{"id":3821,"date":"2016-04-08T08:21:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T08:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/?p=3821"},"modified":"2022-12-07T08:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T08:32:25","slug":"what-it-is-about-when-it-is-about-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.randian.art\/zh-hant\/what-it-is-about-when-it-is-about-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cwhat it is about when it is about nothing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

“Either it is our destiny to be Singaporean, in which case we will be Singaporean whatever we do, or being Singaporean is a mere affectation, a mask.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This review first appeared in Ran Dian Issue 2 (Winter 2015\u20132016)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwhat it is about when it is about nothing\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mizuma Gallery<\/strong><\/a> (22 Lock Road #01-34 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108939), Sep 25\u2013Oct 25, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 2015 being the year of Singapore\u2019s Golden Jubilee, the past months have seen a deluge of exhibitions and projects with Singapore as their subject; each fell at some point along a scale between papering over the complexities and contradictions of Singaporean history and identity, and rejecting rah-rah boosterism to explore diversity and examine the injustices underlying Singapore\u2019s squeaky-clean image\u2014such as the use of the Internal Security Act on social and political activists, or the continued retention of a law which criminalizes male homosexual sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of such saturation, \u201cwhat it is about when it is about nothing,\u201d curated by Michael Lee, takes a different tack\u2014if rose-tinted nostalgia and aggrieved inquisitiveness are two poles, Lee postulates a third dimension, as it were. Eschewing the tangible details, like state iconography or paeans to Singlish and the \u201ckampung\u201d spirit, which dominate all discussions of Singaporean-ness, Lee\u2019s oblique approach, bringing together works by seven artists, suggests that things which may not seem to have much to do with Singapore could actually tell us much more than signifiers fraught with overuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u90ed\u6653\u6167\uff0c\u300a\u6211\u548c\u4f60\u7684\u5e8a\u7b2b\u4e4b\u95f4\u300b\uff0c\u5f55\u50cf\u6295\u5f71\uff0c\u7528\u827a\u672f\u5bb6\u7761\u4e8615\u5e74\u7684\u5e8a\u5355\u5236\u4f5c\u7684\u957f\u888d\uff0c\u91cd\u65b0\u6539\u9020\u7684\u6728\u5c50\u978b\uff0c\u5c3a\u5bf8\u53ef\u53d8\uff0c2013\uff08\u56fe\u7247\u7531\u4e09\u6f74\u753b\u5eca\u63d0\u4f9b\uff09\/ Adeline Kueh, \u201cThe Distance Between My Bed And Yours\u201d, video projection, robe made from sheet slept on for 15 years by the artist, reconfigured geta slippers, dimensions variable, 2013 (Image courtesy Mizuma Gallery)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adeline Kueh\u2019s \u201cThe Distance between My Bed and Yours\u201d (2013), for instance, presents excerpts of a situation which may be familiar in cities across Asia\u2014a projection of a pink neon vacancy sign, a slinky bathrobe on a hanger, and a pair of clogs\u2014the near ubiquitous presence of love hotels as an outgrowth of the complexities of desire in transactional, urbanized societies. Though hardly unique to Singapore, this does suggest a different perspective on the idea of Singapore as a wholly pragmatic port-of-call\u2014rather than one driven by unfeeling calculation, it calls to mind the possibility of it being fueled by desire, albeit of a transactional kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the curator\u2019s own work\u2014a series of photographs numbered Diorama 142, 165, <\/em>and 261<\/em> (2011)\u2014ready identification is resisted in a number of ways; not least, the photographs themselves, measuring just 12 by 16 cm, are mounted in frames far larger, obliging us to peer closely to discern details. Even so, what\u2019s then revealed retains some opacity\u2014urban interiors, bare of ornamentation and apparently abandoned. In a sense, these could be images of practically anywhere in the world within the relative architectural uniformity of major urban centers. This degree of convergence suggests a counterpoint of sorts to nationalistic exceptionalism. Overarching commentary aside, these dioramas, in their scale and subject matter, evoke an everyday desolation and individual dreams which founder, unseen behind the headlines of gentrification or economic downturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u4f55\u9510\u5b89\uff0c\u300a\u81ea\u529b\u66f4\u751f\u300b\uff0c \u7eb8\u4e0a\u6570\u7801\u6253\u5370 \u94dd\u5c71\uff0c 101.6 \u00d7 68.6 cm\uff0c2014\uff08\u56fe\u7247\u7531\u4e09\u6f74\u753b\u5eca\u63d0\u4f9b\uff09\/ Ho Rui An, \u201cSelf-Reliance\u201d, digital print on paper with aluminum mount, 101.6 \u00d7 68.6 cm, 2014 (Courtesy: Mizuma Gallery)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The tension between similarity and difference finds further expression in a number of works by Jennis Li Cheng Tien, most notably \u201cNo matter how small the difference is\u201d (2015), in which 120 keys are lined up on a bare metal frame. Despite being almost identical in form, each key remains unique, incapable of opening anything but the lock for which it was originally cut. More visceral, though also infused with a combinatorial sense of scale is Li\u2019s \u201cThe Specific Value\u201d (2015), in which 250 ml of red ink is exhausted over a dense collection of overhead projector transparencies; the comparison with which we\u2019re confronted, here, is the average volume of blood in a newborn\u2019s body, and the curious fact that inkjet ink is considerably more expensive than blood, with the artist\u2019s website citing a figure of two hundred euros for a liter of blood, with the same amount of ink costing five hundred and twenty eight euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, the obliquity\u2014both of the works themselves and the exhibition as a whole\u2014might, in a peculiarly literal frame of mind, be compared with oblique lighting in its capacity to reveal fine and occluded details that would escape more direct illumination. Lee and company\u2019s deft escape from the polarization of exhibitions focused on the Golden Jubilee seems, in a way, reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges\u2019 landmark essay, \u201cThe Argentine Writer and Tradition\u201d, in which the fabulist proposed that the Argentine writer need not bow restrictions of content, style, and reference: to paraphrase Borges, we cannot confine ourselves to what is Singaporean in order to be Singaporean. Either it is our destiny to be Singaporean, in which case we will be Singaporean whatever we do, or being Singaporean is a mere affectation, a mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u674e\u9e3f\u8f89\uff0c\u300a\u6a21\u578b165\u300b\uff0c\u6863\u6848\u7eb8\u4e0a\u6570\u7801\u6253 \u5370\uff0c\u73d0\u7405\u5f69\u7bb1\u5f62\u6846\u67b6\u4e2d\uff0c12 \u00d7 16 cm\uff0c2011 \uff08\u56fe\u7247\u7531\u4e09\u6f74\u753b\u5eca\u63d0\u4f9b\uff09\/ Michael Lee, \u201cDiorama 165\u201d, digital print on archival paper in enamel-painted box frame, 12 \u00d7 16 cm, 2011 (Courtesy: Mizuma Gallery)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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