Geopolitics]]> Politics]]> 11 Oct 2022, Tue – 6 Nov 2022, Sun
The Screening Room, Block 38 Malan Road, #01-06
12 pm – 7pm, every day except Monday
Film starts every hour

Premier Screening: Tuesday 11 October, 7:00pm-8:30pm
The screening will be followed by a conversation between the artist Tekla Aslanishvili, artistic-scientific collaborator Dr. Evelina Gambino and Assistant Professor Dr. Marc Gloede, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU, Singapore.
The welcome will be given by Ute Meta Bauer, Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, and Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, and Dr. Karin Oen, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, Art History, NTU School of Humanities.

A State in a State is the result of Aslanishvili winning the Han Nefkens Foundation – Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2020, in collaboration with Jameel Art Centre, Dubai; the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila; NTU CCA Singapore and WIELS, Brussels. The Award appraises the work of emerging artists aged 40 and under, who live in West or Central Asia and have established a solid trajectory but not yet received recognition by international art institutions.

Aslanishvili was selected by an international jury, including NTU CCA Singapore’s Founding Director Ute Meta Bauer and former Deputy Director of Curatorial Programmes, Dr Karin Oen, for her body of meticulously researched work and her commitment to exploring a specific geopolitical context, whilst connecting to a wider discourse on the impact of extractivist economies on a planetary scale.

Revolving around the scenes of delay and waiting that constitute cargo mobility, the film reads the optimistic narratives about the New Silk Road against the grain. It observes how the iron foundation of connectivity can be used as a weapon of exclusion and geopolitical sabotage. Dotting the same lines, other forms of sabotage are deployed by workers to disrupt the political violence. Looking at historic and current practices of resistance, A State in a State explores the potential of railroads for building a different, infrastructural consciousness, and the lasting transnational kinship among the people who live and work around them

The film is developed in artistic-scientific collaboration with Dr. Evelina Gambino, Margaret Tyler Research Fellow in Geography at Girton College, University of Cambridge.

Research & Script: Tekla Aslanishvili / Evelina Gambino
Music: Ani Zakareishvili / Nika Pasuri
Cinematography: Nikoloz Tabukashvili / Tekla Aslanishvili
Typography: Dato Simonia

Editing: Tekla Aslanishvili
Sound: Viktor Bone / Irakli Shonia
Color: Sally Shamas

A State in a State will be also presented at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona  from October 8th till November 27th.

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Tekla Aslanishvili]]> Marc Glöde]]> Marc Glode]]> Hans Nefkens Foundation]]> Ute Meta Bauer]]> Karin Oen]]> Europe]]>
Labour]]> Capitalism]]> 4 Aug 2017, Fri 07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

The documentary film Three Sisters tells the story of Ying (10 years old), Zhen (6 years old) and Fen (4 years old) who live alone and in extreme poverty in the high mountains of the Yunnan region. The father works in the town a few hundred kilometers away and the mother has left long ago. The little girls spend their days working in the fields or wandering in the village. Through Wang’s compassionate eye, the daily struggle of the villagers is captured, testifying to the inequality and unfairness present in the midst of the country’s economic boom.

This screening is part of the public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.

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Wang Bing]]> Marc Glöde]]> Marc Glode]]> Asia]]>
Ways of Seeing]]> Politics]]> 7 Jul 2017, Fri 07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Reflecting on Mao’s famous saying, “Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend”, Trinh T. Minh-ha’s film—whose title refers in part to a Chinese guessing game—is a unique excursion into the maze of allegorical naming and storytelling in China. The film ponders questions of power and change, politics and culture, as refracted by Tiananmen Square events. It offers at the same time an inquiry into the creative process of filmmaking, intricately layering Chinese popular songs and classical music, the sayings of Mao and Confucius, women’s voices and the words of artists, philosophers, and other cultural workers. Video images emulate the gestures of calligraphy and contrast with film footage of rural China and stylised interviews. Like traditional Chinese opera, Trinh’s film unfolds through “bold omissions and minute depictions” to render “the real in the illusory and the illusory in the real.” Exploring color, rhythm and the changing relationship between ear and eye, this meditative documentary realises on screen the shifts of interpretation in contemporary Chinese culture and politics.

This Screening is part of the public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.

