Zine: Locale – Pasir Panjang

I:  R E S E A R C H

Visitation records
1.  16 Feb 2019, 1:00PM - 4:30PM (Saturday afternoon)
2.  01 Mar 2019, 7:30PM - 9:30PM (Friday night)
3. 02 Mar 2019, 7:00PM - 9:30PM (Saturday night)
4.  04 Mar 2019, 12:00PM - 4:00PM (Monday afternoon)
5.  31 Mar 2019, 8:00AM - 9:30AM (Sunday morning)
data collection
  • On-site interviews
<Recorded transcripts log>
1 Rock n Hop Bar staff
(Singaporean Indian) 
ICON #01-01
2 Bento-Go takeaway and dine-in shop owner Mayumi Endo
(Japanese)
ICON #01-05
3 Star Shine Wellness Massage/Spa Therapist 
(China Chinese) 
ICON #01-07
4 Jurong Provision Shop shopkeepers 
(South Indian)
ICON #01-09
5 KEEPS/COOKS FRESH market/cafe staff
(Singaporean Chinese)
ICON #01-10, #01-11
6 Blossom Hair Salon hairdresser, Janet Choey
(Singaporean Chinese)
ICON #01-16
7 Music school teacher
(Japanese)
ICON #02-?
8 HOOHA Restaurant & Cafe boss
(Singaporean Chinese)
VIVA VISTA #B1-06, #B1-11, #B1-50
9 Edge Creations Interior Design staff
(Singaporean Indian)
VIVA VISTA #B1-56
10 Global Craft staff
(Singaporean Chinese)
VIVA VISTA #01-04
11 Natural TCM Clinic physician 
(Singaporean Chinese) 
VIVA VISTA #01-10
12 Lotus Yog yoga instructor, Sudha
(Singaporean Indian)
VIVA VISTA #01-34
13 CV Global Resources Pte Ltd trade managers 
(Singaporean Chinese) 
VIVA VISTA #01-37
14 Wood World Renovation Timber Consultant, Qiu Feng
(Singaporean Chinese)
VIVA VISTA #01-38
15 American passer-by
16 Norwegian passer-by
  • On-site surveys: 40 respondents

Profile

 

Nationality:

American - 3
British - 1
British (Scottish) - 1
Filipino - 3
Holland - 1
Indian - 3
Japanese - 2
New Zealand - 1
Norwegian - 1
Singaporean - 24
  • Online surveys: 57 respondents

Profile

Nationality:

Burmese - 2
Malaysian - 6
Swiss - 1
Singaporean - 48
  • Online database/repository for memories

I created a Google Docs and put up prints around the neighbourhood (mail boxes, bus stops, lift buttons, doors) with a QR code to link people to the site.

Link to repository:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M97dtW8DDSdgyi1-NZ2FUt3reGWITwpDr3rHaftYL6w/edit

Sadly, I only got one response to this (highlighted text).
  • Photographic and video documentation
  • Sound meter data + audio recordings
  • Document analysis (namecards, brochures)
  • Online research: property websites, news articles, heritage archives
Far East Organization properties website
Brochure for ICON
URA Conservation Portal archives  
  • Guestbook

 

Not even an hour since I set the guestbook up, someone stole the pen and post-it which had gathered quite a few responses (that I didn’t manage to read).
presentation of findings

My findings are hosted on a website:

https://manweileong.wixsite.com/pasirpanjang

Content of the website is framed by the basic questions: “What comes to mind when you think of Pasir Panjang?” and “Has Pasir Panjang changed in the time you’ve known it?” Information is grouped into 3 main themes on different tabs:

  1. Profiling – SES status, nationalities of people in Pasir Panjang
  2. Impressions of Pasir Panjang – state of development, activity, soundscape
  3. Change in Pasir Panjang – extent of change, attitudes towards change
Development: curating themes and layout planning.

I curated my findings by the stark contrasts in a variety of aspects. The layout/organization of research materials (interview transcripts, photos, newspaper articles etc.) is hence organized with a 2-column structure that assigns each column with a polarity that contrasts the other. The website is a mix-mash of materials consisting of transcripts, photos, videos, infographics, GIFs and animated text.

Infographic created for “What is your relationship with Pasir Panjang?”

II:  Z I N E

concept ideation

From part 1 of the research, I decided to portray the concept of change in Pasir Panjang. What stood out for me most was how change in my childhood neighbourhood consists of many stark contrasts/paradoxes.

IDEA 1:  Design-your-gallery/shop Activity Playbook

  • Sticker book concept with each page showing empty shop units from VivaVista/ICON. Pages decorated with stickers/images of objects found in these sites: rental/sale advertisements, flyers, graffiti, store room objects etc.
  • Centre spread = sticker page, where people and shop displays depicted in “artist impressions” of development project brochures can be removed and pasted on other empty unit workbook pages
  • Intention: highlight unoccupied, deserted state of new development projects, dusting in their coat of newly acquired dust (poor business and rental of units despite 5 years passing since redevelopment completed) > question narrative of improvement presented by development and its necessity (satirical/ lamenting tone)

 

IDEA 2:  Spot-the-difference Sticker Playbook

  • Similar idea to idea 1, but with spot-the-difference spread aesthetic instead of individual sticker pages to decorate.

