BERITA HARIAN

I am writing in response to Audrey Wong’s "Postscript: Determining Art Meanings" (Vehicle, Jan:Mar 04) in relation to the 2-week exhibition, Berita Harian, which was held at The Substation Gallery in November last year. Audrey wrote: “The trouble with conceptual art or art that seeks to question, is that it always seems to need some kind of explanation…The artists and curators were careful about how they presented the works to the viewer and very precise about the overall design and look of the show.”

Stepping into the exhibition space after the show opened, I could not help wonder if the points that such a collaborative show was attempting to make were coming across at all. Such points supposedly included demonstrating “the problems of making art and getting this acknowledged by the mainstream”, “the role of the artist in contemporary Singapore”, how Malays are not less “advanced” compared to other ethnic groups in using new media and technology in their work, cultural identity and representation etc. Really now.

The gallery looked like a postmodern-hippie living room replete with too much Ikea-furniture, supposedly to throw the gallery-goer off because, hey, who says such a cosy environment cannot also be an exhibition space? If the precision Audrey mentioned with regards to the overall look of the show meant a calculated move to overturn expectations of the demarcations of space for art and dialogue between artwork and audience, I remain unconvinced as I can also argue that this is just a weak excuse for an arbitrary juxtaposition of different installations and artworks, so as to pull off the possibility of a high-profile “group-show”.

And what “problems” are there, really, in making your art when it is obvious you received a comparatively large chunk of government funding for your show? Not only that, what can be more mainstream than to have so much press eager to cover your “group-show”? And is it not just a tad juvenile to make a point about how artists do not receive enough attention by blasting a repeated announcement from the top floor of The Substation via loudspeakers (courtesy of Gene Sharudyn), detailing the name, venue, dates and other banal information about your exhibition? The director of The Fun Stage, a friend of mine, commented that it would have been more interesting if the CD playing the announcement had skipped, or had its message deliberately disrupted mid-sentence, which did indeed happen, but only because there was something actually wrong with the CD player.

“Simplistic” is the word I would use for everything in this show by supposedly established Malay visual artists in the scene. Khairuddin Hori placed a large printed batik cloth on to gallery wall and lit it up by small Ikea lamps. Do we really need yet another clichéd follow-up to the “readymade”? Juliana Yasin’s photographic self-portraits were given out for anyone to toy with. The simple – and I stress simple – idea behind it is, of course, that whole questioning of self and identity, as well as, conveniently enough, Malay identity. Zulkifle Mahmod, whose previous installation work The Vanishing Race: Apache On The Rampage, held before in the same gallery space, blew my mind away with its overwhelming visual imagery, combined with its atmospheric sense of violence and danger, only fails to impress with his sound installation cum neon-lighting in the public restrooms within The Substation foyer. So a toilet can also be a place for artistic intervention and enforced reflection upon our everyday negotiations with public spaces. Is that all this installation has to say? How about the worst exhibit of all: Sukaimi Sukri’s projection of a clock on the wall; an invitation to ever-so-literally watch time pass?

Is this the extent of the questioning that these artists have embarked upon?

If this show was designed to prove that Malays are not less advanced than other races in their use of technology in their art, it has, ironically, not proven that Malays are advancing in terms of depth of artistic vision.

To be published in Vehicle (Apr:Jun 04).