1
10
273
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Videos
Video
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Based on DMCI MovingImage type (https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmi-terms/#http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/MovingImage)
Video
Embedded video or link to video hosted outside of Omeka
<a href="https://vimeo.com/896051121">https://vimeo.com/896051121</a>
Video ID
Platform ID number for video hosted online (e.g., Vimeo)
896051121
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:03:54
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
On AiR with Anthony Chin
Subject
The topic of the resource
Architecture
History
Artistic Research
Description
An account of the resource
Before the year ends, we caught up with Artist-in-Residence Anthony Chin in the studio he’s been occupying for the past few months! Anthony shares about his research-driven artistic practice that responds to the social, historical, and architectural stratifications of a given place. Employing common materials found from the everyday, his artworks seeks to unearth the power structures and hegemony that undergirds a site. Watch on as Anthony shares about how he has been spending his residency responding to the site of Gillman Barracks, where the studio is located, by researching into OKA 9420, a biological warfare unit of the Japanese Imperial Army that was based in Singapore. <br /><br />For more information on Anthony, check out https://ntu.ccasingapore.org/residency/anthony-chin/
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2023
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anthony Chin
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Video
Language
A language of the resource
English
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Programmes
Programme
A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Examples include symposia and conferences, public talks and performances, tours, workshops, open studios.
Short Description
This session of Residencies OPEN offers a unique opportunity for the public to meet our Artists-in-Residence Anthony Chin, Irfan Kasban, and Shahmen Suku!
Programme Type
Tour
Audience
General
Programme Series
OPEN Studios
Location
Onsite (CCA)
Offsite
Online
Onsite (CCA)
Collaboration
No
Commissioned Work
No
Related Countries
Singapore
Japan
India
Education
No
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Residencies OPEN x SAW 2024
Subject
The topic of the resource
Artistic Research
History
Experiential
Cultural Heritage
Description
An account of the resource
<p><strong>Residencies OPEN</strong><span> </span>reveals the rich diversity of contemporary art practices by offering a rare insight into the creative processes that unfold inside the artist’s studios. Discover how the space of the studio constitutes a springboard for artistic experimentation, innovation, and research.</p>
<p>This session of Residencies OPEN offers a unique opportunity for the public to meet our Artists-in-Residence<span> </span><strong>Anthony Chin</strong>,<span> </span><strong>Irfan Kasban</strong>, and<span> </span><strong>Shahmen Suku</strong><span> </span>(all Singapore)! Come visit the NTU CCA Singapore Residencies Studios to encounter their works-in-progress and explore the processes and research interests developed during their residencies.</p>
<p><em>The 10<sup>th</sup> Cycle of the Residencies Programme by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is supported by<span> </span>National Arts Council. This cycle hosts six Singapore Artists-in-Residence: Yanyun Chen, Anthony Chin, Irfan Kasban, Ben Loong, Shahmen Suku, and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee.<br /><br /></em><strong></strong><strong>Anthony Chin<br /></strong><br />Saturdays, 20 January & 27 January, 2:00 – 9:00pm<br />Sundays, 21 January & 28 January, 2:00 – 7:00pm<br />Block 37 Malan Road, #01-03<br /><br />Anthony Chin dedicated the past five months researching Singapore’s colonial past through sites such as Gillman Barracks and its surrounding locations. The artist is interested in the historic relationship between Singapore and Japan, and during his residency he looked into OKA 9420, a biological laboratory established by the Imperial Japanese Army soon after the Fall of Singapore in 1942. Anthony seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the history of bio-chemical warfare while unpacking current ethical concerns surrounding the rapid advancements in science and technology. Presented during Residencies Open is <em>OKA-9420, </em>a new work developed during the artists stay at Gillman Barracks. This work is accompanied by three existing works:<em> Air Doa Selamat </em>(2020), <em>TROPHY </em>(2020), and <em>Rinann Steel Mill – INGOT </em>(2021).<br /><br />The artist will be conducting tours throughout the two weekends. Each tour lasts approximately 35 minutes.<br />Saturdays, 20 & 27 January: 3pm, 5pm, 7pm<br />Sundays, 21 & 28 January: 3pm, 5pm</p>
<h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Irfan Kasban</strong></h4>
<p>Saturdays, 20 January & 27 January, 2:00 – 9:00pm<br />Sundays, 21 January & 28 January, 2:00 – 7:00pm<br />Block 37 Malan Road, #01-01<br /><br />Irfan Kasban has spent his residency expanding his long-term research project <em>Port of Reciprocity</em>, also the namesake for his studio these past five months which has been opened up as a site for visitors from all walks of life. Hosting a series of activities including cooking, screenings, and sharing sessions, this convivial get together is born out of the artists own experience of burn out. For Residencies Open, visitors will encounter objects created by the artist which can all be activated to make sound. Facilitated activations will be conducted by invited collaborators over the two weekends with hopes of creating a song that comforts the collective consciousness.</p>
<p class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Shahmen Suku</strong></p>
<p>Saturdays, 20 January & 27 January, 2:00 – 9:00pm<br />Sundays, 21 January & 28 January, 2:00 – 7:00pm<br />Block 37 Malan Road, #01-02<br /><br />Shahmen Suku explores his own Tamil culture through his family history, cultural ceremony, and food. Having previously addressed different aspects of the rich Tamil cultural traditions of his maternal lineage via the alter ego Radha, the artist has spent his residency letting go of this persona and directly confronting the conflicting and multipolar narratives of his family history which include economic struggles, heated arguments, health issues, and prolonged disagreements. Presented in his studio is documentation of a recent trip to India, alongside research conducted in Singapore that evidence the artist’s attempt to further uncover the story of his maternal grandfather. Documentation on display includes photographs, films, government documents, recipes, and the artist’s family tree that traces back three generations to his grandfather who first migrated to Singapore.</p>
<p><em></em></p>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
20 - 21 January 2024
27 - 28 January 2024
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anthony Chin
Irfan Kasban
Shahmen Suku
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
Asia
-
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Programmes
Event
A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Metadata for an event provides descriptive information that is the basis for discovery of the purpose, location, duration, and responsible agents associated with an event. Examples include an exhibition, webcast, conference, workshop, open day, performance, battle, trial, wedding, tea party, conflagration.
Participants
Names of individuals or groups participating in the event
Anthony Chin
Hsu Fang-Tze
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:55:15
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Residencies AiRCAST Episode #18: Anthony Chin
Subject
The topic of the resource
History
Artistic Research
Decolonialism
Description
An account of the resource
Wrapping up our third season, we invited back curator Hsu Fang-Tze to dig deep into the practice of Artist-in-Residence Anthony Chin. In their insightful exchange, Anthony discusses his art-making process that often begins with extensive research into archives addressing imperial and colonial histories, and how this eventually informs the conceptualisation of his site-specific installations that bring to light the geopolitical reverberations that continue to resonate until today. Anthony also considers how his background in industrial design has shaped his practice and interest in the symbolic significance of objects.
