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This exhibition features 12 specially commissioned works by 13 prolific local artists and examines the role of art in contemporary society.
In a world where we have become anesthetised due to our experience of the ever-changing myriad of images in the mass media each day, the exhibition shows how art can bring us back in touch with our senses and make us feel again. In so doing, it further analyses the social role of art in an imperfect world. And as the title suggests, the site-specific works in the exhibition will also highlight how we do not have to look too far to experience art in our daily lives, and that it can always be found around us if only we take a moment to stop and take notice.
 
Ho Tzu Nyen
The Guernica Project
300-pc jigsaw puzzle
The Epic Poem of Malaya Project
100-pc jigsaw puzzle
 
Khiew Huey Chian
Interaction with...
Installation
 
Jane Lee
Bond
Acrylic paint on canvas
 
Hazel Lim and Michael Tan
Acu-Points
Mixed media
Lim Tzay Chuen
Untitled: Remove all sale of MILO
beverages cold or hot in SMU campus  
Donna Ong
The Sixth Day
Mixed media
Ana Prvacki
At the tips of your fingertips (towards a clean money culture)
Video
 
Sunsook Roh
Pulse
Installation
 
Zainudin Samsuri
Tar-Mon
Mixed media
 
Ian Woo
It has been at the back of my mind, always
Acrylic on wall
 
Joshua Yang
Trying to tie up the loose ends but leaving just enough room to breathe
Drawing installation
Ye Shufang
Breath and Other Exchanges
Installation of two sets of coin-operated Kiddie ride machines
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(18 Jan - 1 Feb 2008)
 
Disco toilets and half-baked pies; roller-blading musicians and massage walls. These were just some of the sights, sounds and smells that made up SMU Arts Festival 2008, which ran from 18 Jan to 1 Feb.
Titled non|sense , this year's festival was more extensive than before, involving close to 250 SMU students and almost 50 external artists in some 20 performances and events. From its preliminary publicity campaign which invited one and all to “touch”, “smell” and “see” various objects, it was obvious that the event was going to be a feast for the senses.
Kicking off the festival was a gala opening with Guest-of-Honour and Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, gracing the occasion. Featuring a commissioned project by Dr Joyce Koh, Head of Music from School of the Arts Singapore, the multi-sensorial work included human canvasses, roller-bladers who used steel installations to produce music and a light and sound display.
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Building blocks at this age? Guest-of-Honour Dr Lee Boon Yang admires
student Ch'ng Yaohong's artwork, Hypnagogia
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Drumming up a storm at the opening gala item, non|sense Overture |
For the first time, the arts festival also included a visual arts exhibition with commissioned works from 13 prolific local artists, curated by Dr Eugene Tan, Programme Director for Contemporary Art at the Sotheby's Institute of Art , Singapore . The various artworks, ranging from an interactive “massage wall” to a portrayal of our urban landscape through tubes and plastic bottles, to laser-like threads running across the Li Ka Shing basement atrium, transformed SMU into a virtual artists' playground. The exhibition showcase, entitled: Always here but not always present: Art in a senseless world , runs till 29 Feb. (See following story for more on the Visual Arts Exhibition)
Not to be outdone, SMU's student visual artists also held their fort with Nonsense-tification , grabbing attention with toilet art – including a “disco toilet” with psychedelic lights and retro music blasting, no less, photographic installations and a tantalising performance piece, Half-baked Pie.
 