 

IDEA 3:  “Accordion” of Pasir Panjang Village/ICON shophouses

 

final concept

<  c o n c e p t   x   l a y o u t  >

In the extent of change that the place has undergone, Pasir Panjang has both changed drastically in some aspects and remained the same in others. And it continues to change, despite development works starting close to 10 years back since I moved away.

Some buildings have been torn down and redeveloped, others have stayed. Some people have moved, others continue to stay. All this movement—of people, construction work and heavy vehicles—embody the idea of Pasir Panjang as a place of transition; a stopover at which all things are suspended and somewhat displaced in change. The place as a point of transition also emulates the idea of a port which is a crucial part of Pasir Panjang’s identity also.

For my zine I zoomed in specifically to the iconic row of shophouses previously known as Pasir Panjang Village because of its position at the “gate” of Pasir Panjang—all traffic has to pass it to “enter” the neighbourhood.  Also, I felt that the changes at this site embodied the landscape of change of the whole neighbourhood itself. Right now the place is a mixed use commercial and residential property called ICON with a “same same but different” facade, with an extra row of high rise buildings behind. But about 10 years back it was a quaint row of shophouses with little restaurants, bars and services catered to the neighbourhood like mama shops and laundry.

There’s some subjective bias to my preference and longing for the past Pasir Panjang Village over the present ICON, but through research I discovered I wasn’t alone on this, and neither was I unjustified in feeling this way. Finding out that the site was a gazetted conservation site gave me a starting point for staging a conversation on change in Pasir Panjang.

back + front covers:  narratives of conservation

Spot-the-difference

Although “conservation” of the site by URA’s terms did not mean the preservation of its state as Pasir Panjang, I appropriated it for my own purpose anyway to take this meaning. I took the conservation plan map of the site from the online heritage archive (unfortunately the only place you can visit Pasir Panjang Village now) and manipulated it with elements from the ICON property development brochure.

> I wanted to evoke a sense of irony and inconsistency to the “conservation” narrative I took URA to promise: that despite the gazetting of the area for conservation (in my terms), Pasir Panjang Village was redeveloped into ICON. 

Similarities in language/information type found between conservation map and property brochure.
Development: I tried different ways of showing the comparison between the ICON brochure and Pasir Panjang Village conservation map.

Within the zine itself, I also made use of this spot-the-difference/comparison idea in my layout. The pages are not limited to being read as spreads with the pages they are directly side-by-side with. I curated the content to allow connections and contrasts to be made across pages not directly next to each other, to form new spreads. For each spread/pair of pages, I use a different  device for showing contrast, or convey a different type of contrast in content.

 

< overview of ways pages can be read as spreads >

 

< individual spreads >

1 + 4:  introduction to narrative of change

Spot-the-difference in
– Facade of shophouses: past (1) VS present (4)
– Number of people: number of people reduce from past (1) to present (4)
   Only people that remain on (4) are those walking to the left, towards the past.
– Quotes:
   “Pasir Panjang is changing for the better” – Property Website (1) VS

“worse.” – Interview response on changes in Pasir Panjang (4)

> Typically you expect development to bring improvement, but what I found about change in Pasir Panjang was that this wasn’t necessarily the case. The present state of ICON is much more deserted than its past state when it was Pasir Panjang Village. Many shops remain unsold without tenants, and shops with businesses set up do not have much customer flow. This led me to question the purpose of redevelopment in the first place and the irony in the narrative of improvement implied/presented.

[]

1 + | 2 , 3 | + 4: narrative of obstructive construction 

Separating (1) and (4), (2) and (3) depict elements from construction sites there: construction signs, sound barrier cloths, property development advertisement text etc.

– Quote on (4): “Pasir Panjang is built on its rich history and charm.” – Property Website

Direct reference to literal meaning of ICON being built upon Pasir Panjang Village (the audacity of it to replace the Village and make it history while praising its charm)

> I felt that construction work had a very intrusive character to the locale, separating the past and the present, representing a state of displacement in transition for the people living there/passing through. I thought construction work would have completed by the time I visited after growing up, but the building continues. The ceaseless construction continues to obstruct and separate life there even today. Thus I set aside 2 pages specially to depict construction, breaking the continuity and flow of the row of shophouses spreading across the rest of the pages.

Development: different images used for the construction pages changed the nature of obstruction evoked. Some added additional messages like noise and direction.

[]

| 4 + 5 | : views on extent of change 

Compare and contrast quotes on (4) and (5) which are back-to-back
– Quotes:
  “no denying that it has indeed come a long way.” – Property Website (4) VS

“looks pretty much the same to me”, “Still ___” Interview transcripts (5)

> Contrasting views on extent of change that Pasir Panjang has gone through (from people who have known the place for different lengths of time)

[]

5 + 6: attitudes towards change 
Remixing contrasting elements
– Facade of shophouses:
  (5) One entire unit replaced with past facade, others maintain present facade
  (6) Small details (windows, roof, signboards) of present replaced with past
– Quotes spread across (5) and (6):

Interview transcripts about attitudes towards change. Not curated according to positive/negative attitudes, remixed together. Increasingly densely packed from left (5) to right (6), with greater distance from sound barrier 防音 page (3).