Contributors: Anthony Chin, Hsu Fang-Tze
Editor: Magdalena Magiera
Programme Manager: Nadia Amalina
Sound Engineer: Ashwin Menon
Intro & Outro Music: Zachary Chan
Cover Image & Design: Arabelle Zhuang, Kristine Tan
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2023
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anthony Chin
Hsu Fang-Tze
Magdalena Magiera
Nadia Amalina
Ashwin Menon
Zachary Chan
Arabelle Zhuang
Kristine Tan
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Podcast
Language
A language of the resource
English
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
<a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/14605729-aircast-18-anthony-chin">https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845756/14605729-aircast-18-anthony-chin</a>
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Residencies
Description
An account of the resource
The studio-based Residencies programme is dedicated to facilitating the research of established and emerging artists. It serves as a forum for cultural and artistic exchange in Southeast Asia.
Residency
A research residency programme bringing together local and international artists, curators, and researchers. Metadata description should include research focus of residents, while individual bios will be housed within each contributor's record.
Short Description
Expanding his ongoing enquiry into the historical narratives of power structures and their geopolitical reverberations onto the present, Anthony Chin will dedicate his residency to research the ramifications of Singapore’s colonial past.
Cycle
Cycle 10 (2023 - 2024)
Location
Onsite (CCA)
Offsite
Online
Onsite (CCA)
Collaboration
No
Commissioned Work
No
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Anthony Chin
Subject
The topic of the resource
Decolonialism
History
Postcolonialism
Description
An account of the resource
Expanding his ongoing enquiry into the historical narratives of power structures and their geopolitical reverberations onto the present, Anthony Chin will dedicate his residency to research the ramifications of Singapore’s colonial past. Expanding his ongoing enquiry into the historical narratives of power structures and their geopolitical reverberations onto the present, Anthony Chin will dedicate his residency to research the ramifications of Singapore’s colonial past. Prompted by the history of Gillman Barracks—where the Residencies Studios are located—as the site of the last battle before Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese. Soon after the Fall of Singapore (1942), the Imperial Japanese Army established OKA 9420, a research centre where experiments on Bubonic plague pathogens were conducted. Addressing lesser-known histories as well as the growing awareness of pathogens due to global events such as the recent pandemic, Anthony seeks to develop a deeper understanding of pathogens while unpacking the ethical concerns surrounding the rapid advancements in science and technology. The research process will encompass both primary and secondary sources and it aims to grow through connections and collaborations with historians, researchers, and scientists so as to lay the foundations for a long-term artistic project that addresses the impact of biochemical weapons on society.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
4 September 2023 - 31 January 2024
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anthony Chin
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Installation
Mixed Media
Multimedia Installation
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Residencies
Description
An account of the resource
The studio-based Residencies programme is dedicated to facilitating the research of established and emerging artists. It serves as a forum for cultural and artistic exchange in Southeast Asia.
Residency
A research residency programme bringing together local and international artists, curators, and researchers. Metadata description should include research focus of residents, while individual bios will be housed within each contributor's record.
Short Description
Pursuing her ongoing research into intergenerational conflicts and trauma, Yanyun Chen will spend her residency examining methods of discipline within the family context.
Cycle
Cycle 10 (2023 - 2024)
Location
Onsite (CCA)
Offsite
Online
Onsite (CCA)
Collaboration
No
Commissioned Work
No
Related Countries
Singapore
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Yanyun Chen
Subject
The topic of the resource
History
Identity
Embodiment
Description
An account of the resource
Pursuing her ongoing research into intergenerational conflicts and trauma, Yanyun Chen will spend her residency examining methods of discipline within the family context. Pursuing her ongoing research into intergenerational conflicts and trauma, Yanyun Chen will spend her residency examining methods of discipline within the family context. With a focus on Singaporean personal and communal childhood histories of discipline and punishment, the artist will explore how the indelible traces of disciplinary behaviour linger on in people’s bodies and minds and bleed into the everyday. Observing the irony and self-deprecating humour that come into play as a self-soothing practice in the retelling of such memories, she will also seek to unpack the heterogeneous ways in which pain and violence are remembered by conducting fieldwork, literary investigations, and interviews. The research weaves through histories of punishment and discipline in Singapore. Ultimately the artist intends to create large scale drawings that address these intergenerational wounds through the lens of medical, ethnographic, historical, and material studies.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1 May - 7 September 2023
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Yanyun Chen
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Drawing
Installation
Multimedia Installation
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Contributors
Contributor
An individual, collective, or corporate entity.
First Name
Mahbubur
Surname or Business Name
Rahman
Years Affiliated
Year range (starting year/ending year) affiliated with NTU CCA Singapore, or leave blank if not applicable.
For date range with year only: YYYY/YYYY, e.g., 2014/2015
For date range with year and month: YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM, e.g., 2014-07/2015-06
2023
Affiliation
Company, organization, or institution name
Britto Arts Trust, Bangladesh
Birthplace
Bangladesh
Occupation
Professional title or identity
Artist
Biographical Text
Long-form biography for the Contributor (no character count). A short-form biography (no more than 240 characters) should be added to the Contributor's Description
Mahbubur Rahman (Bangladesh) was born in Dhaka and completed his MFA at the Institute of Fine Art, University of Dhaka. He is Co-Founder and Trustee of Britto Arts Trust, the first non-profit artists’ collective in Bangladesh, in 2002 (www.brittoartstrust.org). A pioneer of the cross-media approach in the country, his practice includes drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, and video. Mahbubur’s work engages with questions of history, society, and the human condition to examine the impact of modernity on contemporary life in South Asia. Mahbubur has held a number of solo exhibitions and projects in Dhaka, Delhi, Mumbai, Chittagong, and Yogyakarta, as well as group shows and perennial exhibitions throughout Asia, Europe, and the US.
Country of Practice
At least one country of practice should be listed for each Contributor, up to three countries of practice.
Bangladesh
Public Resource Centre Affiliation
Artist Research Platform
Library
Video Resource Platform
None
None
Contributor Type
Collaborator
Professional Website
Leave blank if not applicable
<a href="http://brittoartstrust.org/">http://brittoartstrust.org/</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
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Mahbubur Rahman
Subject
The topic of the resource
History
Modernity
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mahbubur Rahman
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
Asia
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Contributors
Contributor
An individual, collective, or corporate entity.
First Name
Adeline
Surname or Business Name
Kueh
Years Affiliated
Year range (starting year/ending year) affiliated with NTU CCA Singapore, or leave blank if not applicable.