Hossan hams it up and leaves the high-spirited audience in stitches!
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Apart from the visual sights, highlights of non|sense included LOL , where funnyman Hossan Leong left a filled capacity crowd at Ice-Cold B's in stitches with his risque jokes; a musical collaboration by John Sharpley and Zai Kuning, two accomplished musicians in their own right; up-and-coming SMU modern dance group InDanCity, who enchanted the audience with their sensual moves in Juxt-a-Position ; colourful lunchtime performances featuring SMU student performers alongside external flamenco and capoiera acts, as well as acapella group Budak Pantai; and Symphonia's rousing toe-tapping finale, Ay Caramba!
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John Sharpley and Zai Kuning in Garden Within
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Our jazz maestros, The Frequency Vibe, serenades the crowd at U-square |
In retrospect, SMU Arts Festival 2008 was an exploration between the conventional notions of art and the limits to which we accept their explanations. A tickle of the senses, it was definitely a fitting attempt at non|sense!
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Hitting the right notes: the SMU Chamber Choir's very first public performance
receives rave reviews
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InDanCity performs to a full house at the Arts & Culture Centre |
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SMU's dance and music groups' active participation in both local and international events has raised the university's arts profile tremendously. These are some of their recent achievements:
Hip-hop group Eurhythmix held their very successful annual concert, titled Dance Garage, to a sell-out crowd at Victoria Theatre in July.
Modern dancers from SMU's contemporary dance group InDanCity pirouetted their way to the first prize at the 10th Asia Pacific Dance Competition, Modern Jazz (Open) Category held here in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Caderas Latinas' Latin Ballroom Team made a name for themselves overseas when they emerged runners-up at the Hong Kong Open Come Dancing Cup held in early August. The group's salsa team also took part in the renowned Los Angeles International Salsa Congress, where they performed to a standing ovation.
Making headways in Europe, SMU's newly-formed Chamber Choir took part in Poland 's Mundus Cantat Sopot Fourth International Choir Competition where they bagged two silvers.
SMU's Symphonic band, Symphonia, reaped top honours and became the number one band at the Second National Band Competition. The band, which also won a Gold award at the inaugural competition last year, is currently preparing for their concert, Let's Boogie, at the Esplanade this October. Ambition on their side, Symphonia is also gearing towards their goal of taking part in the World Music Contest to be held in the Netherlands in 2009.
Introducing the SMU beat to new lands, SMU's percussion band, Samba Masala wowed during their participation in the annual Drogheda Samba Festival in Ireland, and thrilled crowds (including Drogheda 's Mayor, pictured above, centre) with their version of samba beats with ethnic overtures. |
Stageit, SMU's theatre club, restaged Kuo Pao Kun's Lao Jiu from 6 to 8 July 07 at the Raffles Hotel Jubilee Hall.
The play, which contains a smattering of dialect, revolves around the youngest ninth child and only male descendent in a Chinese family. You Wei, better known as Lao Jiu, is expected to shoulder his family's expectations of a 17-year-old – excellence in studies and honour to the family. On the brink of receiving a prestigious scholarship, Lao Jiu discovers his real calling – in puppetry.
Stageit's Lao Jiu sees a new generation of theatre performers respond to the interminable social and cultural negotiation. Directed by students Louis Lin and Tabatha Maitland, with a cast of 28 students, the three-night production was a sell out. Headlining the cast were Jason Chiang as Lao Jiu, Xie Shangbin as the Master, Jeremy Wang as the Father and Diana Chong as the Mother.
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“The very meaning of art is (that) through the process of art, you get deeper into an understanding of life and people.”
- Kuo Pao Kun, 2000
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Kuo, a legendary Singapore playwright and director across the decades, strongly believed that artists should be engaged not just in society but in life itself. An ex-political detainee and 1989 Singapore Cultural Medallion winner, Kuo created the modern folktale, Lao Jiu (1990) modelled as a street opera. The play mirrored the struggles between pragmatic materialism and the pursuit of artistic excellence.
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Convocation 2008: Here, where we belong!
As with always, the highlight of Convocation was the CCA-showcase segment. This year, close to 200 seniors took part in the performance entitled "Here, where we belong!", which was divided into four scenes each tracing SMU's growth in Singapore. This culminated in a lights and sound extravaganza featuring most of SMU's student arts groups, which together with the video montage and graphical displays on the wide-screen backdrop, provided a fitting finale to the act. Again, faculty,parents and freshies were much impressed with the CCA-showcase which no doubt set yet another standard for artistic merit.
Convocation is a traditional welcoming of the first-year students to SMU, by both faculty and her seniors. Parents of freshmen are also invited to this glimpse of SMU life. As with tradition, Convocation 08 comprised a formal segment with the ceremonial procession of the faculty and student leaders, as well as an informal segment comprising performances organised especially for the students.
“The Challenge”, which featured 60 SMU talented seniors in the CCA-showcase segment of Convocation 2007, rose to their “call of duty” where they sang, danced, somersaulted, sparred, roller-bladed and even “flew” as the story unfolded.
Inspired by a Sufi poem by Rumi, "The Challenge" metaphorically depicted how an individual managed to find her true potential amidst obstacles and obscurity. Apart from the stage performance, the show was complemented with visuals and a haunting soundtrack. The result – an artistic, multi-sensorial spectacle definitely deserving of the thunderous applause that filled the Suntec City Convention Hall.
Click  for Convocation 07 excerpts. |
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