Final Project – sugarmonster

4D Final Assignment – Installation Day

My installation was held in the Cinema Room at the Library and because the library only opens at 8.30am, I could only set up on the day itself.

This is how the whole set up looks under lighted conditions.

The film projected onto the fabric in lighted conditions.

The type of fabric used was a papery, translucent material.

The 3 layers of fabrics strips together.

I strung the strips together in one line. Using binder clips, I attached them to the wall with duct tape so I could tie the string onto the clip’s handle. All 3 strings are attached to one binder clip per side.

Flower petals lining the floor underneath the strips of fabrics.

Projection of the film onto the fabric in complete darkness. The flower petals can still be seen by the eye even in the dark due to the light from the film but I could not capture it in photo.

This is the film looped and played on the projection.

The installation with the film and sound played.

Just Be.

(Artist statement)

Just be focuses on memories holding people back and are unable to move forward. It forces them to undergo a self-reflection journey which explores vulnerability that occurs when adapting to change and how one reacts to a new beginning. This emphasises the influence memories and past has had on individuals and believe that they are defined by them. However, Just Be encourages individuals to define themselves by moving forward.

This is about embracing and just being yourself. The installation has left the past 2 projects behind but there are still hints of the past that are not the main emphasis in this set up. However, it represents the events that I have experienced. (Past: the flower petals where after performances, ballet dancers are usually gifted with flowers as a form of compliment and gratuity; The fabric strips alludes to the ribbon laces of the point shoes or the the layers of the tutu as seen in the 2nd project; The audio and film from the 1st project).

The roughly cut strips of fabric represents the fragmentations of self and hardship faced but when all the strips are hung together they act as a curtain to reveal our vulnerable self. Vulnerability is shown when the layers are peeled back to show just a blank projector screen which is a blank slate but also a new beginning. Together with the film which depicts sunshine, it is a catharsis which was mentioned in Project 1 . In this case, it is the journey of self which the installation is supposed to encourage. The petals represents the sweetness of life as one begins to define he or she is and signifies the breaking of the barrier of the past that is holding one back.

4D Final Assignment (Installation layout)

Installation

Location: Cinema Room

I am still having my installation at the Cinema Room due to the maximum darkness that can only be achieved in there.

Strips of fabrics will be hung in the middle of the projector screen. Flower petals are sprinkled at the bottom of the fabrics. The film will be projected on to the strips of fabrics. It will show the sunlight that I captured from the first film will be played on loop with the soundtrack of the nature soundscape that has been used in my other 2 projects.

The cloth used will be translucent and there will be 3 layers. The first and topmost layer will be the first layer and the subsequent layers will be hung behind.

The strips of fabrics will be about 50 cm in front of the projector screen.

4D Final Assignment (Research 2)

I’m still quite unsatisfied with the current layout because from my previous 2 projects, I have actually moved on from those ideas/ “burnt” them away especially in project 2 which means I am leaving the past behind and not looking back. Hence, I do not feel that current layout is moving towards the direction I wanted and as the catchphrase goes “Two steps forward, one step back” which doesn’t seem to make sense to me.

So time for more inspiration again.

I was watching Ghost in the Shell and there was one scene at the end where Aramaki kills Cutter, the villian (apologies for spoiling the movie if you have not watched it) and it really spoke to me. I viewed it in a very symbolic way whereby the main character major, is finally released from her past too but the part that I was extremely inspired by was the part where Cutter is killed and falls into the water. Like the chinese idiom “水落石出”, I saw it in as a way of as the truth being revealed and water acting as a form of purification as the water envelope him. (I actually said DAYUM when I saw that scene + apologies for the horrible quality of the scene)

Another inspiration I found was from the fashion label, COS. It was created by a New York studio, Snarkitecture. Designers Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen used lengths of white fabrics to create the installation in Milan. COS gave the designers complete freedom to design an engaging space for visitors and an environment to present its current apparel range for Spring/Summer 2015.

They filled the space with white fabric strips, suspended from the ceiling, then cut away some of the lower sections to create tunnels and spaces through the fabrics. Visitors walk through a curtain of the strips to enter the space, and can then choose to follow the path created by the shorter lengths or pull aside the longer sections to cut through the spaces.

I am fascinated by the fabric interacts with the space and also how the audience are allowed to choose their paths which to me represented their own decisions. The vastness of it and how it envelopes you was mesmerising and compelling for inner thoughts/ reflections. The whiteness of it represented as a blank slate to me and purity and the whole thing just evoked some sort of reinvigoration in me.

4D Final Project – Research

Back when I was still dancing ballet at Singapore Dance Theatre, there was the annual Ballet Under the Stars at Fort Canning Green which both of my sisters have performed in and I have watched the performances multiple times in my childhood.

I wanted to capture the awe I felt when I was young when I watched the ballet performances because there was something so organic and relaxed about it as you were sitting under the stars, in a historic place and watching an ancient form of artistic performance. It was magical. Thus, I wanted to capture the magical quality of the performance and maybe show a film about maybe me dancing again (or die trying) or a mini documentary about my aunt as she was the one who introduced it to me.

Installation

Location: Cinema Room in the ADM library due to the total darkness it can achieve in the room.

My set up involves removing all the chairs inside for the room to be empty. As during Ballet Under the Stars, the audience actually picnic and sit on mats and cushions while enjoying the performance. Thus, I required the room to be empty.

There would be a projector on the floor in between the pillows and the mat which would shine towards the ceiling to play the film (TBD).

I plan to hang up a black cloth with little holes in it that would be filled with the bulbs of fairylights as a representation of the night sky. The audience has to lie on their backs as though they are star-gazing.