Existing solution: HOME, AND A HOME, 2016

Standard

HOME, AND A HOME, 2016

Welded mild steel bars with rust-preventive transparent coating, cast concrete and weathered steel
Dimensions variable
Collection of the Artist
Singapore Biennale 2016 commission

Barman investigates ‘home’ and ‘landscape’ as an idea, not just in the physicality of its presence, but the space that it occupies in the minds and memories of displaced Bangladeshi migrants. This work grew out of the time Barman spent in Singapore chronicling the conversations and poetry of Bangladeshi migrant labourers. Juxtaposing the large, minimal sculptures of shop-houses (heritage buildings which are sometimes used as dormitories for hundreds of workers today) alongside rust-transferred drawings and cement sculptures, Barman explores the parallel realities of the migrants’ experience – the house they live in in Singapore and the ‘home’ they dream of in Bangladesh. In the artist’s words, “transferring rust impressions onto paper, casting abandoned domestic objects in concrete … realising skeletal definitions of homes – is more like sculpting from memory – reconstructions rusted in time”. The sound piece of the workers’ poems in Bangla reflects the untranslatable journey of the displaced people.


I am excited to see the performance tonight! It is heartwarming to know that migrant workers’ talent are recognized here, in Singapore Biennale.


These are some photos that I took during my visit to poetry recital by migrant workers on 29 October 2016, 5PM.

Takeaways for FYP: 

I  think that it is good to have the migrant workers present at the exhibition as it would allow interactions between the performers and visitors.

Interview #2

Standard

A. Field Trip

Location: Buona Vista MRT
Time: 7:10pm – 9:20pm
Movie: NA

B. Interview #2

All interview is available @
Participant: Male, 23. Research Assistant.

  1. When is your most recently watched movie? Which movie?
    I watched a movie three months ago at JEM (Jurong East Mall)
  2. Do you have any cinema preference and why?
    Nope, as all of them are same condition.
  3. What are the factors that you think are important for a cinema?
    The comfort level of the places and type of films which are shown.
  4. What do you usually do after watching a movie?
    Just to “reflect” the whole story and try to think any values gotten from the movies
  5. Do you stay back for after credits?
    For some movies yes
  6. How do you feel (emotionally and physically) after watching a movie?
    Usually I felt satisfied and amazed emotionally while physically I need to go to the toilet to have a pee after being in cold room.
  7. How do you feel about the exit hall post movie?
    For the place that I go after I exit from the movie theatre, I think that the condition is quite confusing because other than the people in front of me, I would not know about the direction because the sign is very minimum, if I am not mistaken.
  8. Do you think that it is important to exit at public transport place, like bus stop or MRT station?
    It’s not preferable for me, myself, because after I come out from the theatre, most the time, I will seek toilet or do shopping before going out of the mall to the bus stop.
  9. If you can change something about the exit hall, what would you like to change?
    It would be great if the exit gate could direct us directly to the mall without the labyrinth. I want to exit to the mall because it will give me clearer direction and it will give us more comfortable condition after we spend a lot of time in that movie. The mall has aircon, while the labyrinth is hot, and with a lot of people going through the exit hall together, the condition is not very good. If we are exposed to the mall directly, it would be better.
  10. What do you usually do in the exit hall?
    I will reflect about the story and make some judgements about the movie whether it is good, interesting, or even boring. It’s all in my mind, or if sometimes I watch with my friends, I can talk to my friends about that.
  11. How do you feel about the following ideas to improve the exit hall?
    a. Navigation to be displayed on walls
    That’s a good idea.

b. After credits / new movie trailers screened on walls
Too long for people to wait after that…, not a good idea.

c. Simple rating system for viewers to express their feeling about the movie
I can’t see the point for that. I don’t think viewers will be interested for that

 

Overall

Just give clearer explanation for the navigation compared to this current condition.

 

Field Trip 3 + Interview #3

Standard

A. Field Trip

Location: Vivo City

Movie time: 21 Oct 16 9:30 PM; Interview time: 22 Oct 16 2 PM

Movie: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

B. Interview #3

All interview is available @

Participant: Male, 24. Software Engineer.