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Trinh T. Minh-ha]]> Asia]]>
The Geocultural]]> Indigenous Knowledge]]> Tradition]]> 24 Jun 2017, Sat 12:00 PM - 8:30 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

This eight hour long documentary film is divided into 38 stations and depicts the daily life of the Darkhad and Sojon Urinjanghai nomads, as well as their ceremonies such as weddings, festivals and shamanistic practices.

Ottinger portrays particular characters, sometimes with their families, and documents gatherings, offerings, songs, dances, professions. The camera dwells on the different moments, mostly rendering the scene in real time and conveying a sense of being there. As we accompany the nomads preparing to move to their winter camp, or visit the children on their first day of school, we get familiar not only with the startling landscapes, but most importantly with the way of living of these nomadic peoples, their relationship to each other, to the animals, and to the land.

This screening is specially arranged to provide the opportunity for the audience to experience the work as a full film instead of the divided version installed in the exhibition space.

Presented on the occasion of Art Day Out x School Holidays at Gillman Barracks.

A public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts – The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.
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Ulrike Ottinger]]> Asia]]>
Ways of Seeing]]> Modernity]]> 10 Jun 2017, Sat 02:00 PM - 06:30 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

In this four-and-a-half-hour documentary or filmic travelogue, Ulrike Ottinger imparts new ways of seeing a foreign culture. Divided in three parts, the film depicts everyday life in Beijing, Sichuan, and Yunnan, being highly sensitive to detail and allowing the viewer to follow Ottinger’s journey almost without commentary.

This screening is specially arranged to provide the opportunity for the audience to experience the work as a full film instead of the divided version installed in the exhibition space.

This screening is a public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China.The Arts – The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.
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Ulrike Ottinger]]> Asia]]>
Capitalism]]> Modernity]]> 2 Jun 2017, Fri 07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Beijing Taxi
is a timely, uncensored and richly cinematic portrait of China’s ancient capital as it undergoes a profound transformation. The film takes an intimate and compelling look at the lives of three cab drivers as they confront modern issues and changing values against the backdrop of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Through their daily struggles infused with humour and quiet determination, Beijing Taxi reveals the complexity and contradictions of China’s shifting paradigm.

This Screening is part of the public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.

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Miao Wang]]> Marc Glöde]]> Marc Glode]]> Asia]]>
Feminism]]> Migration]]> 27 May 2017, Sat - 13 Aug 2017, Sun 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
27 May 2017, Sat - 13 Aug 2017, Sun 04:00 PM - 07:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia (1989), starring Badema, Lydia Billiet, Inés Sastre, and Delphine Seyrig, is Ottinger’s only feature fiction film shot in East Asia. Staged in the legendary Trans-Siberian Railroad, the film starts by introducing four different Western women, each representing a story from different epochs, and who meet on this train. A group of Mongolian female warriors kidnap them, and the story unfolds amidst multiple cultural misunderstandings. The intersection of the fictional and the documentary arises from the encounter with the foreign, which intervenes unpredictably and filled with humour along the plot.

The entire film is a homage to the way nomadic cultures leave their mark along the travelled paths, and embraces the migration of culture. Different kinds of narration are explored within this feature, emphasising cultural relations, similarities and contrasts, as well as how misunderstandings can be productive.

Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia is part of the daily screenings of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s. It is presented at The Single Screen on every other day, alternating with Exile Shanghai.

A public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.
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Ulrike Ottinger]]> Asia]]>
Migration]]> Diaspora]]> History]]>
Exile Shanghai (1997) tells the stories of six German, Austrian, and Russian Jews that intersect while exiled in Shanghai. Through narratives, photographs, documents, and music and images of the contemporary city, the film is a real-life epic with significant historical value. Albeit the film focuses on the life of Jewish refugees, it stresses at the same time the very condition of the exiled, preserving their culture in midst of another.

Visually, the interconnectedness of different histories and people is emphasised by the diversity of cultural influences. This moment of openness of Shanghai created a whole cosmos within the city. Presented through the lens of the exiled, its tone is nonetheless optimistic, converted through the enthusiasm of the characters.

Exile Shanghai is part of the daily screenings of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s. It is presented at The Single Screen on every other day, alternating with Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia.

