spirit of the work's intent of reminding us of the existence of migrant workers, the Thai name is more poignant.

'Forest Floor' 2018 by Fiona Hall (Sydney, Australia).
This piece is a shadow forest with dark secrets buried within understory.
Skeletal parts painted on bottles strewn like leaves act as residue of conflicts and genocides.

A pity I missed Marina Abramovic's symposium in November, and the performances of the artists. Although there isn't any scheduled sessions of performance art, at least I could see what the participants and practitioners of the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI) created for the biennale. The works are certainly in the spirit of the uhh 'Abramovic Method', as it is called in its jargon. In its review in October, ArtsAsiaPacific summed up these works as,

Gurugram artist Vandana stared at a candle all day long; Burmese artist Lin Htet imprisoned himself in a razor-wire lined cage for three weeks; Tehran artist Pantea ran in circles around a square steel sheet with a rope around her neck connected to pieces of chalk. The actual individual physical feats of these performers shouldn’t be trivialized, but it was unclear why any artist would submit to being exhibited under the Abramović brand in this manner. If you cared to be indoctrinated yourself, the other half of the floor gave viewers the chance to learn the Abramović method.

'Geometry of Lamentation' 2013/2018 by Jihyun Youn (South Korea/Amsterdam).
The artist “maps the inner landscape of emotion” through repetitive gestures based on Hangul.
She stitches wedding dresses at the start of the day, and at the end of the day, these dresses and walls are doused with dramatic red paint.