  1. When is your most recently watched movie? Which movie?
    Miss Peregrine, yesterday at VIVO Golden Village.
  2. Do you have any cinema preference and why?
    No. As long as it is nearby to my previous activity, it’s OK.
  3. What are the factors that you think are important for a cinema?
    Regarding the ticketing, those movies that can be booked online is better, but it depends on the price. If it is cheaper, then I will book online. If it is easier and cheaper to book on site, then I will book on site.
    Regarding the size of the cinema, I prefer the huge one because if you pick the seat at the centre, it will be not too close to the screen. Because small cinema, sometimes the impression is, the screen is too big.
  4. What do you usually do after watching a movie?
    Stand up, walk to the exit, and go toilet, and go home or do next activities.
  5. Do you stay back for after credits?
    For some, yes. Depends. If the credits is interesting, then I will stay back for a while, but most of the time, no.
    How do you define interesting?
    Those movies that have end credits which have animation inside and is not just black and white text on the screen. Some movies that I know have post credit movie, I will stay back.
  6. How do you feel (emotionally and physically) after watching a movie?

Emotional: Depends on the movie. If the movie is good, I will be emotionally happy. If the movie is bad, I will criticize the movie.
Physical (do you feel tired or cold?): Depends on the cinema itself. Depends on the seats. For the temperature, I am usually ready to bring a jacket in case it’s too cold.

7. How do you feel about the exit hall post movie?
Some cinemas have movie posters, some cinemas have nothing, just a hallway, and there is no special things there. For the lighting, some of the cinemas, which is good, they have warm lighting. But some other cinemas have normal plain lighting.
Is it disturbing to exit to a bright lighted place from a dark room?
The brightness of the exit way is OK because after watching the movie, they will put the lights on again in the theatre itself, so your eyes will adjust.
Do you feel that movie posters are visually pleasing for you in the exit hall?
Not really interesting because in the entrance, you are also looking at the same thing.

8. Have you ever gotten into a situation that you have to catch last public transport after a movie? How did you feel about it?
Yes. I chose the movie timing and I surely know roughly what time it ended, so I already know the consequence.

9. If you can change something about the exit hall, what would you like to change?
If I can change something, the exit door is only one door so I can immediately go back to the mall or the entrance of the cinema. So I don’t need to walk quite far because currently the practice is that they put the long hallway circling around the theatre or just to go to a different point of exit at the mall. They design it like that. So if I can change something, one exit door, you open the door, and immediately is the entrance of the theatre or within the theatre itself.
Why do you think exiting at the theatre is good?
In case you have another movie to catch. Some people do movie marathon. If the exit is very far, then they need to literally marathon physically to the cinema.

10What do you usually do in the exit hall?
Walking. Sometimes I will check my message. If I have friends to go along with, I will talk to them about the movie.
What do you think of the signage in the exit hall? Is it sufficient? How do you usually find your way to go out of the exit hall?
There is only one way. First, normally, I will just follow the crowd. Secondly, the signage is very clear. Jus exit that way, and there is only one way.

11. How do you feel about the following ideas to improve the exit hall?

a. Navigation to be displayed on walls
For that idea, I don’t agree because basically, like I said before, the better exit way is you don’t need to walk very far and just go back to the lobby of the movie theatre.

b. After credits / new movie trailers screened on walls
I will surely not look at it because normally people will exit the theatre after the movie ends, and normally although the credits is displayed inside the movie theatre, we could just not look at it, and just walk. If you put it in the exit way, it will have the same effect. People will just ignore it.

c. Simple rating system for viewers to express their feeling about the movie
That will be good. Because sometimes, now the only way you can rate the movie is you go to a website, log in to your account, and you rate the movie, put comment on the movie, and we don’ t know about the credibility of the comment. If the person watched the movie before or they did not, but they just put the stupid comment there. But if we put at the exit it will be good so immediately after people watch the movie , if they want to comment or rate the movie, they can do it immediately.
What if after you rate a movie, there is a visuals projected on the wall following your input?
I think that is only something extra, the point is just the rating system, right? If you want to put it, it’s OK, but if no, it’s OK. So basically, the rating system is good. For the extra visuals that you display afterwards, normally people will not care about it because that’s not the main point.

