Saturday, July 18, 2009

HOUSE OF MEMORY







Sleepwalking by Yason Banal
April 3, 2009

Ho Tzu Nyen is an artist and filmmaker. His works have been shown at the 26th Sao Paulo Biennale, the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale and the 1st Singapore Biennale. His films have competed at international film festivals such as the 53rd and 54th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the 30th Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. In 2008, he conceptualized a theatrical experiment, THE KING LEAR PROJECT, which premiered at the KunstenFestivaldesArts in Brussels and the Singapore Arts Festival. He is now in the postproduction stages of his first feature film, HERE.

The House of Memory

I must have been two…or three years old. I remember the coldness of the marble floor on which I have fallen asleep, antidote to the dense, lazy, humid afternoon air that permeated the house in which I was born.

I remember waking up to sounds emitted from the television, though I can no longer recall what the images were.

This image, like the rest of the memories from the early part of my life, are all rooted to a grave-like apartment, where I was born. But this apartment, where I was born, is not there anymore.

Like so many things in Singapore, it has been obliterated. A hole remains in the place where it used to stand.

I often wonder what remains...what remains of my childhood – my past – now that there is no longer any physical proof of the house in which it all took place.
If the child is indeed the father of man, then does it mean that I am fatherless, because I have lost all traces of the child that I was?

A few years ago, I attempted to retrace my own past, and I began upon a journey, a form of traveling without moving. Yet like any journey, there is always the possibility of getting distracted, of wandering from one’s proper destination. In this case, I drifted into the history of a lost art – the Greek art of memory.

According to the ancient Greeks, Memory is the mother of the Muses - the foundation of all art and knowledge.

It is said that there are two kinds of memory, one natural, the other artificial.

Natural memory is that which anyone receives when he is created and which varies according to the matter from which he is generated, hence some men have better memories than others. Some men have poor memory owing to disease or age, just as if a stimulus or a seal were impressed on flowing water. For this reason the very young and the old have poor memories, because they are in a state of flux, the young due of their growth the old due of their decay.

The other kind of memory is artificial memory, which can be improved in two ways. The first kind uses medicines. However this is considered to be extremely dangerous since occasionally such medicines are given to men with the wrong disposition, and in unnecessary high dosages, so that the brain becomes weakened.

The second way of enhancing artificial memory was by training.

This art of enhancing memory is said to be founded by one of the most admired lyric poets of ancient Greece – Simonides, was his name, but he was also called, ‘the honey-tongued’.

Simonides is said to have lived between 556 to 468 BC, and he was said to have been the first to have demanded to be paid for his poetry. In fact, the founding story of his invention of the art of memory hinges on one such paid job – a contract for an ode to praise a man called Scopas - the winner of a boxing contest, at banquet held in his honour.

However, Simonides angered Scopas severely, when he devoted half the length of the commissioned ode to praises of Castor and Pollux – a pair of divine twins famed for their own boxing skills. In anger, Scopas paid Simonides only half the agreed sum and told him to get the rest from the two gods. A little while later, in the middle of the victory banquet, Simonides was summoned outside by two young men – the twin gods in disguise.

In his absence, the roof of the hall where Scopias was giving the banquet collapsed - killing everybody.

The friends of those who died came, but they were highly distressed at being unable to tell the dead bodies apart – so badly were they crushed, so badly were they mangled.

However, Simonides found out that he could in fact identify each of the bodies because he could recall a precise visual image of the ill-fated banquet, allowing him to recall each and every one of their positions around the banquet table

And thus with a funeral, was born the art of memory.

It is not difficult to grasp the general principles of this art of memory.

First and foremost, places – which we will call memory places – must be selected.

Second, the things to be imprinted into memory must be transformed into objects – and we will call these memory objects.

Third, these memory objects must be inserted into the mind by being mentally located in those memory places.

Fourth, the exact order of the places must be branded into the mind, for this would ensure that the order of things can be remembered and be preserved in its correct spatial sequence.

The most common type of memory place used was the building.

It was recommended that the memory artist select a building that is spacious, has variety but is not overly chaotic. And thus began the alliance between the invisible art of memory and architecture, the most visible of art forms.

However, the deathblow to this ancient art of memory was to be delivered emphatically with the coming of a new technology.

Its death is recounted quite succinctly in Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris, where a scholar, deep in meditation in his study high up in the cathedral, gazes at the first printed book which has come to disturb his collection of manuscripts. Then, opening the window, he gazes at the vast cathedral, silhouetted against the starry sky, crouching like an enormous sphinx in the middle of the town. And he says: “The printed book will destroy the building. …The printed book will make such huge built up memories, crowded with images, unnecessary.”

Sunday, March 1, 2009

ARCHIVING 142 FOR 2008







SLEEPWALKING by Yason Banal
January 30, 2009

Ringo Bunoan is an artist, curator, researcher and writer. A graduate of the UP College of Fine Arts, she works with installation, sculpture, photography and video, and has exhibited widely in Manila and abroad. She also taught at the UP CFA and has contributed her writings on art for various publications. From 1999-2004, she led the independent art space Big Sky Mind, which supported young artists through exhibitions, exchanges and residencies. Since 2007, she has been working for the Asia Art Archive in Hongkong. She is currently doing a special research on pioneering Filipino conceptual artist Roberto Chabet and is preparing for a solo exhibition at the Vargas Museum on February 2009. Entitled “Spectacle and Surveillance,” the exhibition revolves around her work with Chabet, memory, history, and the archival process.


SPECTACLE AND SURVEILLANCE: NOTES ON ARCHIVING

Archiving complements my practice as a visual artist since many of my works deal with the politics and psychology of remembrance and the desire for structure and order. The material that I gather, all those data and information, have become charged readymade objects, which reveal so much, however subtly, the underlying elements governing the art of today.