A public programme of Ulrike Ottinger: China. The Arts ­– The People, Photographs and Films from the 1980s and 1990s.]]>
Ulrike Ottinger]]> Asia]]>
Supernatural]]> Ritual]]> Tradition]]> 18 Nov 2017, Sat 12:00 PM - 07:30 PM
19 Nov 2017, Sun 12:00 PM - 07:00 PM
The Seminar Room, Block 43 Malan Road

Taking place on the closing weekend of Ghosts and Spectres – Shadows of History, the screening of selected films and videos by artists from Asia will expand on the discussion of moving image as an apparatus for capturing and propagating narratives. Through the notion of “ghost” and “spectres”, the programme entails discussions that take the exhibition as a point of departure, referencing mythologies, folklore, traditions, politics, and other prevalent themes portrayed in the artworks. It looks into the strategies employed by artists in visualising and imagining socio-political minefields. Due to the spectrum of collective experiences in a wider Asia, the film programme presents alternate visions of the exhibition, surfacing the undercurrents that permeate geopolitical entanglements. These anxieties present ways of approaching other logics of generational understanding, temporal localities, and regional variations as artists embark on translations of the past into contemporary imaginings. Confronting the unruliness of memory, the film programme draws parallels between history and the moving image: as moments that, in their unfolding, haunt us again and again.

The two-day event is divided into four themes: “Film and Cinema as Ghost”, “Acting and Re-enacting”, “Histories Turning Ghosts”, and “Rituals”. The screening programme will consist of works by Ayisha Abraham (India), akumassa (Indonesia), Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (Thailand), Martha Atienza (Philippines), Ashish Avikunthak (India), Chien-Chi Chang (Taiwan/Austria), Tiane Doan na Champassak and Jean Dubrel (France), Köken Ergun (Turkey), Bayu Prihantoro Filemon (Indonesia), Hikaru Fujii (Japan), Hao Jingban (China), Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore), Daniel Hui (Singapore), Ing K (Thailand), Meiro Koizumi (Japan), Soni Kum (Korea/Japan), Lee Kai Chung (Hong Kong), K. M. Madhusudhanan (India), Nguyen Trinh Thi (Vietnam), Vandy Rattana (Cambodia/Taiwan), Taiki Sakpisit (Japan), Chulayarnnon Siriphol (Thailand), Angela Su (Hong Kong), Tan Pin Pin (Singapore), Erika Tan (Singapore/UK), John Torres (Philippines), andOtty Widasari (Indonesia).  Scheduled screening will be accompanied by introductions, talks, and discussions between a group of Singapore-based curators and researchers, addressing the complexities embedded in the selected works. Speakers include Dr Marc Glöde, film scholar and Assistant Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU; Fang-Tze Hsu, independent researcher and curator; Qinyi Lim, Curator, National Gallery Singapore; Sam I-Shan, Curator of Visual Arts, Esplanade; and Silke Schmickl, Curator, National Gallery Singapore.

SCHEDULE

Saturday, 18 November 2017, 12.00 – 7.30pm 

Film and Cinema as Ghost

Short films, 
12.00 – 1.15pm
Straight 8, Ayisha Abrahams, India, 2005, 17 min
Imaginati, akumassa, Indonesia, 2013, 13 min
A Presentation By Proxy, Erika Tan, UK, 2014, 21 min
Horor Satu Menit / One Minute Horror, Otty Widasari, Indonesia, 2005, 1 min
Mesures et Démesures, Angela Su, Hong Kong, 2015, 6 min
History is a Silent Film, K. M. Madhusudhanan, India, 2007, 17 min

Conversation, 1.15 – 1.35pm

Feature film: 1.35 – 3.00pm
People Power Bombshell: The Diary of Vietnam Rose 89’, John Torres, Philippines, 2016, 89 min


Acting and Re-enacting

Short films, 3.00 – 4.15pm
4×4 — Episodes of Singapore Art: Episode 3 — Tang Da Wu, The Most Radical Art Gesture, Ho Tzu Nyen, Singapore, 2005, 23 min
On the Origin of Fear, Bayu Prihantoro Filemon, Indonesia, 2016, 12 min
The History of Riots (The DJ), Lee Kai Chung, Hong Kong, 2013, 7 min
The Educational System of an Empire, Hikaru Fujiii, Japan, 2016, 21 min
Portrait of a Young Samurai, Meiro Koizumi, Japan, 2009, 10 min

