Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Biennale at Tanglin Camp. The biggest number of exhibits for the Singapore Biennale can be found in Tanglin Camp. It was not readily accessible by public transport, so Anand and I took the chartered bus from SMU to get there. We were there to join a guided tour. There were only five of us in the group, and fortunately we got a very experienced, patient and personable lady to guide us. There were quite a number of exhibits, stretching across several blocks, which took quite a while of walking. Some of the more memorable exhibits: Scott Bowe, Painting as a Zombie - a 10 minute video presentation linking the advent of zombie films and international contemporary art. We actually sat through the video almost twice, but the feeling I got was an unconvincing ... threading of films and paintings. The footage of Zombie classics was a hoot, which include Michael Jackson's Thriller; George and Chee Wai, The Fog is Rising - I knew what I was in for, since I have attended quite a few of the guys' performanances, but to step into a dark room with nothing much but sound / noise ... waves and current, took quite a ... beating. I thought that I would appreciate the piece better if I was there early on, but having survived the rest of the exhibits, to come across such ... pressure, was a little too daunting. It was too much for my handphone too, it went wonky momentarily when I tried to send a sms out; Hiroyuki Matsukage, Star - it was a brilliant idea, make any noise at the microphone and have hundreds of smiling girls screaming at you back, utterly silly yet somehow a great way to destress; Brian Gothong Tan, We Live in a Dangerous World - Brian never ceases to amaze me, but this is a case of a slight overkill, with a roomful of miniature people, videowall of images, sounds, lights, political and social innuendoes; Agus Suwage and Titarubi, Crossroad - my favourite, railway track over broken bodies, a ginomous bomb made up of flowers, pure visual statement, no explanation needed ... think I will make a trip again to discover the works another round.

A Scene at the Sea. This is one of Kitano's early works, and is actually my favourite before Hana-Bi. A mute teenager gives up his mundane trash-collection job to go full-time as a surfer. People laugh at him, but he slowly pick up the skill, to eventually win a prize at the local surfing competition. There are plenty of supporting roles, like the mute and kind-hearted girlfriend, the aloof coach, the bumbling duo who succeeds in nothing, the loser and his girlfriend, the workers at the trash-collection centre, and the other surfers around. There isn't much dialogue throughout the film, and one can't help but feel that the director began to hone his unique directorial style through films like this. Well, not so much his unique brand of violence, but his penchant for brooding, silent protagonists. Still worth watching after all these years.

♥ 9:16 pm