> The attitudes towards the changes that Pasir Panjang has undergone and continues to go through, are just as varied as the state of change in the place. Some people are negative and reminisce the past, others are positive and optimistic about the development. Then there also those who occupy the middle ground and are neutral. Mixing the elements of the old and new shophouses together as well, I wanted to show the confusing coexistence of past and new physical infrastructure/architecture in Pasir Panjang. I also wanted to express how despite all the changes, even in the present landscape, you can still find traces of the past—both tangible and intangible ones—in the physical landscape, people that remain, and memories.

[]

3 + 6:  contrasting visual noise/quiet 
Compare and contrast
– Visual noise:
  (3) Bare composition with sound barrier text

(6) Packed with visual noise of quotes

 > I wanted to highlight how all the views about change in Pasir Panjang are sort of like unspoken “white noise”. Hence the not-so-clear readability of the words against the pictures. The sound barrier, representing construction work, blocks out the activities and voices of the people living there (obstruction to daily life). It is however not the physical barrier that does this, but the deafening noise of construction work that drowns all other sounds. (It is unclear what sounds these sound barriers are designed to be barriers for: sounds of building or voices and activities of residents?)

Development: I tried different text formats and arrangements for what fit my concept best, while ensuring (some) readability.

[]

1 + 6:  ambiguous conclusion/feelings about change
Compare and contrast
– Number of people: number of people reduce from past (1) to present (6)
   “more crowd” – Interview transcript (6) VS lone person occupying page
– Number of vehicles: car moving to right from (1) does not appear in (6)
– Quotes from property websites:
(1): “Greater” taken out of quote from
(6): “Plans are in place to transform the whole area into the ___ Southern Waterfront.”
Extension
   “Pasir Panjang is changing for the better.” (1)

“It’s only getting better in the near future.” (6)

> All the changes are framed within the narrative of development that the government has planned for Pasir Panjang: plans to relocate the ports amongst others in the Great Southern Waterway Masterplan. Combining mixed observations and attitudes on change in (1) and (6), I address the uncertainty that I feel about the “Greater” masterplan and Pasir Panjang’s state in the future.

DEVELOPMENT: layout

Stitching

I had to stitch photos of both the past houses and present houses before I could compare and stitch the two times together. However, multiple perspectives present in each photo made the task a bit more difficult and I had to remove elements like the roof separators that threatened the frontal perspective I tried to create across the row. The past houses also had to be skewed and manipulated to fit the perspective of the present houses.

Joining the individual pages to create the continuous spreads, I also had to make sure they aligned.

First draft

For the construction work page (3|4), my original idea was to have a hole in the silhouette of a shophouse unit cut out such that you could see the past/present house concealed behind, but framed by the sound barrier construction cloth. The idea was to allow for comparison between the past and present houses with the construction narrative framing/contextualising it. I wanted to have holes also to allude to the idea of demolition of the past to create an empty space, before the present/future succeeds it. The holes also implied the absence and sense of loss I felt towards Pasir Panjang Village more strongly.

However after trying the idea out with the images stitched together, I couldn’t find an elegant/aesthetic solution. The hole made by one house did not frame the house on the other page similarly. Changing the shape of the hole to just a rectangle created a window instead of a silhouette that registered the past’s absence/disappearance. In the end, I decided to discard this hole idea and use the full-page opaque sound barrier cloth idea instead (final).

printing

Because of the poor resolution of the past photos of the shophouses I had to work with (from the conservation archives online), I had to find ways to make the zine look like it wasn’t using bad quality images. I considered replacing the photographs with illustrations/traced drawings but using photographs was important for me because of its “documentation” idea and how it alluded to a real place. With Pasir Panjang Village already non-existent as a physical site, I needed the power of photographs to prove it existed. Illustrations would not have achieved the same effect.

Joy recommended I play with pixelation so I tried different distortion and blurring effects. However, the effects either made the past photos too ambiguous (unidentifiable specifically as Pasir Panjang Village VS just any row of shophouses) or added a different layer of meaning. The stagger filter effect created a vacuum/erasure sort of motion. In the end, I decided to fade the colours and use inkjet instead of laser printing to resolve the problem. The printed effect achieved a “low-res” sort of consistency across the past and present photos.

Blurring/noise filters experimented with

I also chose plain paper of a thinner weight to fit the aesthetic of the ink. This gave the zine a sort of fragile quality as well when you held it in your hands. It captures what I feel about the present state of Pasir Panjang, suspended in a fragile, uncertain state of change and transition. It also reflects how I personally feel about the site as a place that both allows and does not allow me to reconnect with all the childhood memories I formed there.