For date range with year only: YYYY/YYYY, e.g., 2014/2015
For date range with year and month: YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM, e.g., 2014-07/2015-06
2023
Affiliation
Company, organization, or institution name
LaSalle College of the Arts, Singapore
Birthplace
Singapore
Occupation
Professional title or identity
Senior Lecturer, Fine Arts
Biographical Text
Long-form biography for the Contributor (no character count). A short-form biography (no more than 240 characters) should be added to the Contributor's Description
Adeline Kueh (Singapore) makes installations and socially embodied works that reconsider the relationship we have with things and rituals around us. Using drawing as a conceptual tool, Adeline Kueh looks to cartographies, craft band oral tradition to map out the historical trajectories across time and space through her use of found objects and new productions. As a co-founder of the Critical Craft Collective (Singapore) and the pan-Borneo Serumpun Collective, the centrality of craft in contemporary practice as well as the politics of care are the core focus in her research practice. Presently a Senior Lecturer with the MA Fine Arts programme at LASALLE College of the Arts, Adeline has exhibited internationally. She was involved in the Word-of-Mouth exhibition in Venice Biennale (2019), the Passion Made integrating food waste management and sustainable food production using Black Soldier Flies (BSFs) in high density urban environments like Singapore.
Country of Practice
At least one country of practice should be listed for each Contributor, up to three countries of practice.
Singapore
Public Resource Centre Affiliation
Artist Research Platform
Library
Video Resource Platform
None
None
Contributor Type
Collaborator
Speaker
Personal Website
Leave blank if not applicable
<a href="http://www.adelinekueh.com/">http://www.adelinekueh.com/</a>
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Adeline Kueh
Subject
The topic of the resource
Ritual
History
Tradition
Sustainability
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Adeline Kueh
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Contributors
Contributor
An individual, collective, or corporate entity.
First Name
Joel
Surname or Business Name
Tan
Years Affiliated
Year range (starting year/ending year) affiliated with NTU CCA Singapore, or leave blank if not applicable.
For date range with year only: YYYY/YYYY, e.g., 2014/2015
For date range with year and month: YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM, e.g., 2014-07/2015-06
2023
Birthplace
Singapore
Occupation
Professional title or identity
Writer and Performer
Biographical Text
Long-form biography for the Contributor (no character count). A short-form biography (no more than 240 characters) should be added to the Contributor's Description
Joel Tan is a writer and performer based between London and Singapore. His interdisciplinary practice examines the ways in which politics distort the personal and spiritual, exploring subjects ranging from colonial history, nature, queer experience, and contemporary Singapore life.
Country of Practice
At least one country of practice should be listed for each Contributor, up to three countries of practice.
Singapore
United Kingdom
Public Resource Centre Affiliation
Artist Research Platform
Library
Video Resource Platform
None
None
Contributor Type
Collaborator
Birth Date
1987
Personal Website
Leave blank if not applicable
<a href="https://www.joeltan.org">https://www.joeltan.org</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Joel Tan
Subject
The topic of the resource
History
Supernatural
Identity
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#10
MIN-WEI TING
influences, and research methodologies behind their practice. My name is Nadia
Amalina. I am the Programmes Manager at NTU CCA Singapore, and I co-edit this
podcast alongside Dr Anna Lovecchio, Assistant Director of Programmes at NTU
CCA Singapore.
In this episode, we invited Viknesh Kobinathan to traverse the trajectory of our
Artist-in-Residence Min-Wei Ting’s filmic practice. This conversation marks a
full-circle moment for the pair as they first collaborated at the beginning of their
careers at the 11th Singapore Short Cuts programme in 2014. In this conversation,
they exchange memories that reveal shared notions of space and architecture,
while contemplating upon the latent anxieties that stem from the everchanging
landscape of Singapore prevalent in Min-Wei’s films. They also touch upon MinWei’s ongoing reflections and speculations on the Singapore state’s reactions and
endeavours to address climate which he developed during his time in residence at
NTU CCA Singapore.
Before they take it away, a few words to introduce them. Working primarily with
the moving image, Min-Wei Ting explores the politics of space and the dynamic
of belonging in his native Singapore. Adopting a first-person perspective where
the tension between embodiment and disembodiment is often at play, his films
enact gestures of protracted observation and slow movement.
Min-Wei Ting recording AiRCAST, 14 December 2022. Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
NADIA AMALINA: Welcome to the second season of AiRCAST. On this podcast,
we visit the Residencies Studios of NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
nestled on the fringe of a vibrant rainforest in Gillman Barracks. In this series
of open-ended conversations, we invite different guests to probe the mind of
our Artists-in-Residence and unfold some of the ideas, materials, processes,
Viknesh Kobinathan is a programmer at the Asian Film Archive (AFA), where he
curates film screenings and discursive events that examine issues affecting Asian
societies, explore the art of Asian cinema, and furthers the preservation mission of
the AFA. He oversees the execution of the commissioning project, Monographs,
a series that features critical text-based and audio-visual essays on the moving
image.
�VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Hi, Min-Wei
MIN-WEI TING: Hi.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: How are you?
MIN-WEI TING: Good, how are you?
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I think that’s what they call a full circle moment, if I
shouldn’t be so gauche. Looking back at your previous works… I mean, I obviously
went to your website and looked at all the different works you’ve done since
then! I think my encounters with your works since You’re Dead To Me have
corresponded with different points in my life, and also in my career trajectory, and
the way I see film and moving image. I have sort of grown with your films in some
ways, and have also experienced your films in different spaces. Unfortunately for
You’re Dead To Me, I experienced it through a small laptop.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I’m fine.
MIN-WEI TING: You didn’t see it in person?
MIN-WEI TING: Thank you for being here.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: No, thank you. Preparing for this, I was looking back
at your previous works. Just like samples, reading the blurbs, stuff like that. And I
realized that actually, my beginning as a programmer coincides with I guess, me
seeing your work, specifically your first film work.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I saw it eventually in the cinema, but it’s a bit of a
programmer’s curse… a lot of us watch the films on smaller screens in the hopes
that we can finally see it in a bigger screen together with an audience! So after
[You’re Dead To Me], I only saw Coming Attractions just now, because I hadn’t
actually seen the work, and I’m Coming Up was at Singapore International Film
Festival (SGIFF)?
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, absolutely. That was the first film I made! It was
programmed by you, and I was corresponding with you for Singapore Short Cuts
at the National Museum of Singapore.
MIN-WEI TING: Yes, and it was also at the National Museum of Singapore.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: That is You’re Dead To Me in 2014. Yeah, I was just an
assistant programmer at National Museum’s Cinémathèque programme. Actually,
I was co-programming together with [Low] Zu Boon and Warren [Sin], and I think,
for that year, they had decided to kind of split the films up into sort of, ‘themes’.
It so happened that quite a few of the works were by artist filmmakers and were
more experimental. We just felt that it would make a good programme together.
Then your film came through, and then… yeah!
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Right, it was also at the National Museum, and that was
a kind of, cinematic live score experience?
MIN-WEI TING: Right, right.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And then, yeah, Hampshire Road with me as a
programmer again. It just made me reflect on my own journey through your films.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah. I think pairing us for this conversation is quite apt.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, I was very honored that I was included.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, that was really one of my first few programming
gigs, if not my first! And it so happened to be your first film! It’s interesting to see
that our career trajectories kind of had this starting point that is quite similar.