Selecting what to archive is a deliberate decision. We choose what we want to remember, what we believe are worth remembering. History is never impartial nor complete; it is almost always dependent on who is writing. For archivists, it is a challenge to fill the gaps and build upon what has already been recorded. More than anything, we aim to provide a record our time.
- Ringo Bunoan


LIST OF EXHIBITIONS IN 2008:

1. Bembol Dela Cruz Indelible, Finale.
2. Geraldine Javier Living Images, Leaden Lives, The Art Center.
3. Romeo Lee Romeo Lee and His Fans, Magnet.
4. Ringo Bunoan Little Deaths, MO_.
5. Ferdz Valencia The Ever Existing Nothing, Prose Gallery.
6. Ronaldo Ruiz Digital Intervention, The Drawing Room.
7. Argie Bandoy The Simple Beginnings of Chaos, Finale.
8. Andrei Salud Masarapmatulog / Garish Barish video exhibition, Cubicle.
9. Poklong Anading Fallen Map, Magnet.
10. Poklong Anading Untitled (Landmark). Magnet.
11. Gerry Leonardo Outdoor Installation, CCP.
12. Mariano Ching We Are Not Afraid Of You And We Will Beat Your Ass, West Gallery.
13. Francesca Enriquez, Finale.
14. Froilan Calayag Life is Like Candy, CCP.
15. Leeroy New Psychopompous, CCP.
16. 22nd Asian International Exhibition, Ayala Museum.
17. Al Cruz Picture, Painting, Theater, Movie, Window, Mirror, West Gallery.
18. Sic, West Gallery.
19. Jonathan Ching Nothing is Compulsory Except Happiness, West Gallery.
20. Rachel Rillo Manila, Silverlens.
21. Juan Alcazaren Gone to Seed, Finale.
22. No Title (Other Drawings), MO_.
23. MM Yu Black, Magnet.
24. Exhibit A: Conversations with Now, MCAD.
25. Tutok: Kargado, Ateneo Art Gallery.
26. Lena Cobangbang Overland, Finale.
27. Jayson Oliveria Truth Adjustment, Magnet.
28. Ringo Bunoan Pillow Talk, Silverlens.
29. FOEM, The Art Center.
30. Wire Tuazon Parables and Paradoxes, Finale.
31. Don Salubayba Images from my Floating Third World, The Drawing Room.
32. JJ Christine Villamarin Walang Kaparis, VOCAS.
33. Café By The Ruins 20th Year Anniversary.
34. Strain Extension, MO_.
35. Living on Loring, Galleria Duemila.
36. Pete Jimenez Simple Creatures, Magnet.
37. Romeo Lee Wild Things, Pablo
38. Manuel Ocampo & Argie Bandoy Problem with Styles, Green Papaya.
39. Agnes Arellano The Goddess Revisited, Crucible.
40. Gallery Selection, Finale.
41. Cris Villanueva Memorable Fiction, West Gallery.
42. Aba, The Art Center.
43. Elaine Roberto-Navas Garage Sale, Finale.
44. Steve Tirona Will Work 4 Food, Silverlens.
45. Public Art Installations at Bonifacio High Street.
46. Robert Langenegger Foul, Counted, Magnet.
47. Lindslee Figuring Abstraction, The Drawing Room.
48. Ranelle Dial Withering, West Gallery.
49. Them, West Gallery.
50. Gina Osterloh Shooting Blanks, Green Papaya.
51. Felix Bacolor The Sound of Aeroplanes, West Gallery.
52. MM Yu Odds and Ends, Finale.
53. Charlie Co Time + Space, Alliance Française.
54. Mariano Ching & Yasmin Sison Spinning Sugar, Magnet.
55. Shift, MO_.
56. Patawa, Metropolitan Museum.
57. Costantino Zicarelli It Was Always The Devil’s Turn, Because We Are Here Together and Forever, Until the Day The World Will Be On The Verge of Sorrow, Hiraya Gallery.
58. Under My Skin, Ateneo Art Gallery.
59. Room 307: Inkling, Gutfeel and Hunch, National Art Gallery.
60. Tutok, National Art Gallery.
61. Counter-Photography, National Museum of the Philippines.
62. Swarm In the Aperture, National Museum of the Philippines.
63. Kidlat De Guia Sleeping White Elephants, Galleria Duemila.
64. Leonardo Aguinaldo Connectivity, Galleria Duemila.
65. Katrina Bello Structure in Nature is a Strategy for Drawing, Magnet
66. Jonathan Olazo Tattoo and Catastrophe, The Drawing Room.
67. The Sum Of Its Parts, Lopez Museum.
68. Luwalhati, Art Informal.
69. Bencab Related Images, Silverlens.
70. Alwin Reamillo Nicanor Abelardo Grand Piano Project, Vargas Museum.
71. Geraldine Javier Sampaloc Cave Paintings, Podium.
72. Alvin Villaruel Vessels, West Gallery.
73. Lyra Garcellano Troubled Sleep, Finale.
74. Christina Dy Clothes They Stood Up In, Crucible.
75. Louie Cordero Absolute Horror, MO_.
76. Pure Hybrids / Normal Aberrations, White Box Studio.
77. Nona Garcia Planted Landscape, Podium.
78. Ateneo Art Awardees 2007 Return Exhibition, Ateneo Art Gallery.
79. 60 x 40, West Gallery.
80. Bernardo Pacquing Making Truth Forgettable, Finale.
81. Jucar Raquepo & Alvin Villaruel Hard-Edge and Blurred, Magnet.
82. Johann Espiritu Symmetry / Duality & Frankie Callaghan Stranger, Silverlens.
83. Transmissions: UP Artists and the 13 Artist Award, CCP.
84. Christina Dy Soaplands, CCP.
85. Jay Ticar First Time, The Drawing Room.
86. Yasmin Sison Turning Tides, Finale.
87. Where is Bong Mata?, West Gallery.
88. Mm Yu Rescind, West Gallery.
89. Roberto Chabet & Nilo Ilarde Collages, West Gallery.
90. Jose Tence Ruiz Kotillon, Art Informal.
91. Gristle Pays Homage To The Benevolent Sausage, Magnet
92. Rock Drilon Recent Works, Galleria Duemila.
93. 2008 Ateneo Art Awards, Shangri-la Plaza.
94. Robert Langenegger The Worst Painter Is The One That Paints, Finale.
95. Norberto Roldan Objects and Apparitions, MO_.
96. Wire Tuazon Talisman Bomb, Podium.
97. Louie Cordero & Mariano Ching Death Scream, Blanc.
98. 0%, Green Papaya.
99. Gerardo Tan Ellipses, Magnet.
100. Louie Cordero Pilgrimage to Semina Mountains, West Gallery.
101. Soler Stratus, Finale.
102. Nilo Ilarde What Do Objects Want? The Lives and Loves of Objects, MO_.
103. Juni Salvador Works From Down Under , Magnet.
104. Inaugural Show (Part 1), Finale.
105. Gerardo Tan Theatre of Disguise, Finale.
106. Poklong Anading Random Faults and Root Cause, Finale.
107. Oo: Selected Paintings and Projects by Maria Cruz 1996 – 2008, Ateneo Art Gallery.
108. Juan Alcazaren Test, Magnet.
109. Yuta: Earthworks by Julie Lluch, CCP.
110. Patty Eustaquio Death to the Major, Viva to the Minor, Slab.
111. Daphne Aguilar Pink Noise, Finale.
112. Ronald Ventura After The Lullabye, West Gallery.
113. Bembol Dela Cruz Asphyxia, West Gallery.
114. Bea Camacho Efface. Green Papaya.
115. Argie Bandoy Blind New Works, Mo_.
116. Plet Bolipata & Elmer Borlongan Blue Hour, CCP.
117. Wesley Valenzuela Transmutation, CCP.
118. Gaston Damag Wanted, Finale.
119. Ranelle Dial. A Circa Revisited, Magnet.
120. Marc Gaba Postcapitalism, Magnet.
121. Christina Quisumbing Domestic Bliss, Green Papaya.
122. Inaugural Show (Part 2), Finale.
123. Jayson Oliveria What Sort of Man Reads Playboy?, Finale.
124. Jose Tence Ruiz Derelict Penthouses, Galleria Duemila.
125. Junyee Siete Picados, Galleria Duemila.
126. Alwin ReamilloTutubing Bakal Helicopter Project, Museo Pambata.
127. Silverlens Foundation 2008 Grant Exhibition, Silverlens.
128. Julius Clar Assemblages, Slab 20 Square.
129. Inaugural Show (Part 3), Finale.
130. Keiye Miranda Silent Witness, Finale.
131. Keeping The Faith, Lopez Museum.
132. Roberto Chabet 1964 Drawings, West Gallery.
133. Alwin Reamillo Play By Ear, Galleria Duemila.
134. Bea Valdez Bedtime Stories, Slab.
135. Gary-Ross Pastrana New Collages, Slab 20 Square.
136. Juan Alcazaren & Bernardo Pacquing Etudes For More Than Two Hands, Mo_.
137. Marina Cruz Open House, The Drawing Room.
138. All I Want For Christmas, Manila Contemporary.
139. Trek Valdizno Urgent Paintings From San Rafael, Bulacan, Artis Corpus Gallery.
140. Lynyrd Paras Against My Black Hearted World, Blanc.
141. Map Ruminations, Apt 2805B.
142. TutoKKK, Blanc.