 

The Best of You Exhibition

Standard

The Best of You

The Best of You movement is about finding quiet moments in our busy lives to take stock of our accomplishments and appreciate our lives. In asking this question, we want to inspire you to celebrate the accomplishments, life experiences and the people that have brought out the best in you.

Started in 2014, this movement is powered by these tributes to one’s life accomplishments and experiences. Coming from all walks of life, these are tributes that speak of courage, regret, community, love, encouragement, redemption and, most of all, empowerment.

I came across this Exhibition on 7th October at Buona Vista. I participated in the initiative by writing my story on a postcard and having it illustrated by Sharlene Leong.

Final Project: After Credit (Group 2)

Standard

Problems

Problem (1): Currently, many cinemas in Singapore simply use existing fire exit lo lead movie goers back to the shopping mall. These exit usually are long and monotonous corridor with no indication of destination. This leads to some degree of anxiety and frustration when movie goers end up at a destination much further than they would like to.

Problem (2): After watching a movie, sometimes we still have a feeling that we are still in the fiction world. For example, after watching a dance movie, I feel like I want to dance afterwards. The end seems to be abrupt when movie goers suddenly enters a boring corridor to exit the cinema. How could we ease this transition as the movie watchers get out of the movie hall (fiction) to the shopping mall (real world)?

Solution

AFTER CREDITS

The project aims to improve the final part of a movie watching experience that is usually overlooked: the exit. Improvements are made in 2 ways: (1) provide an aid for way finding and (2) creates a smoother transition from the movie to the real world.

Existing Visual Solution: Invisible Voices

Standard

Invisible Voices on DR-NTU by Liu Longhao

This project is to bring audiences on a journey to know about the lives of migrant construction workers in Singapore. There are a total of 322,700 of them here and the number is counting on. We see them around us and acknowledge their existence but how much do we know about them? Many try and draw sympathy to this group of minority beings but few take the effort to truly empathize them. Thus, my team and I made this documentary, which shows the lives and voices of these people who walk among us but are generally treated as unseen. We do not aim to educate audiences on the right and wrong, but we hope they can bear a more open mind when they see or hear about migrant workers after watching this documentary.

 

Thoughts for FYP

In his FYP report, this statement struck me the most:

I had a long conversation with the founder of Healthserve, Doctor Goh Wei Leong on the migrant workers’ community. When I told him that I wanted to do a documentary about the migrant workers and Healthserve, he told not to do one which emphasized only the sadness of workers as it would not bring out a good message, that I inevitably agreed on. I believe what is crucial is to bring out inspiration despite the inevitable negative stories of this group of people.

My project should be a platform where it is inspirational for people who sees it. My goal is to be a channel of migrant workers to have a stage to be inspirational for others..

Existing solution: MWAW Lunch Tag and ICOON

Standard

• MWAW 2016 • Lunch Tag #1 & #2

Have you ever wondered how a genuine conversation with people who helped built the infrastructure of your home will go? Do you want a chance to meet people you would otherwise pass by, and actually interact with them?

The two Lunch Tags allow two people who would have never otherwise met to sit down and connect over a simple lunch. RSVP here: http://tinyurl.com/rsvpmwaw !

Lunch Tag #1
31st Jan, 9am – 1pm, at Yale-NUS College Elm Dining Hall
This will kick-start with a friendly lohei decoration competition involving both participants and migrant workers. After which, everyone will be paired up to have lunch together at the Yale-NUS College Elm Dining Hall.

Lunch Tag #2
3rd Feb, 11.30am – 3pm, at Botanic Gardens
In the style of a picnic, this Lunch Tag will take place out in the nature at Botanic Gardens. There will also be games where participants will interact with foreign domestic workers from the HOME Shelter in a different setting than what we usually do.

Through a meal, people could have a more personal conversation to know each other. How would my FYP be different from this existing event is that:

  • It would not be a big event. For a meet up, there will only be 3 locals and 3 migrant workers.
  • I will document each session in the form of either photography, audio, or video, to be later be compiled for my installation.
  • I will design a set of conversation starters, accompanied by English and Tamil or Bengali translation. If needed, I will also design pictograms to help the conversation flow seamlessly.