MIN-WEI TING: And it’s ended up back here in this space!
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I think so too. Looking at your body of work, some
points come up. Some commonalities or linkages between these films come to
me and I think we’ve spoken about these things. Yeah, a lot of it is about space,
about architecture, state-sanctioned architecture, placemaking and placeunmaking, if that works.
�MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, exactly.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I’m wondering if you can talk a bit about your
relationship to those themes… these notions of space, the sort of statesanctioned ideas behind it and the almost like, violence that comes from it. Yeah,
could you maybe talk a bit about it?
MIN-WEI TING: Of course. Let’s start with You’re Dead To Me. I mean, that’s
where I started. That film came about from actually this desire to record sounds
of nature in Singapore because I had been living away for quite some time
and this was one of the things that I missed actually. It’s very strange. A lot of
Singaporeans who are overseas miss the food, but the sounds from nature is what
I missed. On my trips back to Singapore, I’d be stricken with jetlag and would
wake up in the middle of the night. I’d go out to Bukit Brown to record sounds
and I thought it was a very good place to do it. It was very quiet, especially in the
middle of night. Now that I think about it, it is quite crazy that I did this… going in
the middle of night to a cemetery! But I did it anyway.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: You are not easily spooked, are you?
MIN-WEI TING: No, I’m actually not. I’m not superstitious at all.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I think that helps if you’re going into a cemetery in the
middle of the night.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, but then I’m scared of other things in nature, such as
snakes.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: That makes sense.
MIN-WEI TING: I don’t know why I disregarded those things when I went. But
I started making these recordings in Bukit Brown during the same time the
government had decided to basically tear it up and build an enormous road
through it. The recordings evolved into a film because I wanted to document
the space and I felt more of an urgency to do something about that space. And
so I started filming over, I think it was over a year or so. Every time I was back in
Singapore, I would keep going back and film… until it came together as a film,
You’re Dead To Me.
Min-Wei Ting, You’re Dead To Me, 2014, film still. Courtesy the artist.
[Audio excerpt from You’re Dead To Me, 2014. Courtesy the artist.]
Yeah. Making that film made me very acutely aware of these changes that we are
subjected to in Singapore and the changes that the landscape is subjected to.
I think that sort of started the trajectory of looking at places, spaces, and sites,
around Singapore that, for lack of a better phrase, are subject to state planning,
you know?
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Right. Actually, if I can just like jump timeline before we
carry on to talk about the later iterations of your work… I guess, your beginnings
in art were through photography?
MIN-WEI TING: That’s right.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I’m quite struck by the fact that in You’re Dead To
Me, you put yourself in front of the camera. You acted in your own film, which
was this durational, almost performance, piece that seemed inspired by still
�photography. And so I’m wondering if we can just take it back a bit, to talk about
your beginnings in artistic practice through still photography and how that led to
your interest in the moving image.
MIN-WEI TING: That’s right. It was the Canon 5D Mark II.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, I remember that.
MIN-WEI TING: Actually, this goes quite far back. So, you know, everyone makes
pictures. When I was in university, a classmate of mine tried to get me to enroll
in the black and white photography course, and I said: Yes, okay, let me try it.
And back in those days, it was a very… it was still an analog process. So shooting
with film, developing the film on my own, going into the darkroom, and printing…
I was very excited about this process of making something of my own from
scratch, and that kind of stuck with me. So I spent a lot of time in the darkroom
actually, much more time than I did on what I was majoring in university.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Which was what?
MIN-WEI TING: I was studying electrical and computer engineering. You know,
the practical Singaporean that I am.
MIN-WEI TING: Okay, I could do still images with [the camera], but I could
also make high-definition videos! And actually, at the International Center of
Photography, they started doing that… they started using this camera. They
started teaching students to make videos with this camera, in addition to making
stills. So that’s how I segued from still photography to the moving image.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And so, You’re Dead To Me still holds a lot of those
ideas of stillness. Skipping ahead, I mean, because Coming Attractions is, I guess,
it’s quite a different work than the other stuff you’ve done.
MIN-WEI TING: Yes. I mean, I was in grad school at that time and I wanted to try
something different. So I just went for it. There were no consequences. I just did
it.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, I feel like you’ve told me this before. Interesting.
MIN-WEI TING: But I finished it! I finished that course and I graduated. My time
with photography really stuck with me, but I did the sensible thing like any good
Singaporean would do and got a job. That took me to New York City for 10 years,
and that was a fabulous time because that was where I was exposed to a lot of
art. Then, there was that itch to get back into photography, and at some point,
I said: Okay, that’s enough, and I quit my job! I said, Let’s do it. I enrolled at the
International Center of Photography, which is also in New York, and I did a oneyear program there. I had a great time there as well, my teachers there were very
influential. They were artists in their own right, and very committed educators.
From there, I went on to graduate school at Goldsmiths to study fine arts and
that’s led me to where I am now. I haven’t looked back since. Photography from
when I was in university and then that kind of evolved into filmmaking actually,
when I started doing You’re Dead To Me. It’s strange how at that time, the still
camera that everyone was using at the same time could also do high-definition
video.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: This was the Canon 5D?
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: It’s like a montage that you kind of worked on, out of
all these films that you… I actually want to come back to Coming Attractions later,
because just watching it, I literally just watched it before I left the house, and I
want to come back to it later because there’s this topic about violence that we
spoke about in your work, or this undercurrent of violence that I think we can
kind of sink our teeth into a bit later, and I want to link Coming Attractions to that.
But now that we’re on this trajectory of your practice, going from photography
to moving image, I’m also very interested to talk about your camera moving from
the stillness that was in You’re Dead To Me. Of course, there’s this whole idea of
wandering, which I’ve also noticed in your work… it’s this idea of the flaneur, this
psychogeography kind of idea.
MIN-WEI TING: I think that comes from my photography days, actually. Because,
for me, photography was a way of like, exploring the places and people around
me, of getting out and walking, in discovering and encountering.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I kept trying to think about how we don’t get to see
you in such a visceral way after You’re Dead To Me. You don’t put yourself in
�front of camera anymore after that, yet, right? But when we go into I’m Coming
Up and your works from there onwards, and this is my interpretation, I feel that
your presence is still felt, but now it’s from the movement of the camera, the
conscious movement of it. It’s still durational and it’s in the long process of
moving from one place to another, or of wandering through, that I feel your
presence is kind of evoked. You know?
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, yes. That’s True. I’m sort of the… I’m the.. I’m the camera.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Maybe that’s a good point for us to talk about I’m
Coming Up with, because with that, it seems you have pushed the idea of
durational filmmaking and your idea of wandering also takes on a larger, more
extended timeframe, where the dilation of time is truly felt. Maybe you can talk a
bit about what led you into I’m Coming Up and the choices that led you to make
this sort of feature-length slow-motion track across this quite oppressive-looking
HDB block.
Min-Wei Ting, I’m Coming Up, 2016, film still. Courtesy the artist.