URGENT: PAINTING








SLEEPWALKING by Yason Banal
December 26, Friday

Trek Valdizno’s body of work is the only one of its kind that can account for, if need be, a genre of lyrical non-objectivism in the history of modern art in the Philippines. As a student at the U.P. College of Fine Arts, he was executing drawings with remarkable ease, in astounding number and at an incredible pace that was best expressed though an academic exercise called “a hundred drawings.”

Presented in at least one solo show and three group exhibitions annually in the past seventeen years, the local art scene has become familiar with Valdizno’s imagery. Perhaps familiar enough that opponents have lost initial hostility towards his chosen visual language. But have his drawings really become palatable to a larger public quick to dismiss abstraction as mindless scribbling if not non-indigenous?

Valdizno is above all a master draftsman in a novel way. With his brush he is able to draw paint. This may be a way to begin appreciating his abstraction. In his work only paint exists and we are witness to what it can literally do. In spite of myriad interpretations aroused by his sumptuous vocabulary of forms and figures, what is essential in the artist’s laboring is the transfer of terrestrial vibrations to his matter.

For his 25th solo exhibit at the Artis Corpus Gallery, Valdizno’s stimulus comes from making images out of “cotton like buttons”. The preamble to this new body of work in contrast to the complexity of what the artist achieves cannot be any simpler or more banal, making it appear that he is quick to grab any motif if only to prod and probe his materials.

Much more than a materialist, he does not merely attribute adjectives to paint. Paint must skid, slide, fatten, thin, glisten, fly, chatter, quiver, tumble, soften, harden, laugh and cry. Valdizno’s acts of drawing become a vehicle to infuse paint with verbs that make it live and breathe as if human.

More innocently than idealistically, Valdizno allows his gestures to do everything to pigment creating a picture more delicious than candy. He waits patiently to the last minute for a crucial starting point that will allow him to draw for hours and days on end, spewing works by the hundreds, unapologetic of his abstractions done over and over again. And from his hometown of San Rafael, Bulacan he will deliver his paintings even though wet. It is the only thing he can imagine doing, very urgently.

Sandra Palomar
Antipolo City
18 November 2008


***


URGENT DISCUSSIONS with Trek Valdizno on his recent paintings. Excerpts from conversations of Sandra Palomar with Gaston Damag via Yahoo Messenger, Enrico Manlapaz and Trek Valdizno via text messaging.


November 3, 8:50pm

TREK VALDIZNO (TV): D rain paralyzd ol my activities today. I cnt paint outside. stil lukin 4 som inspirations 2 paint new tings or new ideas.

November 5, 11:25pm

TV: Didnt touch brushes or paints today. Unloading som ideas bt im stil empty inside. Its hard how n wen 2 start painting.

November 7, 10:59am

TV: Startin point nlang hnhntay ko. Ready n ang ground n my paints. I nid mor stres nd som emotional disturbance 2 push myself to paint.

SANDRA PALOMAR (SP): hindi makaumpisa sa pagpinta si trek. wala pa daw siyang 'inspiration' kahit na ready ang kanyang mga canvas. i told him his abstractions are landscapes. he seemed okay with titling the show 'bulakan'. i am thinking of making a video-catalogue.

November 9, 3:40pm

TR: Rainy sunday! Wla n naman ako mgagawa.

