PUBLISHED July 16th, 2012 04:08 pm | UPDATED March 28th, 2016 05:54 pm
If I asked you what you thought went on at a literary arts festival, you might suggest to me… readings, storytellings, a variety of performances, but would you offer up music or the visual arts?
When Lit Up takes over the Telok Ayer Performing Arts Centre (TAPAC) later this month to bid it farewell, it will go beyond the exploration of literature as you may categorize it in your head. Oh yes. Because it will bring to you a multi-disciplinary journey celebrating the joy of word, but also music, visual arts and a whole lot more, as you discover a trail of happenings commanding almost every possible nook and cranny of the building.
In this feature I’ll explore two visual arts collectives: one who will be behind a large scale installation, the other an exhibition and a mural. Both bringing new meaning to the spaces which they will have transformed for the festival.
First up is spacer.gif. Fresh from their latest project, ‘I See You’, a graphic poetry exhibition at Arts House, Charlene, Shepherdson, Nabilah H and Vanessa Victoria below…
will be unleashing ‘Empty Margins’ at Lit Up. The multidisciplinary collective, who between the three of them bring together a wonderful experimental synergy of performance, writing and visual art, are a natural programme choice for this year’s theme of ‘Occupied Art’ given their pre-occupation with the artistic possibilities of space.
While I can’t offer you any visuals relating to what you can expect from their installation (because the installation is yet to be made!), what I can share with you is that “Empty Margins” is a nod towards TAPAC’s heritage as a school. Intrigued? You should be.
So called because of the margins in our school text books where our grades were once inked, the “Empty Margins” installation will explore our memories of our memories (geddit?), and how they can blur and become warped with time. Audiences can expect a classroom set in a surreal environment and to become voyagers in other people’s memory of schools.
A living, breathing room of art, the collective hope the installation will, ‘evoke memories and challenge people’s own memory of what they assume is in their history, and cause them to re-evaluate certain events and settings in life, delving deeper into those things rather than just accepting them on a surface level. We want people to recognise and pay attention to spaces rather than taking them for granted.’
Let’s turn our attention now to WeJungle. One fine evening I got to meet with three of the lovely chaps from the WeJungle art collective – Spencer Chan, Charles Osawa and Jason Tan below (though currently the collective embraces eight individuals in it’s fold).
The rules are, there are no rules in the jungle, and that’s something that’s at the heart of this freewheeling collective whose work is inspired by pop culture and is a fantastic mash up of styles and ideas, with the main aim of making our environments better and more beautiful. These guys practically ooze a positive vibe and it’s like a massage for the soul.
Their contribution to Lit Up – “Architexture” – will take over the 1st floor corridor of TAPAC in the form of an exhibition of 11 prints focusing on Singapore’s skyline. The prints will make you sit up and really pay attention to the skyline that we take for granted, the skyline that seems to be constantly evolving. These are Singapore’s iconic monuments and HDBs but not as we know them – layered in psychedelic chaos, yet through this chaos there is vibrant beauty. Wondering what I’m talking about? Pssst come over here and I’ll give you a sneaky peak…
One of my favourites is their take on the mysterious Parkview a.k.a Gotham Building. I love the way the coloured layering helps us to get past its sinister air to help us appreciate it as something more….well…beautiful. It looks downright groovy too.
Of course, I won’t be giving any more away here – you’ll have to get down to Lit Up to see the others in the series. One thing I can say though is that not content with just this, the collective will also be working on a very cool large-scale mural taking over one of the walls of TAPAC – again with the skyline as it’s inspiration so as you make your way around the building during Lit Up, it won’t be too long before you’re greeted with that full frontal. Other than that, watch this space – you’ll be seeing more of WeJungle, mark our words.
Check out spacer.gif”s Empty Margins and WeJungle‘s Architexture and mural throughout the course of Lit Up at Telok Ayer Performing Arts Centre from 22nd – 29th July. For more information on location and full programme for Lit Up see here.