Category: Foundation 4D 1 – G1

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Interesting Finds: Sound Art

I have never taken much interests in installation work when I visit museums prveiously, however, there was one sound art piece that left an impression on me.

“Raising Stars and Restoring Souls” – Zul Mahmood

This piece of work was part of the Majulah Singapura Series in SAM. I guess i was intrigued by the scale of the interaction and how the sound produced felt like it was following the participant. What seemed like random sounds going through metal pipes turned out to be a deconstruction of our national anthem.  I thought that added layer to the sound installation was what truly left an impression on me.

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4D: Evocative Objects

Brainstorming

Our group started this project through brainstorming  possible locations in school where we could create a narrative/ message from. Not too sure how we eventually settled with the toilet, but we felt that the toilet is a public space that people often reveal their personal struggles. The privacy and intimacy that a toilet provides for different people was what we decided to explore as we went along.

Initial Idea

So this was our first draft in terms of set up. It was  a point in the development that we were still  rather focused on bringing out the idea of bringing a private space to the public space. That explained why we wanted to set up an open wooden frame to give the idea that the participant was stepping into a different space. However, Michael pointed out the redundancy of the framing as well as the importance or priority that our narratives had in this installation. Hence, we needed to think deeper into what exactly do we want to convey and how were we going to achieve that.

Further Development

With that, we decided to find a focus in the narratives we were sharing first. We decided to share a wide variety of stories on mental health issues due to the gravity of the issue and for the (almost) unlimited potential it had within a confined topic.

We decided to do a little more research to keep our set up more grounded to ideas that resonated with mental health issues and hence explains the reasons for our installation below.

Final Outcome (titled UNFOLDING NARRATIVES)

We found out that actually 1 in 10 Singaporeans suffer from mental health problems. Hence, we decided to place 9 toilet bowls to symbolize the 9 pair of listening ears that are available to a single person suffering from mental health.

Since we aimed at encouraging open conversations about mental health, we decided that each toilet bowl will be playing a different mental health problem. This will allow participants to gain more awareness about the variety of problems that mental health entailed. The listening of the recording will be done with headphones attached to the side of the toilet bowl.

Lastly, we wanted to include an element of community involvement where participants could share their personal encounters of struggling with mental fitness or even their interactions with such people. We thought that we needed to create a safer space for people to share their opinions on a rather sensitive topic. Hence we decided that we will provide materials for different forms of expressions, writing, speaking and even drawing.

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4D: Text & Image (Advertisement)

I was given chicken cup noodles as my food item and hence began ideation for it. My overall concept stems from how cup noodles are consumed when one is extremely rush at work, making the food fast yet delicious. Hence, I wanted to show how there is a team of culinary staff preparing the meal while the guy at the background is doing work.

Since I wanted to show that the cup noodles is prepared fast yet fresh and delicious, I staged people carrying freshly grown vegetables to the making of the noodles. The caption, “3 minutes, that’s all it takes” further reinforces that a scrumptious meal will be prepared without you even knowing.

The whole set up was staged which means I created a photo shoot for the miniature world created by the food items.  I chose this manner of execution simply because of my personal desire to have a more tactile experience creating this work.  I also want to experiment creating a world through construction of  the vegetables.

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4D: Strange World

The strange world I created was one in which our society’s minority group becomes the majority. Hence, the minority group I chose was people with special needs, particularly children.

This whole idea was inspired by my experience teaching in a school with a significant number of special needs children and realizing how a cohesive learning environment is beneficial for both parties.  Each of the character embodied a certain area of concern that was more memorable for me during my teaching experience.

The first child is one with slight autism. His condition meant that he would have days that he doesn’t behave like other kids, and will often produce shrilling screams. His condition has caused others to view him in a different light and not see him as who he really is, hence covering up half of his face. It’s as though his true self is masked by his special need.

The second child was inspired by a student who could not converse in English. His inability wasn’t exactly a special need but it has lowered his learning abilitly tremendously. His lack of ability to communicate explains why the 2nd child’s mouth is covered by black paper. This is to show how the child is treated like  mute in our society.

The third child is intentionally placed upside down because it was inspired by my encounter with a kid with severe dyslexia. And since dyslexia results in incorrect writing of letters and having incompletely accessibility to our daily conversations. I flipped the character the other way to show how differently a child with dyslexia perceives the world.

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4D: Paradox

My paradoxical space was created through an unrealistic manipulation of the bulldozer along the hawker centre at the soon to be demolished Old Woodlands Town Centre. The juxtaposition of size seeks to communicate how Singapore’s extremely fast development results in the loss of landscapes that embodies the nation’s culture and heritage.

I also enhanced the brightness of the bulldozer to make it even more striking and out of place, increasing the level of dominance it has in the image. I also included people whom are struggling to keep afloat as the bulldozer approaches them.

I remembered some key feedback for this image:

  1. The bulldozer was  missing a person controlling it – possible to add someone and show him being nonchalant and ruthless towards the people it’s drowning away.
  2. the landscape chosen should be more iconic or have a clearer indication of where is the place exactly.
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4D: Image, Sound & Memory Process

Since the central theme of the project was “Memory”, I wondered whose memory did I want to play with for this project. I was looking for something uniquely localised, close to my heart and really, just a sincere piece of work.

“Lover’s Tears” is an oldies song that gave rise to my motivation of capturing a memory that was related to the lyrics of the song and befitting of that era. I decided that I would construct the sequence by which it will begin and end with the same song, giving a sense of continuity to the 10 images.