November 11, 9:23am

TR: tried quittin smokin today pero lalo akong naiistress

GASTON DAMAG (GD): i like the idea that you are going to do a video catalogue, the title is really good, pagod na tayo sa mga maka euro philosophe na titles. Bulakan is terre à terre. i also like the idea of landscape, landscape is so complex a subject that it is abstract, landscape is an idea of space (P. Cezanne).

THE PREAMBULE

TV: Finally, jaz fnishd two paintings. I made two paintings made of button like oil paints. I love d idea of making image out of 'big buttons'. Cotton like buttons. i love it. Now i cn paint non stop, by creatin button shaped paints. im happy now.

November 12, 5:36pm

TV: 9 paintngs fnishd today. 6am n ako n2log. Grabe. Nkkapagod. Un 9paintngs ay recycled, gnamit ko to warm up.

TV: Last nyt ako ngkafever. Over fatigue cguro. im orderin d boys 2 paint d bakground pra mbilis. I got 30+ canvas 2 fnish.

SP: Can u tell me ur idea forur last series of pntgs with the birds?

TV: my idea is abt flight, landing, leap, jump, etc.

THE CONFLICT

November 19, 10:37pm

TV: If i paint all d space of a 4x4 canvas wd button like paints in oil i wil consume 100 big tubes each 229 pesos totaling 22,229 pesos for a single painting! If i do dat 4 my exhbition, b4 d year ends im d poorest artist in d philippines.

TV: D cost of oil paint limits my ambition...d expenses, d efforts, d urgency, of this so called art im abt 2 make is frustratng.

November 20, 4:25pm

SP: masaya si trek sa outcome ng trabaho niya but he still has to finish some 20+ canvasses. gusto niyang gumawa ng malalaki pero yung effect na nais niyang makamit ay magastos sa paint.

GD: his butter paintings ay parang icing na nga, kung thicker pa dun paano matutuyo mga canvas nya e malapit na ang show?

SP: yun ang exciting sa trabaho ni trek. he doesn't run against time for "ideas",
but for the capabilities of his material, paint.

Mabibilang mo ngayon ang mga pintor na hamon ang kanilang materyales, hindi idea; na masasabi mong totohanang pintor dahil problema nila ang pintura at hindi kahulugan

4:25pm

TR: My assistants r ol bc paintin my bakground. We fnishd 7 pntgs 2day bt nid my personal touches tmrow. Ang hrap magpaint ng dmo p alam ang exact colors at exact picture.

November 22, 9:10pm

ENRICO MANLAPAZ (EM): Sandra and trek, perhaps you can discuss this phenomenon...that some of the thick buttons have travelled about half an inch overnight after i took photos of paintings and left them upright.

EM: Perhaps map pins on the canvas under the paint buttons, can help so they dont slide down.

November 24, 8:53am

SP: Good morning. Txtd trek about the paintings and he said not to worry. The paint is breathing.

EM: You mean they have a life of their own? As in process art?

SP : You can put it that way.

7:13pm

TV: Im now painting a giant prayin mantis holding a rosary

SP: That mantis sounds like a good piece

TV: I also made a human figure nd flowers, mukang siluly glass ang dating, kaya excitd ako. 3dimensional n yta lhat ng paintings. Sculptd oils n yta kc. Paints lang medium ko pero sculpture n yta ang process. Actuali ang mantis ay pang future show sana along wd ideas of painting other insects. Pero ginawa ko na rin. Ayoko na mag isip pa. Dna ako na aastonish s 'abstraction' ko yta. Kaya im entertainin other ideas.

November 28, 9:30am

TV: Finally, mttapos n ang prayin mantis.

TV: Cant find a picture of two ducks copulating but I tink dats d best pictur for my ‘eden’ painting

November 30, 7:22pm

THE CLIMAX

TV: Im fnishin d two copulating ducks.

December 2, 10:16am

TV: Gudmorning’ d paintings r ol done. Im so exhausted.

THE DENOUEMENT

TV: Im bgnin 2 dislike non objectiv painting, hndi n ako na aastonish. kya may mga humanfigure n ang smal canvas ko, like my two acrobats.

SP: Question: paki-describe mo uli yung idea mo sa mga ginawa mo sa animal cases ng national museum?

TR: Actualy ngkuha lng ako ng pics at inarange ko mga positions nla. On d spot exhbit un. Hndi kc ako mkakuha ng slot dat time, so i said 2 myself dt day, i nid 2 show it today' voila! 1day show lang. Fascinatd lng ako s mga birds tlaga. I remembr one xmas wen i was a kid, we vsitd my lolo, i found out my hornbil bird cla nhuli at nmatay after a while. Tpos gnawa nlang stuf at dnisplay s sala. Astonishd ako dat visit.

THE ANTICLIMAX

December 6, 8:32am

TV: My painting abt ducks laid eggs, blame d cold weather hir. Actualy, i made two 3D eggs frm oil paints, imagine dat.

TV: Im planin 2 paint a caterpillar crossin a branch. Un lang. Jaz 2 c n observ d patience of a caterpillar crosin a long branch.

THE END

Thursday, December 11, 2008

The 106th Story



Young Star
The 106th Story (Do-It-Yourself Store)
SLEEPWALKING By Yason Banal
Friday, December 5, 2008


Since 2001, Masahiro Wada has been director of the Tokyo artist-run-space HOMEBASE. Recent exhibitions in Japan include CUL-PORT, Tokyo Art Center and AIT, as well as the Third Guangzhou Triennial at the Guangdong Museum of Art in China.Masahiro Wada’s Stories makes use of the radio drama as part of his installation work. The original script, which was written and recorded in Japanese, was then translated to English using a web translation software. For these mistranslated, deconstructed and seemingly nonsensical stories, Masahiro Wada creates an invisible yet memorable sculpture, fictions that seem erroneous in syntax but nevertheless palpable in everyday life: much like real-life drama, or static on the radio.

***

It completed recently, and it boasts of the best floor space in this position region, and it is opposite with there no conversation for gay this and five minutes or more and sits also in the coffee multiple store in a huge do-it-yourself store. A small round table is placed and the coffee cup that has already emptied is put with 2 and the ashtray.

"Really take it ..tomorrow.. ..China... "

The husband is still face down and is fiddling with Cachacacha and the cellular phone.