MIN-WEI TING: So a friend, actually a mutual friend of ours, Philippe [Aldrup]
introduced me to this building in Jurong. It’s a very unique building and it’s
from the 70s. It’s four blocks joined together and you can actually walk in a
circle through these four blocks. Just go up or down, whatever you wish to do.
I thought the building was very interesting architecturally and I wanted to do
something with it. I wanted to do something performative with it, actually. One
of the first iterations was of me being filmed by Philippe running the corridors, or
walking the corridors, I can’t remember. But that plan didn’t turn out so well. And
then I just had this sort of crazy idea. Why don’t I… Well, first of all, I just started
thinking: let me walk a few stories from a first-person perspective, and then it
became this crazy idea of why don’t I walk the entire building from bottom to
top, from a first-person perspective? So I just went about and I did that. I worked
with a Steadicam operator to do that. We chose to do it in the middle of the night,
because the corridors are very narrow and if there were people around, it would
be very hard to do the filming.
�VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, and could you also talk about the eventual
presentation of it? It premiered at SGIFF with this live score by BALBALAB.
MIN-WEI TING: Yes, they’re a group of sound artists and musicians.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Could you maybe talk a bit about how that came
about? Was it developed together with the Festival?
MIN-WEI TING: Sure. So I made the film, or rather, I shot the film. And I showed
it to [Low] Zu Boon who was a programmer at the festival. He liked it but there
was no sound to it because it was arduous enough to film it. As there wasn’t
any sound to it yet, he suggested that I work with BALBALAB to create the
soundtrack to the film. I specifically worked with Zai Tang, who’s an artist as
well. He suggested that I go back and walk through the building while recording
the sounds as I walked through the building from bottom to top. They took this
recording and turned it into a live performance with the film. So it was this hybrid
presentation, right? You had the film playing on the screen and a group of sound
artists and musicians playing in front of the screen.
[Audio excerpt from I’m Coming Up, 2016. Courtesy the artist.]
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I think that while we talk about Zai Tang… I’m thinking
that he is also someone who is a sonic artist first, who also kind of works with the
moving image and visuals. A lot of his work is centered on his field recordings and
so I’m also drawing that link between what you talked about in You’re Dead To
Me, about how it started for you with the sound, whereas in I’m Coming Up, the
process has now been inverted.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, exactly.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: While we are talking about your works, a lot of things
are coming to me. I’m making a lot of connections. Because I was there an
audience watching…
MIN-WEI TING: I remember you said to me this was difficult to watch.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: It was!
MIN-WEI TING: And I don’t blame you! It was difficult for everyone who saw it
in that cinema setting to watch. It wasn’t like a laptop which you could just close
and walk away from.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Also you’re in those seats, you know, those National
Museum [of Singapore] seats. You can’t just get up and there’s not much leg
room. You can’t just get up and leave.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, it was difficult to leave. Maybe much to my benefit.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: This brings me to this idea of oppression and
surveillance, which is also something that I think is prevalent in your works that
follow from I’m Coming Up. Surely the space that you have described is a unique
one, but I think the ways HDB’s are constructed are very much, perhaps even
inspired, by this idea of the panopticon. It’s just that this structure makes it even
more obvious.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, I think, I mean, this structure really is… it really relates
to the panopticon because you can just look out across your flat and see your
neighbors.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Exactly. You know, for all the success of public housing
in Singapore, I think, what’s not talked about is this idea that they are built in a way
that you are keenly aware that you’re always being seen.
MIN-WEI TING: Or heard.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Or heard, yes. I think the duration of I’m Coming Up
paired with the sort of droning sound and the fact that you couldn’t actually
escape your seat as easy as you could… it just amplifies those feelings for you.
Especially for me, I mean, I grew up in HDB from the age of nine, or ten, and I
still live in one. I’ve gotten weirdly comfortable with the idea that I could be seen.
But I don’t discount the fact that it does form a base level sort of anxiety, which
is reflective of existence in Singapore, I think. This notion of being seen, always
seeing someone else, not being able to hide, or not being able to kind of exercise
anonymity in a very accessible way. This, of course, fluctuates very widely across
�Min-Wei Ting, Hampshire Road, 2019, film still. Courtesy the artist.
class and privilege. And if you’re on the side of class that doesn’t afford you a
lot of privileges or freedom of movement, then in this system, you are surveilled
more. The fact that you’re being surveilled seems to be a given.
MIN-WEI TING: That’s right, yeah.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Which brings me to Hampshire Road, right? [The work]
is you documenting this bus interchange structure that was built after the Little
India incident and which resembles another sort of oppressive architecture. Yeah,
maybe you can talk more about that?
MIN-WEI TING: I’m glad you brought up all these sensations and feelings about
public housing. Because I think I’m Coming Up is a documentation of space, but
it’s also an experience of space.
[Audio excerpt from Hampshire Road, 2019. Courtesy the artist.]
With Hampshire Road… that came about from my visits to Little India. I like going
to Little India, I think it’s a very lively part of Singapore that hasn’t changed very
much. Actually, I think owing to the presence of migrant workers. But after the
Little India incident, I noticed that the government had constructed this building
and I immediately felt that this was a very oppressive structure. So Hampshire
Road is a seven-minute long tracking shot of a building in Little India that’s used
as a bus station for migrant workers and it’s built in such a way that the migrant
workers are very contained and policed and surveilled.
When I went there while it was used – it’s only used on Sundays – when the
workers come and go from Little India, there was also a very heavy police
presence as well. So I wanted to capture this and decided to use the length of the
building… I decided to film the entire length of this building because it occupies
the length of Hampshire Road and that’s why [the work] is named Hampshire
Road as well.
�VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I think going back to the notion of, you know,
oppression, again… this is another state-sanctioned architectural structure,
this time solely built for a particular group of people, specifically the migrant
workers. I grew up in Little India, as you know. I was at home when the Little
India incident happened. It affected me quite a lot. Actually, the incident itself
was a very condensed period of time. That was quite scary. But actually, it was
the months and years after that where my feelings about what was being done to
the neighborhood started to kind of settle in. I remember feeling this very deep
discomfort because the surveillance had gone to a different sort of level.
to see what was going on. I actually saw a police car being overturned and the
windows being smashed. I had never seen anything like it before. I just remember,
people were like running and I also just ran back home.
MIN-WEI TING: We’ve not seen anything like this for decades.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: The incident went on for several hours until it
quietened down. I think quite a few people were arrested. There were blockades
everywhere.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, police finally got it under control.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, following the incident, the entire neighborhood changed.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Just for people who might not know what we’re talking
about: the Little India incident, also known as a Little India riot, it was on a Sunday.
At that time, the buses that would take the workers to and from their places of
work didn’t have proper places to park and disembark and so on. So they would
all line up on this quite narrow road, which is Race Course Road, which is weird,
because the road itself was made new and was extended but there still wasn’t
enough provisions made for these buses every Sunday.
