Another field trip with Robert on a Sunday and we’re here at Gillman Barracks! So we basically went quite a number of exhibitions around Gillman besides CCA.
Chasing The Light
Video, projection, colour & sound | 7 minutes
SHIMURAbros
“Playing with the limits of perception, the work emerges as an abstract pattern until it slowly dissolves into a still-life image of the industrial scenery in the port area of Singapore.”
This exhibition was tucked in a corner of CCA, hidden by a velvet curtain and was surrounded by darkness with only a projection in the small room. A bench that accommodates at least 2 persons was placed right in the middle of the room.
When I entered the dark room, it felt calming as I could hear the sound of rain, a heavy rain to be exact, but not exactly a downpour. An image of what seems bokeh of lights was projected while the rain splatters.
The projected scene is not a still image, but rather it seems as though the photographer is trying to focus onto what seems like city lights. There was a sudden loud “boom” – thunder, that honestly scared the hell out of me hahaha. But yes, it seems to be a heavy thunderstorm. The boomings of the thunder comes in intervals, and it felt really real, as though I’m in my room while the raindrop splatters onto my windows.
Throughout the video, there was lightning, thunder, rain and lights. At the end of the film, the camera focuses and I could see the an industrial area of Singapore as there were cranes and big containers. In the beginning, I couldn’t quite make out what this lights were. But until at the very end, I could tell that there’s a moon and an industrial area. It seems as though the natural light (moon) and the industrial lights were mixed together, unable to identify which is artificial and which is natural.
From what I could deduce that, the industrial/city lights talks about urbanisation & industrialisation, while the rain and the moon talks about our natural light and sounds. I guessed the artist was trying to say how we’re slowly losing our own light and sounds? Because of all this light and sound pollution, we can’t seem to find any of our natural stars or hear our natural sounds, but rather all we can see are the artificial light and sounds. After getting to know the title of this film, it’s called “Chasing The Light”, thus I feel he is trying to say how we are slowly losing our own natural light & sound due to urbanisation and industrialisation.
I felt that I could relate to this artist’s work as it’s also talking about the idea of disappearing and vanishing. While he is talking about the nature, I am talking about the vanishing trades in Singapore. I like the idea how he juxtaposes nature and artificial objects together which really drills the message on what we are not seeing/hearing. How he sets up his projection is really good as even though it is simple, there’s a focal point and the sounds that he uses has different “shocking” moments which really brings more attention to what he is showing.
Besides going to CCA, here are some exhibitions that we’ve visited!
Nguan – How Loneliness Goes
Edward Burtynsky – Salt Pans
Tony Albert