Did not it hear, "It mailed and did to whom" it be from when? Even the thought thing becomes silly. It did not want to be mortifying and to think about the regretted thing for the lazy wife of not putting the nature on the husband who has become it.

Noriko took out carrying, and started the check on mail. It is separately an insinuation to the husband who is fiddling with carrying though the thing that important mail has not come to carry of I etc. were understood.

「Ah. It goes really. Shanghai」

The husband returned it without source natures with the face down. Is the thing that I watch mail tentatively anxious? The visited thing doesn't separately have this 2?3 year by the husband though Noriko was a little glad who the other party is either.

「..referring.. ーDo not it go by the business trip and do not it disregard t?」"How much do you go?"

"Then, is not baseball with Kenft promised impossibility?"

It seems not to be understood whether to hear or not to exist and has begun to enter the husband who keeps seeing a portable screen with feelings Wawa to get irritated gradually as usual. In reality「It sleeps in the Tema sit cross-legged tendon. It turns and the E-mailing point in the under when. Scamp it. Minimum manners when speaking with the person can be done, and because the married couple very much, it is executive job,, and ..encounter.. ? in Tema Cai Co. you see. When talking with the person, had not you learnt it from Babaa and Gegei of the miser of Tema that saw person's eyes?」The barrage of a glance that it frightens it, is the colder might be received from a guest and a clerk near by ten people who is sipping coffee with carefree abandon in this coffee chain, and, according to circumstances, there be a thing that the clerk goes to call the guard member, too, if such a thing is done though it is a place where it wants to disperse the Steller's sea lion, and to throw out to one's heart's content by the coffee cup and the ashtray with an empty it is in the presence. And, from neat glasses to sit on the next「When the bride scares only bean jam, the married couple's conversation is ..nature.. ..lost... Ccc. 」It might be a disgrace sneer and be a thrown thing. In addition, this fellow will only have to be straightening only the appearance in the impact always suitably in the back because he is unpalatable when cutting though the fear husband keeps up the appearance, and this fellow will comfort it momentarily. The appearance would say, and run, and more and more conversations as the married couple were lost, and the sense of crisis of connecting with more and more disfunctional families finally ran at high speed in Noriko's head. When it seems to explode, becoming it feelings are subdued with a jerk, and a violent word that goes out of the mouth is swallowed, the word gotten off below begins to shake my right leg that Noriko is uniting naturally.

「Is it about four days?The business trip」

The husband declared while groping the cigarette on the table by the right hand. with stared at the cellular phone as usual

"Then, promise of Kenft after all. "

It violently took it out again of the fact that ..Noriko.. handbag of my carrying
saying.
Portable sound
Timing often thought by my carrying and thought that something was saved very
much at the beginning by the kite by business.

「Yes is done. ・・・ Oh, Kenft?It has already come back from the school. 」

The husband finished the transmission of mail at last, looked up, and was turning sea anemone's the second mouth to Noriko while igniting the cigarette.

「Yes. ・・・ Yes. ・・・ Yes. Aspect of ..encounter.. ー. . Did you get it ..what..?」
...decrease.. ー. From who?」「Ar aspect and. Yes. ー. Good sleep. 」「Do you return the elder brother?Yes. What?Do you pretend outside?Is .. It is so. Is Kenft?Getting and cake eating point. Present. Aspect of ..encounter.. ー. Good sleep. Yes. Because papa and the mama also ..Mousg.. return. Yes. Then, the sleep food. Yes. 」

"Is Its?"

「It eating what as for the cake of the present gotten in Christmas party. ..outside pretense.. . when ..elder brother.. .... hearing it. Is .. 」

「Is it so?. Is it pretense?」
"The present is from Yumi. ""He tidy ..reward.. ..whether it was possible to say.."

Husband's face is laughing.
Even if a twin sea anemone that grew from the potato took food, the face seemed to move the Pacpac mouth.

The shake of the right leg had been installed a little more.
Noriko quite thought that it was able still to connect with this husband because there were sons. How on earth did we become it if it was this, and there were no sons?There are a lot of thought things recently.

Portable sound

「Yes is done. Ah so. It asks suitably while I am not because I Mr./Ms. Yamada's matter to Tanuma though I am gone on the fifth the fourth from tomorrow by the business trip. Ah so. Yes. Yes. It has understood. Does the matter reach though E-mailed now?So. So. Yes ・・・」

When it was understood to have sent E-mail that sold the face down hard to the subordinate in the company, Noriko felt relieved a little. It thought a little when saying as the business trip was an excuse for the husband to go on a trip somewhere with the mistress, and the reason for the immorality is to tell the truth that it was convinced that the other party who was doing in E-mail and the company that always the face down and took it. Perhaps, the husband will have the person who seems to be the mistress. There are some evidences and reasons that can be proven for this, and the intuition of the wife who cultivated it for 12 years works, too.
The delusion of sending mail of my.. presence to the mistresses always continued for a long time for these 2.3 years. Therefore, the mail that some husbands had been seriously striking thought that I was liberated from blind disgust where husband's cellular phone was felt a little in the thing that it was able to be confirmed that there was E-mail in work, too.

The husband hung up the telephone and lit a cigarette. Noriko also took out my cigarette of the handbag and the fire was set fire. The spoken thing did not float at all. It thought only of child's thing and it did not float though I wanted to do other some conversations.

The husband started and and started the cellular phone again.

「Let's already go. Kenft and the elder brother are waiting. 」

Noriko left the seat stubbing out a cigarette.

"Ah"

The husband tightened the cap of the cellular phone.

"That and my paper bag Mo"

Noriko said so, had the paper bag with which the home kit of the thing and the present for children were blocked in the hand, and went out of the coffee place previously. It completely gave the day when going out outside the building. It shines on at constant intervals of a huge parking lot and the light of the halogen light of O cooking stove color is ..innumerable car.. ..coming to the surface... The thing splendidly decorated surrounds the entire building when looking up at this huge do-it-yourself store from the stopped car. The do-it-yourself store shone on about one mono-vicinity with brightness.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Watching Deleted Scenes








Young Star
Watching Deleted Scenes
Sleepwalking by Yason Banal
November 28, Friday



Heman Chong is inspired by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, Stanislaw Lem, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Michel Houellebecq, Thomas More, Haruki Murakami and countless other science fiction writers. His art practice involves an investigation into the philosophies, reasons and methods of individuals and communities imagining the future. Charged with a conceptual drive, this research is then adapted into objects, images, installations, situations or texts. The artist represented Singapore at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. He has collectively written a science fiction novel entitled "PHILIP" with 7 other collaborators, published by Project Press in 2006. Heman Chong works with Vitamin Creative Space (Beijing/Guangzhou).