Conversation, 4.15 – 4.35pm

Feature film, 4.35 – 7.30pm
Shakespeare Must Die, Ing K, Thailand, 2012, 176 min

Sunday, 19 November 2017, 12.00 – 7.00pm

Histories Turning Ghosts

Short films, 12.00 – 1.25pm
The Impossibility of Knowing, Tan Pin Pin, Singapore, 2010, 12 min
A Brief History of Memory, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Thailand, 2010, 14 min
The War That Never Was, Chien-Chi Chang, Taiwan/Austria, 2017, 16 min
Landscape Series #1, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Vietnam, 2013, 5 min
Monologue, Vandy Rattana, Cambodia, 2015, 20 min
A Ripe Volcano, Taiki Sakpisit, Thailand, 2011, 16 min
Sukati / A Tale of Heaven, Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Thailand, 2010, 6 min

Conversation, 1.25 – 1.45pm

Feature film, 1.45 – 3.30pm
Snakeskin, Daniel Hui, Singapore/Portugal, 2014, 105 min

Rituals

Short films, 3.30 – 5.25pm
Anito, Martha Atienza, Philippines, 2012, 8 min
Vakratunda Swaha, Ashish Avikunthak, India, 2010, 21 min
Off Takes, Hao Jingban, China, 2016, 22 min
Ashura, Köken Ergun, Turkey, 2013, 25 min
Naptwe, the feast of the spirits, Tiane Doan na Champassak and Jean Dubrel, France, 2012, 31 min
Spring Comes Winter After, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Vietnam, 2008, 5 min

Conversation, 5.25 – 5.45pm

Feature film, 5.45 – 7.00pm
Foreign Sky, Soni Kum, Korea/Japan, 2005, 70 min

A public programme of Ghosts and Spectrres – Shadows of History.

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Marc Glöde]]> Marc Glode]]> Fang-Tze Hsu]]> Qinyi Lim]]> Sam I-Shan]]> Silke Schmickl]]> Southeast Asia]]> Asia]]> Europe]]> Middle East]]>
The Mad Masters, Jean Rouch, France, and Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, Maya Deren, Ukraine/United States]]> Ritual]]> Race]]> Supernatural]]> 3 Nov 2017, Fri 07:30 PM - 09:00 PM
The Single Screen, Block 43 Malan Road

Introduction by Dr Marc Glöde, film scholar and Assistant Professor, School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), NTU

The Mad Masters, Jean Rouch, France, 1955, 36 min

For Jean Rouch’s landmark film The Mad Masters, the French filmmaker himself coined the term “ethnofiction” due to the blending of both documentary and fictional aspects. Rouch takes his viewers to the city of Accra (West Africa) where he follows the Hauka movement and their religious and ritual proceedings, consisting of mimicry and dancing to become possessed by British Colonial administrators. The work caused a highly political debate since on one hand it was considered offensive to colonial authorities because of the Africans’ blatant attempts to mimic and mock the “white oppressors” and, on the other hand, African students, teachers, and directors found the film to perpetrate an “exotic racism” of the African people. An outstanding film that until today is one of the classics to be revisited and discussed.

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, Maya Deren, United States, 1985, 52 min

Between 1947 and 1951 the experimental filmmaker Maya Deren spent significant periods of time in Haiti to make a film about Voodoo rituals and rites. The material she shot was left unedited until after her death when it was assembled into the film Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Deren’s work reveals the ongoing merging of art and ethnography, one of the legacies of Surrealism, also standing as an important cultural record of Haitian Voodoo—a religion based on West African beliefs and practices, combined with aspects of Roman Catholicism. The contrasting of Haitian dance with ‘non-Haitian elements’ in a series of dream-like sequences testifies to Deren’s Surrealist interest in alternative realities. Gradually, the focus shifted from dance to the complex nature of Haitian ceremonies, while celebrating Haiti for its hybrid culture as well as for its symbolic importance as the political site of a successful slave revolution, which resulted in Haiti becoming the first modern black republic.

These Screenings are part of the public programme of Ghosts and Spectres – Shadows of History.
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Jean Rouch]]> Maya Deren]]> Marc Glöde]]> Marc Glode]]> Africa]]> North America]]>