MIN-WEI TING: Exactly. It was very ad hoc.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Hampshire Road, before the bus terminal was built,
would be closed every Sunday to let the buses kind of gather there, and so on. So
the details of that evening are actually… Okay, um, I don’t think there’s any official
objective record of this. I think the reporting on this was also lacking in some
details. But what we know is that a worker was sort of denied entry on a bus if I’m
not wrong. And out of that, one person was hit by the bus and subsequently died.
This then escalated into a confrontation between a group of migrant workers, and
eventually the police and the special forces, and even an ambulance.
MIN-WEI TING: Vehicles were set on fire or overturned. It was very serious.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: It was very, very serious. I lived on Buffalo Road. I mean,
I just go down and it’s like two minutes to Race Course Road. So in the early parts
of the incident, I actually went down to, probably not very wise, but I went down
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, they got it under control, I think quite late into
the night, maybe 2:00 or 3:00am in the night. This is the other kind of dissonant
thing that I remember feeling. My whole family was awake until the whole thing
quietened down because there were still people making loud noises. There was
still shouting and there were still police sirens way into the night. And the news,
I don’t know whether it’s because they couldn’t get people into the scene or
they couldn’t get reporters in there, but the news report, the live reporting, was
actually quite scant. There was some civilian phone camera footage but other
than that, there wasn’t a lot information coming through. Yeah, this was also preInstagram. Instagram might have been around but wasn’t very heavily used, so we
had to rely on some information from Twitter and so on. Anyway, the dissonant
thing was that when I woke up the next day at 9:00 or 10:00am, I went to get
breakfast and I went to the same location where most of the things happened,
where I saw the car burning… it was like normal! They had put tar over it and
cleaned it up. No traces of it!
MIN-WEI TING: It sounds like they were really trying to remove it from memory,
or the trauma of it from memory.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Perhaps. I was just very shocking to me. I mean, on one
hand, it’s about efficiency. But on the other hand, it’s sort of felt like: Okay, we’re
not discussing this.
MIN-WEI TING: I mean, it says a lot about Singapore, and it talks about the
efficiency of Singapore. It talks about how order needs to be maintained and the
�impression of order needs to be present.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah. I think following the incident was I guess where
we were going… it was this increased surveillance and increased police presence.
I think while there used to be some police patrolling on Sundays, I think the
numbers and the groups increased. I distinctly remember it went from, let’s
say, just two people patrolling, it became five and sometimes up to six people
patrolling at the same time.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah. I noticed that as well.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: The Special Forces, the red trucks, were parked near
Hampshire Road every Sunday for years, right? Alleyways had floodlights that
were on constantly. They were not like motion-activated, they were always on.
MIN-WEI TING: I remember those alleys being completely unlit, and dark, and
kind of mysterious. Yeah.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And the alcohol ban! That was a significant thing
because that actually transpired into a nationwide policy on alcohol at some
point. Because at first Little India was designated as a special zone along with
Geylang within which you couldn’t get alcohol. I might be wrong here, but
initially, it was after six [pm], I think. I might not be right, don’t quote me on this.
And then, at some point, although it may or may not be related to this, it became
a nationwide thing where you couldn’t get alcohol anywhere after 10:30pm
unless you’re in a bar which has a license. Yeah, this also made me think of how
discriminatory a law like that is, because not everyone…
MIN-WEI TING: …can afford to go into a bar.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, or have the social access to go into any bar they
please, right? Bars are, I mean, in most places, not accessible socially to many, not
least of which are the migrant workers who would primarily get the alcohol from
convenience stores, supermarkets, hawker centers. I think the whole thing about
the incident also was that it was then blamed on the alcohol, right?
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, it was.
Viknesh Kobinathan recording AiRCAST, 14 December 2022. Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I was very angry about this framing for very long. I
still am actually, because it brings up quite a lot of race-related prejudice, and
also community-related prejudice, that a group of people are predisposed to
inebriety and, therefore, violence. And this was already something that growing
up Indian or brown would be told to me in various ways, whether it’s jokingly or
whether it’s as a sort of backhanded insult. After the incident, it felt that people
were emboldened to make such statements. I remember taking cabs to my
neighborhood and cab drivers would go: “Oh, better be careful. Very dangerous,
you know, this neighborhood.”
MIN-WEI TING: It suddenly became dangerous!
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah! Or the distinction between: “oh, you’re not that
kind of Indian,” right? These were conversations I remember happening in a more
protracted way after the incident.
�MIN-WEI TING: You are Singaporean Indian…
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: All these were just things that came up in wider society
because then you had this 10:30 ban, which we still have until today. I guess
linked to this idea of access and freedom, or the lack of movement, is explored in
If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday?
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, I think I think the film says of how the state deals with
trouble. It’s heavy handed. It’s severe. I think what it says is that the state doesn’t
leave anything to chance. They will make every effort to make sure that it never
happens again. So, the way the building is constructed and the heavy police
presence around it, like you said, those special forces police are there all the time
just to make sure that another incident like that is never going to happen again.
Hampshire Road was a kind of vignette into the way the State operates in relation
to trouble, in relation to migrant workers.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And I think also, just to tie a thread, something that
exists through your work and which we talked about quite often, is your struggle
with belonging here in Singapore. I spoke about the discomfort of what Little
India became and I feel that we share this idea of discomfort, or not feeling like
you quite belong. And this, this notion exists as a phantom. Not just a phantom,
but it pervades your work.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, because I’ve spent so much time abroad, I’ve sort of
developed different ways of relating to space and place, you know. I’ve developed
different values, and when I come back to Singapore, I feel this dissonance. I
feel like, this is not a kind of place that I can really relate to, or it doesn’t relate
to my own values, my own beliefs of what a place should be, or what my home
should really be. I mean, I lived in the US, and the UK, and Europe, and these are
comparatively freer places to be, and I think Singapore is not that. There’s really
nothing left to chance in this country. Everything is very planned and ordered to
very specific goals. There’s really no room to sort of roam and be a little different.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Which is maybe where the crux of your work comes
from? Your anger, dissatisfaction, and discontent with this?
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, maybe I see things that many people don’t, or have
come to accept about the country? And I picked this up. I mean, amongst my
friends, obviously, we feel the same way. But I think for the vast majority of
people, they’ve come to accept that this is the way things are in Singapore. That,
you know, we’re expected to accept a certain kind of order, a certain kind of
arrangement. I think my work has been a reaction to that, a pushback to that, I
suppose, you know. With Bukit Brown, with You Are Dead To Me, there was an
anger that they would take away this very special place. I thought it was a very
special place, and I think a lot of other people thought it was a very special place,
to build a road through.
With I’m Coming Up, I think it’s to do with an ordering. I think public housing is
a metaphor for ordering society, reconfiguring, restructuring society. And I think
Hampshire Road does that as well. There was an anomaly that needed to be dealt
with, and the state came in and did so in this way. Which I don’t think is necessary.
They can just build a very regular bus terminal, which I think was needed.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yes, something that resembles all the bus terminals in
Singapore.