***

When I began the series of collages, Deleted Scenes, I had in mind, a process that reflected something completely violent on a seriously extensive level. I have been researching for 2 years now, this topic of the representation of imposed solitude, where an individual is deliberately taken out of society, and a huge portion of it deals with the idea of being imprisoned by a authoritarian body. This has always been a thorn in my side for a long time, as we are surrounded by many reports, especially in South-East Asia where we know for a fact that people are being put away for their political beliefs.


Please don't get the wrong impression that I am some sort of a political crusader, making art as political statements. On the contrary, I am an escapist. I have never involved myself directly in any form of protest, neither am I part of any political party or NGO. I stand alone. As an artist. And my work is political (I believe that all work is political, whether you label it that or not).


My position as an artist is informed by the fact that I am neither the beginning nor the end of anything. I find it really difficult to accept art that speaks of itself as new or innovative. For me, its such an impossibility. To state that it came from nowhere, plucked out of the clouds. I reject this notion.


This position of an escapist interests me much more than being active in politics. I have always been drawn to characters in narrative who exist outside of the active arena of a situation rather than the main heroes. People who have no strings attached to anything, who are capable of saying anything they like and want without having to justify themselves to any side or form or shape. Loose cannons, we call them.


To make the work, I begin by taking photographs with my camera phone. As I have my phone with me at all times, these photographs are of anything and everything. There is no selection process involved when selecting what to capture. Buildings, plants, people having sex in clubs, people crossing a street, people eating in a cafe. Mostly I make the photos while spending time with my wife, hanging around, doing nothing on a warm tropical afternoon.


Then these photographs are sent to the cheapest photo lab in Singapore to be processed. It is really important that they are produced in a shop where other images from the general public are being processed. It means that the photograph in this instance has the same status as an ordinary snapshot by the man on the street, without any kind of artistic consciousness to it. Just memories. Nothing else. Nothing elite or high-brow about it.


The photographs are ready. They're 4 by 6 inches each, what we call 4R size. The most common size for snaps. I usually print up to about 100 to 200 prints at one time. I bring them home. I take a pen knife and cut a rectangle out of the center of the photograph, leaving a 1 cm border all around.


What remains is a curious little object, resembling a frame without a picture but which is a picture in itself. You immediately develop this sense of loss when you look at the sad bastard.


I remember years ago, when Singapore was still pretty anal about censoring pictures of naked bodies in magazines, I would find missing pages in magazines (mostly from European magazines like Dazed & Confused and The Face) you find off the shelves and wonder what these images are. It represents a lost idea, floating around, being horribly de-contextualized from its mothership.


I digress. This project is NOT about censorship.


Imagine being imprisoned. For a long, long time. So long that you don't even remember the face of your mother. That is what this work is about. The fragility of images. You try every morning to remember the outline of her face, the shape of her nose, the softness of her lips. But you get nothing out of this except for something that resembles a Josef Albers painting.


Now that is violent.


I haven't made a photograph in years. I just can't. I can't bring myself to bring into this world another image when we're already surrounded by so many. And so many that are so senseless. Even the important ones.


We are confronted everyday with a massive amount of images through the internet. Google something and you can instantaneously get an image of it. We view our friend's lives through their snaps on Facebook. We are bombarded with visions of the past, the present and the future, all on that 12 inch laptop. It de-sensitizes us to the power of images : as rare objectified reflections of the human condition. What we have today is just fluff, lint from the neither world of endless snapshots of banal minutes we spend drinking coffee at Starbucks.


So this is the result of my problematic relationship with photography. To make them and to immediately erase them. And to forget. Just like the man in the cell, waiting, indefinitely for the day he sees the sky again, to experience rain on his face.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Yet Another Rather Terrible Slaughter of the Tour Guide!




YET ANOTHER RATHER TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER OF THE TOUR GUIDE!
Sleepwalking by Yason Banal
November 14, Friday




Since being named ‘The Most Promising Young Artist’ at the UOB Painting of the Year Competition at the age of 18, Kai Syng Tan (born 1975) has been out & about in the art world (hopefully still with some degree of ‘promise’). Kai Syng is a die-hard Made-In-Singapore Artist ‘trained’ in the both the ‘Wild West’ (B.A. Fine Art 1st Class Honours, top student, Slade School of Fine Art University College London 1998, and School of Art Institute of Chicago 1996) & the ‘Far East’ (M.A., Excellence Award, Department of Imaging Arts & Sciences, Musashino Art University, Tokyo 2005). An insatiable tourist-digger-hoarder, she scavenges, swallows the surrounding clutter of signs/information/noise; as a compulsive editor she chews up, re-arranges, regurgitates - and re-maps – the found fragments into densely layered works that question our ‘realities’, via the image (she was trained as a painter and sculptor), music (she tinkled the ivories for 11 years) and text (for all her pretentious philosophical and semiotic inquiries) in time and space, about, and for our here & now.

***

Hello there! Welcome to our super shiny city called SHINY CITY. Ours is the world’s number one shiniest, sparkliest (sic), slickest city! Uniquely familiar, authentically ‘modern’, really unreal – and it feels just like home!

Before I forget, I am your Tour Guide. Allow me, your Tour Guide, to take you for a spankingly dizzying ride! Please. Come. With me.

Time code 6’32”
PLACE OF INTEREST I: CITY SINK


Let us begin our Shiny City DETOUR. Are you ready? We are now at the amazing never-ending underground world called CITY SINK.

I LIVE IN THE CITY / I LOVE THE CITY
The city is a rich and complex site. It is noisy, cluttered, chaotic, grand, unfriendly, expensive, overcrowded, crime-filled, default target of terrorism, a site of political demonstrations and state-organised street parties, polluted, anonymous, cruel, has strange smells, forgetful, forbidding, capricious, charming, voyeuristic, paranoid, intrusive, vulgar, selfish, materialistic, sparkling, fake, authentic with small mysterious nooks and crannies.

