A Vision for Tomorrow

»Asia’s cyber-tsunami: the day that the internet stopped – again«: that was the by-line of the message Woon Tien Wei sent from Singapore to the Nettime mailing list on 29th December 2006. He wanted to draw attention to a series of earthquakes in South-east Asia on the night of 26th December. Several underwater cables near Taiwan had been severed in the quakes and triggered regional internet outages, some of which took days to remedy. The catastrophe, dubbed the »cyber-tsunami« by the media, seems surreal, especially when seen against the backdrop of the government’s earlier month-long campaign in Singapore promoting all-area introduction of WiFi hotspots for everyone. »Despite all the ›WiFi‹ we have, we’re now confronted after all with the naked reality of the Internet.«
Media art collective tsunamii.net, made up of Woon Tien Wei, Charles Lim and Melvin Phua and active from 2001 to 2005, was set up in response to a similar event in 1999. »It fascinates me to see how our virtual net all of a sudden reveals its physical reality through this kind of catastrophe«, says Woon Tien Wei. The net art series »Alpha Series« by tsunamii.net - »Alpha 3.4« from the series was shown at Documenta11 - sought to make visitors aware that the Internet is not a politically neutral space. Woon Tien Wei’s current project »Virtual Marathon«, which went online on 15th February 2007 in the Dutch platform Impakt online’s series »Net.art is dead, long live net.art!«, also continues to work through the relationship between information systems and material reality.
Technology plays a complex role in Singapore. Technological progress is decisive for a city-state that does not have any indigenous resources in this field. Back in the 1980s a targeted campaign therefore promoted computer use with a view to keeping up with ongoing developments, until ultimately knowledge society status was attained in the 1990s. Singapore’s current master plan is coloured by the notion of a »Renaissance city«. The vision this informs has set its sights not merely on Singapore as leading nation in technology and the economic affairs, but also on gripping attention and dazzling thanks to an innovative, integrative and internationally acclaimed art and cultural scene. But what does the local art scene think of these government plans and how does it respond to this blueprint?
Kai Syng Tan, whose video works »Histories: Interpreting/Imagining 15 February 1942 – 14 August 1945« and »Histories: Apology« were shown at the most recent Multimedia Art Asia Pacific in Shanghai, is sceptical about the project. She feels the focus is on marketing the city in the global art world through prestigious events. However that will not really trigger a genuine process of profound change in the country itself. »It is not particularly entertaining to watch a metropolis striving to be sexy and successful, while actually still being ruled by a small-town mentality.«
In 1993 Kai Syng Tan’s decision to shift from painting and sculpture to experimenting instead with 16mm-film, video, hypertext and sound provoked much incomprehension. »In those days people preferred to paint watercolours of hens running around or make bronze casts of corpses.« In contrast Kai Syng Tan calls reality into question through microscopic narratives, which contaminate official historiography through fragmentary events and memories. For example in the works mentioned above she turns the spotlight on Hiroshima and the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
Woon Tien Wei also feels the contemporary art scene in Singapore is narrow-minded. Despite a knowledge-based industry, traditional concepts still dominate the art scene, in other words, it is primarily object-obsessed. He also underscores that highly developed technology does not automatically produce an interesting media art scene. Although there is virtually no alternative media art in Singapore, a remarkably active net community nonetheless exists. For example this community responded unexpectedly via blogs to the media’s one-sided reporting on last year’s parliamentary elections. Artists take a similar activist approach to the dismal state of art in Singapore, moving beyond lamenting this state of affairs to seek change by launching their own initiatives.
In 2004 Jennifer Teo, Lim Kok Boon, Lee Sze-Chin, Cheong Kah Kit and Woon Tien Wei set up »p-10«, an independent curator team with a project room. Their exhibition in the context of the 2006 Singapore Biennale, »A Vision For Tomorrow«, contained artworks presented not as finished objects but instead as proposals for future projects. The exhibition’s title refers to Singapore’s national anthem, for on the one hand »p-10« want to foster national cohesion by presenting site-specific works, whilst on the other hand aiming via their art to draw a clear demarcation line between themselves and Singapore’s neo-liberal economy.
In his performances as »Singlish Punk« since 2005, Kai Lam has also been criticising consumerism and taking a critical look at cultural appropriation and its assimilated »global« identity. »Singlish Punk« was originally created as a commentary on Simon Poulter’s Osijek performance »English Punk« and on Jimi Hendrix, who often set his guitars on fire when performing. »Singlish Punk« does not seek to celebrate the anti-Establishment; instead the performance reacts to the artist’s general social setting with individual satire. However, Kai Lam is not just an active artist, but also organised the International Performance Festival »The Future of Imagination«, which will be held for the fourth time in September 2007. He views his role as shouldering responsibility to society – as a cultural worker who at the same time is involved in shaping the local art discourse.
Creating alternative platforms for art is extremely important in Singapore’s rigidly controlled society. Artist Tang Da Wu also recognised this, founding »The Artists’ Village« back in 1988 in a rural district of Singapore. In 1999 a new generation of artists, including inter alia Jeremy Hiah, Lina?Adam, Kai Lam and Woon Tien Wei, organised the »Post-Ulu« art event. The title referred to the fact that this new generation had not experienced Ulu Sembawang, where »The Artists’ Village« began. They nonetheless still continue the collective’s work today. The last place in which »The Artists’ Village« settled was in »Your Mother Gallery«, run by artists Jeremy Hiah and Linda Adam. At present the cohesion of »The Artists’ Village« is manifested above all in a nomadic modus, held together by an Internet presence, an archive and a library in »p-10«, plus a constant cycle of events. The aim is to present contemporary art in Singapore and to foster a greater understanding of these works. Through its events »The Artists’ Village« strives to address historical, social and political themes on the spot and in the process to reach out to a broader audience whenever possible.
The next large-scale project planned by »p-10« for 2007 is called »Local/Local – An International Project Looking at Art About the Local« and hopes to stimulate an exchange between an international spectrum of artists concentrating primarily on their local situation. The project’s brief is move the problems and fears of the local sphere into the limelight. Similarly to »A Vision For Tomorrow«, this project also seems to aim to defend the local in the face of a master plan with a global thrust.