MIN-WEI TING: Exactly! Instead of building this cage-like structure surrounded
by cameras and police.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I mean, there’s like a metal fence that that runs
throughout, and there’s only a few entrances.
MIN-WEI TING: Yes, so you can only enter from one location. It’s very clear that
it’s built to contain crowds.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: If you needed to, you can actually just lock it.
MIN-WEI TING: Yes, you could just close everyone in, you know, and stop
anything from happening.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: It doesn’t escape me that the structures that you
deal with in You Are Dead To Me and I’m Coming Up are also possibly built by
migrant labor. These oppressive structures that we are talking about that are for
Singaporeans, primarily, are built by a migrant workforce.
�MIN-WEI TING: Yes, we’re very dependent on the migrant workforce. But it’s a
workforce that also needs to be very tightly controlled as well.
durational long takes your previous work is based on. It’s almost like a companion
piece, but also, a jump off point to a different approach to moving image making.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And I think the effects of which was also profoundly felt
during COVID lockdowns?
MIN-WEI TING: I think that film, yeah, it’s a companion to Hampshire Road, and
I think they’re very different explorations of space. I think one is about how space
is controlled and restricted. With If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday, it’s more
to do with how public space is used by migrant workers and how it’s actually
enjoyed by migrant workers. I was interested in exploring how their social life
plays out in public space, so I set about doing that. I took footage from when the
streets are empty in Little India to when the streets were brimming with migrant
workers on a Sunday evening, to explore and demonstrate how space is used and
how it changes with the presence of the workers.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, during COVID, workers were not allowed to leave the
dormitories for a very long time, much longer than Singaporeans and other
residents. Again, I think that reflects a kind of anxiety of the state not wanting to
take any chances.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Where does this thought process or this trajectory then
lead? How does it lead to If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday? Because to me
in that piece, you are also playing with form, you’re playing with different types
of editing and pace. It’s more deliberate in its editing, as opposed to the more
Min-Wei Ting, Hampshire Road, 2019, film still. Courtesy the artist.
[Audio excerpt from If For Nothing Else Than For Sunday, 2019. Courtesy the
artist.]
�MIN-WEITING: In a way, for me, it was kind of like a celebration of the
liveliness that they bring to the neighborhood, which is what attracted me to
the neighborhood in the first place. It’s how freely the space is used, you know,
because they would…
in how it’s transformed from deadness to life. And then COVID came along and
took it away, took the life away from these streets.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: They would sit on the grass, on the pathways, in the
alleys.
MIN-WEI TING: Yes, the deadness came back.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, places that as Singaporeans we just don’t do, right? We
don’t… they would hang out on the grass patch, any grass patch!
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: It’s actually a very active engagement with public space
that the average citizen doesn’t do.
MIN-WEI TING: Exactly. They would sit in alleyways, just really take over the
space, almost every inch of space. But of course, there’s still this sort of specter
of the police and policing, right? Because this was made after the Little India
incident. So yeah, for me, this film was about looking at space in a completely
different way where it’s not very controlled, and ordered, and structured.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And it somehow became quite prescient about the time
that was to come, right? I mean, when COVID, when the lockdowns happened,
and the area started to resemble…
MIN-WEI TING: A desert, right?
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah, because I watched it during lockdown. I think
we were still in various forms of lockdown. Little India was really not as active
as… because the workers couldn’t come out. So when I saw it, I had a different
engagement with the piece. It was the empty parts of the film that resonated with
me more. The stark difference between a place of activity and a place of nonactivity became too real to me because I need only look out my window, or just
go downstairs, to know that this place is not what it was. It’s interesting to me,
because the joy that you speak about, it was flipped for me when I actually started
noticing the emptiness in that film.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, I mean, with that film, I was like, you know, I was interested
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: The deadness became the norm for a long time.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I think we should also talk about why we are here
because you are currently Artist-in-Residence at NTU CCA Singapore, and you are
about to complete your residency in a few months. We spoke briefly about these
different kinds of trajectories, points of interest, and research topics that you’ve
been sort of delving into, in quite a free, associative sort of way. I’m wondering if
you could elucidate us a bit more about these threads.
MIN-WEI TING: Okay. So, you know, my films have engaged with these pretty
discreet scenarios, they are kind of these vignettes that are put together quite
neatly. With the residency, I wanted to step back a little bit and look at, I suppose,
the bigger picture. Maybe try to unearth these ideas and themes that have sort of
flown through my work. And so I’ve been looking at the landscape of Singapore,
at how it’s constantly changing, how it’s constantly reconfigured and restructured,
thinking and looking at the manifestations of these processes and really thinking
about what drives these changes.
I’ve taken a more historical perspective of Singapore and what I’ve realized, is
that this country has been changed since the British arrived, you know. When
the British came, they started dredging the coasts. They started reclaiming land
from the sea. They cleared the interior of the island for plantations. It’s a process
that’s not new, even if we think that it’s something post-independence. It’s a
process that comes from the colonial era. And it went on, right into postcolonial
times when Singapore started to urbanise and industrialise and there, we see new
changes in the landscape. We well know that Singapore has expanded terrestrially
by something like 25%.
We are no strangers to this remaking of the environment. Buildings are torn down,
rebuilt, land is cleared for new developments. I’ve been thinking about why we
do this, because it’s a kind of violence, you know, you’ve used the word violence,
and I think a lot of Singaporeans lament these changes, and they wish that we
�didn’t have to go through these changes all the time. So I’ve been thinking about
why we do this. I think there’s an anxiety about Singapore, an anxiety about being
a very small country. An anxiety about being small and wanting to be larger, and
an anxiety about staying relevant. An anxiety about staying relevant to global
trade and capitalism. We’ve become a hub for these things. And I think the state
wants to maintain that, so it’s constantly trying to do whatever it takes to avoid, I
suppose, failure or becoming irrelevant. One of the ways is to constantly remake
the country.
past work. You’ve talked a bit about the sort of deep research that you’ve been
involved with in the past few months, that is also tethered to your previous
work, but you now have the space, which is what residencies do, right? You
have the space to kind of slow it down and look deeper into it.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Which is quite ironic, right? The, I think a lot of these
anxieties are also about wanting to pursue this idea of comfort, or success, or
aspiration. But the more you escalate these efforts, the greater the anxieties
become.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: And so I think that naturally brings me to ask: if you
could speculate either for your own artistic trajectory, or for the nation, what
do you think is next? And what does all this lead to for you? Or what could it
lead to?
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, it comes from this notion that we need to keep growing.
I used to think, oh, yeah, we kind of internalise this notion of perpetual growth.
Our politicians talk about, oh, the economy only grew by 2%. Next year, we’ll aim
for 5% or whatever. And I sense that we can’t keep going on like this, you know,
because this need drives this anxiety. Which in turn drives the need to come up
with something new all the time in this country. Something new comes up… I
don’t know, Bitcoin or something, so therefore, we need to be like, a Bitcoin hub,
you know?