It is a rich and dramatic stage for the dwellers’ behaviours, rituals and performances. How we catch the train; how we avoid eye contact with strangers and non-strangers; how we invent our own time and space for privacy. It is a terribly exciting mise-en-scene - in shallow, not deep focus - for the Tourist and Tour Guide. It is flawed as it is perfect. It repels as much as it attracts; we travel to the City Lights with Hope; we leave it disillusioned, we struggle to survive there; we die there, we return.

I love the city. To death.

CITY AS MUSE, MISE-EN-SCENE & MONSTER: CITY IN ART; ART IN THE CITY
The city has been mapped, interpreted and imagined in the arts for as long as its formation. Think Oliver Twist, Trainspotting, Fight Club, Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie, Christo, Jenny Holzer, Babara Kruger, Doug Aitken’s Sleepwalkers at New York’s MOMA. The city has also inspired and housed genres such as jazz, rap, hiphop, graffiti art, street busking.

Endless cinematic reconstructions of the city has also existed ever since cinema was born: Ruttman’s Berlin Symphony, a combination of 5 Soviet states in Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera, Fritz Lang’s futuristic Metropolis, Godzilla’s post-nuclear disaster of Tokyo, King Kong’s New York City, San Francisco in Hitchcock’s Veritigo, the Roma of the Italian Realists, Tokyo in Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil, Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour, London in Patrick Keiler’s London, Tsai Ming Liang’s Taipei, Woody Allen’s Manhattan.

Many art festivals and art Biennales have long been associated with the City or city-state. During festival period, entire cities become exhibitions, and every one is a collaborator. Think Singapore Biennale, Sao Paolo, Documenta in Kassel, Cannes Film Festival, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.

URBAN FANTASIES / URBAN NIGHTMARES
Urban denizens (apart from the Tourist and Tour Guide) include Superheroes fighting nasty urban nemesis, such as Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Robin, and even The Incredibles. Set in a ‘Liberty City’ which is based by many accounts on New York City, the video game Grand Theft effectively explores the tensions between the real and imagined. Which are the bits that have been parodied or sampled from the ‘real’ world? Which has been modified? Which are the bits that resemble the real McCoy? Why? Which do not? Why not?

The creation of a parallel world is a lovely device to critique one’s own, via mimesis and from (critical) distance. This is seen powerfully explored in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels: each universe Gulliver visits is a little parable about OUR values and mores; every thing gets deflected back to us; are these strange beings he encounter strange, or is he the stranger?

Time code 23’07”
Place of Interest II: WHERE


Welcome to the next place of interest! Here we are, up in the heavens, called WHERE.

THROW YOUR INHIBITIONS AND DOUBTS OUT OF THE WINDOW!
Just look out of the window. You can see only civility, grace and comfort in this ambitious city. There are no moles or freckles, just smooth skin. None of that freakish curly hair or bald patches, but hair of the same length throughout. It’s rather neat. She’s a great way to fly.

DISCLAIMER AT CUSTOMS: NOTHING TO DECLARE, NO EXCESS BAGGAGE .
Today’s world of simulacra, Second Life, virtual universes, cloning, piracy, reality TV, everyone an artist,
everyone a laptop artist, everyone an idol for at least 15 minutes, space tourism, the revival of religious
fundamentalism et al means that the notion of ‘reality’ gets increasingly conflated, expanded and complex.

AUTHENTI-CITY, DOMESTI-CITY
Things are exacerbated here, as Artifice is the New Reality. She is bigger faster better sexier wealthier shinier than Las Vegas+Dubai+Anna Nicole Smith+Shijingshan Amusement Park combined. The city is uber po-mo and ambitious. It wants to be global centre for everything under the equatorial sun. It is one giant theme park – and a successful one too. Just like her ‘3-in-1 coffee’ and ‘all-in-1 departmental stores’, not only is it compact, but efficient, convenient, ideal, tropical paradise, microcosm of the world. It has everything under the sun and tropical rain. The theme park is well-organised, with different lands, each a perfect miniature of life itself. (See gigantic hypermarkets in land-scarce island everywhere; cineplexes; multi-storey carparks; ‘Integrated Resorts’, Sentosa). The mash-up has interesting ready-made empirical example that would thrill Baudrillard to death.

Everyone plays an important role in this show – including the Operator, Visitor, Cleaner, Tourist, Tour Guide.

Now please make your way down to earth again.

Time Code: 38’44”
OPEN END: POINT OF NO RETURN


I’m afraid we’ve reached the POINT OF NO RETURN. Now it’s time to say goodbye. It’s been truly great knowing you. Thank you very much indeed. All the very best in your future endeavours. See you at the next City!

Tour Guide dies.

Tour Guide travels back and forward in time.

Tour Guide enters another world, and meets her alter-ego from TOUR in the parallel world. She screams.

The end

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

As Yet Unnamed






Young Star
As Yet Unnamed
SLEEPWALKING By Yason Banal
Friday, October 24, 2008



As Yet Unnamed is a collective of emerging artists, currently based at Misiem’s (About Studio/About Café) in Bangkok’s Chinatown. Apart from exhibitions, As Yet Unnamed hosts regular events and discussions, with the aim of opening up conversations about contemporary art.

*

“The lesson to be learnt here … is that the divide friend/enemy is never just the representation of a factual difference: the enemy is by definition, always – up to a point, at least – invisible; he looks like one of us; he cannot be directly recognized – this is why the big problem and task of political struggle is providing/constructing a recognizable image of the enemy.” in Slavoj Zizek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real!: (Slavoj Zizek)

Bloodshed

Thailand’s recent political history is marked by bloodless coups, but uprising against those in power are often brutal. It happened again yesterday, and blood is once more flowing in the streets of Bangkok.

The first incidents of violence erupted early yesterday morning in front of parliament on Ratchawithi road. Riot police launched a surprise tear gas attack on thousands of People’s Alliance for Democracy supporters who had sealed all entrances to the building since Monday night to stop the government from delivering its policy statement.