 

So I initially wanted to step into the shoes of my grandma, and walk down her memory lane of my Ah Gong.As I explored the idea visually and planned some of the shots I wanted to take, I realised that there was a sense of detachment to this piece of memory. It was almost impossible to shoot and record the series through the eyes of my grandma. Hence, it prompted me to tweak the direction a little, of which it is the love story between my grandma and I.

I made use of my grandma’s 3-room flat and old Macpherson estate to portray the oldies vibes. I wanted to portray the character of my grandma through the things she used and the dialect she speaks. These became visual and audio cues that gave the viewer/listener an idea of the era where my grandma grew up in and also the kinship that me and my grandma shared.

 

It was a constant process of re-thinking and re-arranging of images, ensuring that the image and sound played complementary roles to each other. It was also slightly challenging for me to constantly question if the chosen image was crucial in portraying that part of the story while ensuring a match with the recorded sound.

The sounds I used were a mix of recorded and found sound tracks, either which contributed to the narrative of the sequence or simply as asynchronous sounds to reinforce the homely vibes I wanted to give off.

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4D: Sequential Thinking Research & Development

Upon receiving the project brief, I was excited by the level of playfulness that could be included in the series of images. Since most of my 4D projects had a inclination to visuals or techniques that are less modern, I decided to continue with this streak by playing with old Singapore toys.

IDEATION
The very first part of my process was to draft out my idea. I drew out some of the key transformations in the sequence and went ahead with the production as soon as I was able to visualise the images in a clearer manner.

PRODUCTION

I went on a shopping spree for old Singapore toys and even set up the stage for shooting in my room. This was probably the best part of the project where I get to play and craft out the scene for the shoot. The toys where arranged in a way that the overall composition was balanced and pleasing to the eye. Even the wrapping paper at the back was chosen for the “vintage” vibes that it gave off.  It was also super fun when I get to involve my sister for the scene with bubbles blowing.

A tedious process of constantly shifting the character inch my inch and calling upon my sister to blow the bubbles, it was truly a fun process where I, as an artist,  was involved in every way possible.

(learning point) I didn’t set my camera to shoot continuously at first, which made the bubbles movement a little choppy.  However, I managed to resolve the issue towards the end of the shoot which resulted in a smoother transition.

EDITING

There were post production edits that I did to enhance the element of play in this series of images. Above were just some of the images that I had to digitally piece the elements together. Once these images were edited, I proceeded to string them together through a video. 

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4D: Sequential Thinking Final

OLD IS GOLD

Please excuse the watermark on the video because I’m not a mac user.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7l2YbtokjhQRmNJTjVVUUJUUUk

The concept of my work sprang from my desire to use old Singapore toys in the video.  The story talks about a girl who dozes off while doing work and dreams about a world of fun and play created by those toys. She then wakes up with an idea on how to proceed on her work because of the dream she had.

In the dream world, the girl descends from a hot air balloon and lands on a snake & ladder piece. She plays the game of snake and ladder and reaches the end of it. With that, a celebratory dance happens (the image with pink background) and the girl wakes up from her dream.

Really enjoyed this project because I could play with old Singapore toys and I had fun shopping for them too heh. I wished I could be more precise with this stringing of the images and even put in sound but oh wellz (sleep is more important).

Hope you guys enjoyed it.

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4D Project 2: Image & Sound

A Love Story

(disclaimer: some conversations  spoken in Cantonese)

 

 

 

It is not only a love story of my Ah Gong and Nai Nai, it’s also a love story of Nai Nai and I. She was my caregiver since birth, hence a special bond has been formed till today.

I ever heard somewhere that parents become love the moment their child was born, so on the other hand, Nai Nai actually becomes death for me. She being the oldest person I am closest with, I sometimes just can’t help and wonder what life might be like without her…

 

 

 

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4D: Exhibition Visit

Optimization of Parenting, Addie Wagenknecht (2012)

The artwork constitutes a machinery arm that automatically keeps the baby cot in a swinging motion. The simple idea of robots or mechanics replacing or reducing the “workload” of a parent is encapsulated in these 2 visual components.

My impression of this artwork was geared towards a more negative connotation where the intimacy of parenting is replaced by the coldness of mechanical assistance. However upon reading the description, I realised that the designer/ artist created this work with a positive light. This work was created to allow mothers to have more time for themselves to pursue their passion/interests. More than just about human and technology, the artist has also took on her position with regards to the empowerment of woman in our society.

As much as I am slightly creeped out by the imagery of a machine rocking a baby to sleep, gaining insight to the artist’s intent did add a layer of warmth to this piece. So yes, the secondary read of the work allowed a better appreciation and added depth to the possibilities of our future.

Euthanasia Coaster, Julijonas Urbonas (2010)

This work was basically a model of a roller coaster – both in 2D and 3D Form. I guess I couldn’t guess much about the artist intent without the text. But there was definitely a level of class and sophistication in the 2D model and the fact that the model was black in colour signified a bad omen.

Only after reading the text did I realise it was a work on Euthanasia (assisted suicide). The roller coaster is meant to give the user an enjoyable passage towards death, provoking society’s thoughts on euthanasia. I guess the concept of the work preceded the physical construct/model of the piece. It is also the idea of the work that caught my attention actually.

The fact that the work made an impact with its ability to open up discussions on how ethical is euthanasia or even on our perceptions of death. It is using technology to do the total opposite of enhancing life, which probably provided the full spectrum of how technology impacts humans.