MIN-WEI TING: Well, I mean, I think the residency has made me think about
what this place is going to look like, what are the infrastructures that we are
going to see here? The buildings and flood protection systems or whatnot,
you know? Yeah, I’ve been just trying to envision, or trying to speculate what
Singapore might look like, in, I don’t know, 10-20 years time.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, to step back and understand what it is that I’ve been
doing … all these films that I’ve made, you know, what have I been really
responding to? Yeah, and thinking about that.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: How does that make you feel?
MIN-WEI TING: One of the new anxieties that I think has arisen in the last few
years is an anxiety about climate change. So in order to stay relevant, Singapore
needs to stave off climate change. I’m interested in the changes that are taking
place in relation to that, the kind of infrastructures that are being built, the policies
that are being implemented, the pronouncements from the government. I’ll give
you an example. Like Changi Airport, the new terminal is being built five meters
above sea level. I think they’re mooting, or building some kind of barrier system
off East Coast Parkway.
MIN-WEI TING: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I haven’t reached the point
where I can concretely say, oh, it’s going to look like this. I mean, right now,
I’m sort of just thinking about what drives these changes. As far as climate
change is concerned, I think that Singapore believes that it can build itself out
of it. And I think it believes that climate change is predictable. I don’t take such
an optimistic view of things. I think it’s very unpredictable and I don’t think
we can build ourselves out of it. I mean, we’ve built ourselves out of many
situations over a century. I just don’t think that we can keep doing that and I
don’t think we can keep doing that without relinquishing some parts of the
economy that are responsible for climate change, and that we are very much
a part of, like oil refining and petrochemicals.
[Audio excerpt from untitled work-in-progress, 2023. Courtesy the artist.]
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Yeah. We are quite deeply invested in these things.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: So to wrap it up… I guess we’ve kind of surveyed your
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, it’s kind of… it’s very schizophrenic. The economy
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: It’s a sort of vicious anxiety cycle, perhaps.
�depends on these things, but at the same time, these things are going to destroy
us. But we also believe that we can just build walls and whatever, underground
cities, over-ground cities, that will get us out of it. Or maybe they’ll just build
like a dome over the whole country, just like they’ve done in the Gardens by the
Bay where they’ve built these enormous domes. And we will live in some airconditioned biosphere, but I don’t think any country is an island.
I am Nadia Amalina, the programme manager and co-editor of this podcast.
AiRCAST is conceptualised and co-edited by Dr Anna Lovecchio.
The Audio Engineer is Ashwin Menon.
The intro and the outro were composed by our previous Artist-in-Residence Yuen
Chee Wai with field recordings of our non-human neighbours in the beautiful
forest around us.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: Is that too grim an ending?
This episode was recorded on 14 December 2022. Thank you for listening.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, I think, yeah.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I mean, we don’t need to make things pretty. But you
know, it’s… I guess it’s a sobering ending.
MIN-WEI TING: Yeah, I think it’s worth thinking about. I think it’s worth thinking
about what’s the trajectory of this country. Can we go on doing the things that we
do, you know?
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: I’m excited to see how your work will evolve, with these
new anxieties that might evolve, from what we’ve talked about.
MIN-WEI TING: I’m excited too. It’s gonna take some time.
VIKNESH KOBINATHAN: At least there’s that to be excited about! Okay, thank
you!
NADIA AMALINA: You listened to AiRCAST, a podcast of NTU Centre for
Contemporary Art Singapore, a national research centre for contemporary art of
Nanyang Technological University. To find out more about our programmes, visit
our website at www.ntu.ccasingapore.org, you can sign up to our newsletter, or
follow us on your favourite social media platforms. And of course, if you’d like to
hear the voices and thoughts of our other Artists-in-Residence, do subscribe to
this podcast. AiRCAST is produced by NTU CCA Singapore with the support of
National Arts Council Singapore.
This episode featured artist Min-Wei Ting in conversation with Viknesh
Kobinathan.
Viknesh Kobinathan and Min-Wei Ting recording AiRCAST, 14 December 2022.
Courtesy NTU CCA Singapore.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Resources
Programme Resource
Collateral and other print or digital materials pertaining to residency programmes. Examples include residency brochures, postcards, etc.
Programme Series
Residencies AiRCAST
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Transcript of Residencies AiRCAST #10: Min-Wei Ting
Subject
The topic of the resource
Identity
History
Description
An account of the resource
In this episode, Viknesh Kobinathan traverses the trajectory of our Artist-in-Residence Min-Wei Ting’s filmic practice. This conversation marks a full-circle moment for the pair as they first collaborated at the beginning of their careers at the Singapore Short Cuts programme in 2014.Throughout the conversation, they exchange memories that reveal shared notions of space and architecture, while contemplating upon the latent anxieties that stem from the everchanging landscape of Singapore prevalent in Min-Wei’s films. They also touch upon Min-Wei’s ongoing reflections and speculations on the Singapore state’s reactions and endeavours to address climate which he developed during his time in residence with us.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-12-14
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Min-Wei Ting
Viknesh Kobinathan
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia
Format
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Transcript
Language
A language of the resource
English
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Programmes
Programme
A non-persistent, time-based occurrence. Examples include symposia and conferences, public talks and performances, tours, workshops, open studios.
Short Description
This participatory workshop explores Artist-in-Residence Kin Chui’s interests in the histories, ideologies, and cultural contexts of monuments as well as their purchase on collective memory.
Programme Type
Workshop
Audience
General
Programme Series
Residencies Studio Sessions
Location
Onsite (CCA)
Offsite
Online
Onsite (CCA)
Collaboration
No
Commissioned Work
No
Education
No
Theme
Place.Labour.Capital.
Climates. Habitats. Environments.
None
Climates. Habitats. Environments.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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Residencies Studio Sessions: in effigy, Workshop by Kin Chui (Singapore), Artist-in-Residence
Subject
The topic of the resource
History
Tradition
Ritual
Description
An account of the resource
<span><span>12 Sep 2020, Sat 04:00 PM - 07:00 PM<br /><br /></span></span>
<p>Developed in the wake of <span><em>alon</em><em>g </em><em>waves of gravity –a solidar </em><em>y of holes</em></span>, this participatory workshop further explores Artist-in-Residence Kin Chui’s interests in the histories, ideologies, and cultural contexts of monuments as well as their purchase on collective memory. Scheduled during Hungry Ghost Festival, the workshop is a hands-on session of “monument making” which takes its cue from the traditional rituals of the seventh lunar month when bamboo and rice paper effigies are burnt to appease wandering spirits. By building ephemeral structures inspired by existing and/or imaginary monuments and consigning them to a speculative afterlife, workshop participants will embark on a journey where symbols and shared ideals are transformed and regenerated.</p>
<p>The workshop is free and by registration only. Available spaces are limited.</p>
<p>In order to register, please go to <span><a href="https://in-effigy.peatix.com/">https://in-effigy.peatix.com/</a></span></p>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-09-12
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kin Chui
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Southeast Asia