As the day wore on, further incidents of ferocity broke out. Irate demonstrators who had sealed off the metropolitan Police Bureau were hit with a barrage of tears gas and flash and smoke grenades fired by police. When they turned back to parliament to isolate it yet again, they were hit with more. By that time, hundreds of people, including MPs, senators, and parliament officials, were trapped inside the building.

As the area around the Royal Plaza rocked to the sounds of explosions, two people lost their lives, one in a car explosion, and another later in hospital. Hundreds of demonstrators and police were wounded, with five demonstrators losing parts of their legs. Although the government managed to complete its policy statement to legalise its administrative power, outside it seems the political chaos has risen to a level it will be unable to manage. (Bangkok Post, Wednesday October 8, 2008)

Donald Rumsfeld philosophizing about the relationship between the known and the unknown: “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknown. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”
What he forgot to add was the crucial fourth term: the “unknown knows,” things we don’t know that we know—which is precisely the Freudian unconscious, the “knowledge which doesn’t know itself.” (Slavoj Zizek)

The princess of Thailand said Thursday that she does not believe protests in her home country are being staged to benefit the monarchy.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn talked about the importance of public service Thursday at the Choate Rosemary Hall prep school in Wallingford. She later headed to the University of Pennsylvania for a U.S.-Thailand education discussion.

Her visit came amid the worst political violence in Thailand in more than a decade. Thousands of protesters have camped at the main government office complex to demand electoral changes and an end to corruption in Thai politics.

In violent clashes on Tuesday, 423 protesters and 20 police were injured, Thai medical authorities said. One woman was killed, and a man died in what appeared to be a related incident.

It was the worst political violence since 1992, when the army killed dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators seeking the ouster of a military-backed government.

The princess was asked at a press conference following her talk whether she agreed with protesters who say they are acting on behalf of the monarchy.

"I don't think so," she replied. "They do things for themselves."

Asked why the king has not spoken out, she said, "I don't know because I haven't asked him."

Protest leaders have called for the prosecution of people who insult the monarchy. One leader wants to abandon Thailand's popularly elected Parliament for one in which a majority of members would be appointed.

Some academics have said the plan would enhance the power of the country's military and monarchy at the expense of the poor.

"There are a lot of political problems," the princess said. "I told my friends, colleagues just to do what is their duty."(Hartford Courant:www.courant.com: Associated Press October 9, 2008)

Slavoj Žižek quotes an old Eastern European joke in the introduction to his book Welcome to the Desert of the Real . The joke goes like this: A Czech (or East German or Polish) worker is transferred to Siberia. He know that when he will write letters from Siberia to his friends at home they will be read by the censors and so he tells his friends : "Let's establish a code: if a letter you receive from me is written in normal blue ink, it's true; if it is written in red ink, it's false." After a month, his friends receive a letter written in blue ink: "Everything is great here in Siberia: the shops are full, there is plenty of food, there are great and beautiful apartments, you can see all the latest Western films in the cinema and there are beautiful girls ready to go out with you - the only thing that you cannot get here is red ink."(missing ink(preface): Welcome to the desert of the real, (Slavoj Zizek)

A comparatively small group of soldiers and civil servants, however, felt that the time for a change had come. This led to an almost bloodless "revolution" in the early morning of June 24, 1932 by the so-called People's Party (Khana Ratsadon - คณะราษฎร) who took control of one of the royal palaces in Bangkok and arrested key officials (mainly the princes) while the king was at his summer retreat in Hua Hin. The People's Party demanded that Prajadhipok agree to become a constitutional monarch and grant the Thai people a constitution. The King agreed and the first "permanent" constitution was promulgated on December 10, 1932.

His arrival back in Bangkok on June 26 dispelled for the time being any thoughts the promoters might have had of establishing a republic. One of his first acts was to receive some of the leading promoters in audience: as they entered the room, the King greeted them with the words "I rise in honour of the Khana Ratsadorn."
[1] [2]It was a very significant gesture. According to Siamese tradition, monarchs remain seated while their subjects make obeisance. [3](wikipedia)
[1]Thawatt Mokarapong. (1972) History of the Thai Revolution. Chalermnit.
[2]Pridi Phanomyong (1974) Ma vie mouvementée. Paris.
[3]Stowe, Judith A. (1990) Siam becomes Thailand. Hurst & Company.

“The king descends into despair when the three leave for the forest, and dies soon afterwards. All this while, Bharata and Shatrughna have been away from the kingdom. They are summoned upon their father's death, and when they arrive, are told what has happened. Bharata is aghast at his mother's greed (ostensibly for his good), and promises that he will restore Rama as king. He travels to the forest to convince Rama to return to Ayodhya. Rama refuses on the grounds that he must obey his father's command but allows Bharata to take Rama's sandals back to Ayodhya so that Bharata can symbolically enthrone Rama's sandals and rule as regent for Rama.

The story details with the experiences of the trio in the forest, especially how the royals, used to soft living and multitudes of servants, train themselves to live frugally amongst nature and be self-sufficient. It also covers the interactions between them and the various hermits and sages living in the forest, some of who realize the divinity of Rama. Rama and Lakshmana frequently battle the forest demons that disturb the hermits' meditations.

One of the demons who had been defeated by them decides to take revenge. She describes the beauty of Sita to her brother, Ravana, the demon king of Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka). Ravana decides that he must possess Sita, and has one of his brothers take the form of a deer to attract Sita's attention. Sita sends out Rama to capture the deer for her as a pet. The deer leads Rama far away from their cottage, and when Rama realizes that this is no ordinary deer, he kills it. The dying demon shouts Sita's and Lakshmana's names in Rama's voice, causing Sita to send Lakshmana out to help Rama. When the cottage is thus unguarded, Ravana sweeps in, kidnaps Sita and flies off to Lanka. When Rama sees Lakshmana approaching him, he at once realizes the trick. They both run back to the cottage to find it empty.”

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Arts Network Asia (ANA) is a group of independent artists, cultural workers and arts activists primarily from Southeast Asia that encourages and supports regional artistic collaboration as well as develops managerial and administrative skills within Asia. Arts Network Asia is motivated by the philosophy of meaningful collaboration, distinguished by mutual respect, initiated in Asia and carried out together with Asian artists.