Our deepest condolences to Ying Hui, Ying Jien and Ying Hsien on the passing of their most beloved mother, Dr. Nalla Tan. Her memory will live on with us always.
The eulogies given tonight celebrated her life, character, work, relationships, faith and most of all, love. Our lives have been truly enriched by knowing her. I cannot possibly feel more fortunate for the time I had to spend in her presence and in the old Binjai home. Those are memories I will hold dear for a long time.
I’ve been recently blown away by Victor Tan‘s extraordinary wire sculptures at sculpture square. The sense of balance and form is pretty stunning. The sculptures appear to me as sketches in the space, as if a painter was preparing his canvas of air with wiry forms. Some have an unfinished quality that is very beautiful, light-weight, yet incredibly energetic.
Selected work from Villa Alicia has been included in this show at Objectifs! The reception is tonight, please come by if you have time.
We had a wonderful time at the reception! Thank you all for making down and spending some time with us 
Thanks again to our lovely sponsors Taberna Wine Bar and Butterfingers for the great wines and desserts! x
Dear Friends,
Filming for M1 Fringe Festival’s “Goddess of Mercy” installation with Teck.
Work for the M1 Fringe Festival has began, and DOP Teck has been generously helping me out with filming for my video installation. Well, the process of filming Ying Hsien’s run brings to mind Haruki Murakami’s memoir.
“By running longer it’s like I can physically exhaust that portion of my discontent.”
“My time, the rank I attain, my outward appearance—all of these are secondary. For a runner like me, what’s really important is reaching the goal I set myself, under my own power. I give it everything I have, endure what needs enduring, and am able, in my own way, to be satisfied.”
“People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer. But don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive then in a fog, and I believe running helps you to do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life — and for me, for writing as whole. I believe many runners would agree”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
NUS Museum: The Baba House
Last week, 22th Dec, we were invited to share our work process for Villa Alicia with an small intimate group of 12 students from NUS, who are tutored by Spell 7′s Kaylene Tan. We focused on the challenges of creating site-specific work and the development of our ideas for the spaces in the house through the use of the family’s childhood memories and their relationships to the spaces.
The students are working on an exciting site-specific project in the Baba House focusing on sound, for the NUS Arts Festival. We were told that there would be about 9 walking sound tours created by the students, with opportunities to work in groups as well as individually.
It was our first time visiting the Baba House, and we were blown away by the details of the furnishing, as well as how well kept the space was, including the beautiful gallery on the top level of house. We’re really looking forward to the student’s presentation next year.
For site-specific works, it is worth reading this short article on responding to site, by Gillian McIver.
Anselm Kiefer said that no empty place is really empty: everywhere is filled up, “almost claustrophobically” with all the traces of the past. The past is always there in the present. Artists working site-responsively are working with these traces or “ghosts” as raw material, aware that whatever we put into a place will be mingled with whatever was there before.
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It is an “engaged” art form – Above all, site-responsive art is an engaged art form. The artist is interested in what is happening, what has happened, in the place. Working in this way implies questioning, possibly rejecting, the irony and “cool” relativism of certain strains in contemporary art. The artist cannot avoid coming into contact with social, economic and cultural realities during the course of the creative process. Siteresponsive art is not necessarily making any direct comment or “telling” the audience what to think, but instead invites them to engage with the very real relationship between place and work, and inviting them to draw their own conclusions.
The Tan family bid an emotional farewell to the old Binjai house.
The family of Dr. Nalla Tan host a private party for their relatives and friends to reminisce the good times and bid farewell to the old home. Amongst their guests include politicians, architects, artists, educators, doctors, as well as past students
of Dr. Tan.
It is a throwback to the parties of her prime when leading lights of the new nation would be gathered around her dining table, drinking and debating until the light of dawn.
See you there!
During the weekend I was honoured to be invited to join two other photographers, Samuel He and Ernest Goh, in judging for The New Paper’s Big Picture contest.
Every week one picture that best captures the fortnightly theme is chosen to win $500. For December, the theme is “2011″ in Singapore. Check out this week’s winner, Sebastian Song, and more details about the competition here!