Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth
Last week, I had the chance to attend the launch event for the Singapore Art Museum (SAM)'s latest art exhibition - my work involves writing about AV technology, and I'll explain how AV technology and a museum are related in a bit.
The exhibition was titled Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth, and featured immersive, tactile and interactive artworks from nine contemporary artists. According to the museum, the exhibition aims to take a look at how humans, flora and fauna adapt to their habitats, and also hopes to introduce ideas and stories surrounding lands both real and imaginary.
Honestly, I was only there to write about one particular piece of art (you'll see it later), but then I decided that since I was already there I might as well join the media tour and see the whole exhibition for myself - I'm glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed myself, honestly.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get pictures of all the exhibitions, but I'll upload the ones that I have and write a little about them.
The first artwork that we visited was titled Lizard Tail - created by Hiromi Tango (Japan/Australia), the work bases itself on the lizard's ability to regrow its tail, and explores the potential of art-making as an agent for healing as well as mental and emotional development.
There was a play area for kids to make their own lizard tails as well, and from what I know they would attach the tails they made onto the bigger tails installed in the room to make an even bigger tail.
Another piece of art that was displayed outside the museum was Lie of the Land created by Bounpaul Phothyzan (Laos). I'm a little disappointed that I didn't manage to get pictures of his artwork, though, because I felt that his work was quite hard-hitting.
What he did was repurpose metal bombshells (real ones!) into planters to hold flowers and shrubs - the backstory is that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world, with thousands of undetonated bombs still scattered across the land, and this work became a statement about how the human spirit still survives and manages to innovate in the face of obstacles.
The next artwork was Another Island, which at first glance seemed to be nothing more than an empty room. If you look closely at the floor in the above picture, however, you'll notice what seems to be tiny dots that are laid across the floorboards - there are 598 in all, and they're actually photographs of Singapore that are encased in a tiny bubble. Nipan Oranniwesna (Thailand) created this in question of how much Singapore has changed, and how much still remains the same.
The next artwork had us stepping into a Wanderland of sorts - making use of textiles, wires, rattan and bells, the room aimed to make visitors imagine and remember their experiences with the natural environment. What I found interesting was that the room actually reminded me a lot more of an IKEA bedroom, with warm lighting and the slightly dusty smell of cloth and rattan.
While making their way through the room, visitors were encouraged to touch everything around them, be it to pull on the strings that would make the birds flap their wings or to enter the teepee tent or duck under the mobiles with bells attached to them. The whole room was a sensory delight.
This one gave me a bit of a shock when I opened the door to the room because what the hell was that?! Whatever it was, it drew a few chuckles and slightly nervous stares, depending on how paranoid you were that it might suddenly move.
Part of My Wonderful Dream, this is Eko Nugroho (Indonesia)'s expression of what we might see if we were to recognise similarities in each culture instead of differences, and suggests that life could be beautiful if we lived in peace, happiness, tolerance and togetherness.
What's interesting is that it also considers how complex the human psyche can be. I liked how the artwork didn't show any distinguishing features of the person (I assume it's a person, at least) that was under the cover - in that way, all we could focus on was the person's shoes and pants, instead of skin or facial features.
This yarn...thing reminded me of Snuffles from Sesame Street, and is part of Floating Mountain, created by Unchalee Anantawat (Thailand). This has an interesting concept - the artist was inspired by the similarities that she saw between her dreamscapes and the waking world, and made these in an expression of how she was certain there were other worlds that we have yet to explore.
This is the artwork I was there to write about - LICENSE 2 DRAW by UuDam Tran Nguyen (Vietnam). I was able to ask him about his concept and inspiration for the artwork, and he said: "It was my concern with the way technology was going... You can be in Las Vegas and kill somebody in Yemen because of the drones and unmanned aircraft.
So I'm thinking why can't you go a little further and draw something from Las Vegas in Singapore? That was the beginning of the work."
What this artwork aims to achieve is collaborative creation, basically - by playing with an app that can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play Store, users can control a little robot that speeds across the sprawling canvas - there are markers attached to the robot, which then results in a messy, colourful doodle. The kicker, of course, is that anyone from anywhere in the world can contribute to this doodle - with the app, they don't even have to be in the same room to see what's going on, much less the same country.
As UuDam put it: "You can be having a vacation in the Bahamas and still move the robot in real time, so in the next four months it's going to be moving all the time, at two, three in the morning."
See this camera on the left? This little guy (and about seven others) is the reason for my being present during an art exhibition preview, to write about the cameras being used by the LICENSE 2 DRAW artwork.
Just in case anyone's curious - that's the Bosch DINION IP 7000 HD, and it's been programmed to automatically follow the movements of the robot as it moves around on the canvas.
I spoke to the integrator who installed the cameras and system and he was telling me that they ran into a few challenges while setting up, such as tuning the cameras so they would be able to show the colours of the LEDs attached to the robot - this was difficult because the room was pretty dimly-lit and the LEDs were insanely bright, and you can imagine it wasn't easy for them to tune it so the colours shown were vibrant enough for the artist. From what I saw, though, UuDam seemed pretty satisfied with the results.
Speaking personally, this is my favourite artwork, though. Titled Where Am I, these are actual beech mushrooms that were dried and coloured by Calvin Pang (Singapore) in a bid to increase awareness of our surroundings. What's interesting is that this artwork isn't located in a room of its own, but is instead spread out in stairways and transitional spaces like corridors - there are seven clusters of these mushrooms in total, and it becomes a game of sorts to find all of them. It was really fun to walk around in the museum to find every cluster!
Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth is still showing at SAM at 8Q, and will be there till 27 August 2017 in case you're interested in checking it out.
The exhibition was titled Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth, and featured immersive, tactile and interactive artworks from nine contemporary artists. According to the museum, the exhibition aims to take a look at how humans, flora and fauna adapt to their habitats, and also hopes to introduce ideas and stories surrounding lands both real and imaginary.
 |
| Museum curators posing with the nine artists during the launch. |
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get pictures of all the exhibitions, but I'll upload the ones that I have and write a little about them.
The first artwork that we visited was titled Lizard Tail - created by Hiromi Tango (Japan/Australia), the work bases itself on the lizard's ability to regrow its tail, and explores the potential of art-making as an agent for healing as well as mental and emotional development.
There was a play area for kids to make their own lizard tails as well, and from what I know they would attach the tails they made onto the bigger tails installed in the room to make an even bigger tail.
What was also interesting about this installation was that the artist herself dressed up for it - Tango herself was in character while interacting with visitors, dragging her own lizard tail behind her - while the tails that the children made were mostly made of yarn and other bits and bobs, hers looked like a patchwork quilt (and it seemed really warm and comfy, too!).
It was interesting to watch Tango in her element - when she wasn't interacting with the children, she preferred to wander around the room, seemingly lost in thought. She did (still in character, of course) occasionally meander over to where the children played in a nest (seen below) to remind them to be gentle with her work.
Another piece of art that was displayed outside the museum was Lie of the Land created by Bounpaul Phothyzan (Laos). I'm a little disappointed that I didn't manage to get pictures of his artwork, though, because I felt that his work was quite hard-hitting.
What he did was repurpose metal bombshells (real ones!) into planters to hold flowers and shrubs - the backstory is that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world, with thousands of undetonated bombs still scattered across the land, and this work became a statement about how the human spirit still survives and manages to innovate in the face of obstacles.
 |
| Andrea (the exhibition's co-curator) explaining the idea behind Another Island. |
The next artwork was Another Island, which at first glance seemed to be nothing more than an empty room. If you look closely at the floor in the above picture, however, you'll notice what seems to be tiny dots that are laid across the floorboards - there are 598 in all, and they're actually photographs of Singapore that are encased in a tiny bubble. Nipan Oranniwesna (Thailand) created this in question of how much Singapore has changed, and how much still remains the same.
The next artwork had us stepping into a Wanderland of sorts - making use of textiles, wires, rattan and bells, the room aimed to make visitors imagine and remember their experiences with the natural environment. What I found interesting was that the room actually reminded me a lot more of an IKEA bedroom, with warm lighting and the slightly dusty smell of cloth and rattan.
While making their way through the room, visitors were encouraged to touch everything around them, be it to pull on the strings that would make the birds flap their wings or to enter the teepee tent or duck under the mobiles with bells attached to them. The whole room was a sensory delight.
Part of My Wonderful Dream, this is Eko Nugroho (Indonesia)'s expression of what we might see if we were to recognise similarities in each culture instead of differences, and suggests that life could be beautiful if we lived in peace, happiness, tolerance and togetherness.
What's interesting is that it also considers how complex the human psyche can be. I liked how the artwork didn't show any distinguishing features of the person (I assume it's a person, at least) that was under the cover - in that way, all we could focus on was the person's shoes and pants, instead of skin or facial features.
This yarn...thing reminded me of Snuffles from Sesame Street, and is part of Floating Mountain, created by Unchalee Anantawat (Thailand). This has an interesting concept - the artist was inspired by the similarities that she saw between her dreamscapes and the waking world, and made these in an expression of how she was certain there were other worlds that we have yet to explore.
So I'm thinking why can't you go a little further and draw something from Las Vegas in Singapore? That was the beginning of the work."
What this artwork aims to achieve is collaborative creation, basically - by playing with an app that can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play Store, users can control a little robot that speeds across the sprawling canvas - there are markers attached to the robot, which then results in a messy, colourful doodle. The kicker, of course, is that anyone from anywhere in the world can contribute to this doodle - with the app, they don't even have to be in the same room to see what's going on, much less the same country.
As UuDam put it: "You can be having a vacation in the Bahamas and still move the robot in real time, so in the next four months it's going to be moving all the time, at two, three in the morning."
 |
| A little close-up of whatever the busy little robot's been up to so far... The scribbly doodle is actually kinda pretty, if you ask me. |
Just in case anyone's curious - that's the Bosch DINION IP 7000 HD, and it's been programmed to automatically follow the movements of the robot as it moves around on the canvas.
I spoke to the integrator who installed the cameras and system and he was telling me that they ran into a few challenges while setting up, such as tuning the cameras so they would be able to show the colours of the LEDs attached to the robot - this was difficult because the room was pretty dimly-lit and the LEDs were insanely bright, and you can imagine it wasn't easy for them to tune it so the colours shown were vibrant enough for the artist. From what I saw, though, UuDam seemed pretty satisfied with the results.
Imaginarium: To the Ends of the Earth is still showing at SAM at 8Q, and will be there till 27 August 2017 in case you're interested in checking it out.
Comments
Post a Comment