after ONO... One Night Only

Jen communicating with Tree

Last tutorial session on thursday. Watched Ursula. Dumpster dived. Home and packing our archive.

Nxt day is the ONE NIGHT ONLY where the participants of my Welcome to the Jungle Workshop - present their work.

With that over, it is the period for exam. We will be leaving for Taiwan 19nov, back on the 2nd nov.

Then back again to Tainan... in a week to prepare for the Lessons Amongst Trees installation.

Da Gua, just before her party for a kid in the Da Mei Sha Village

 Still working on the essay for IDEAS FEST. Processing the photos backlog... sharing here those from Shenzhen, 24th Dec 2017. Yes, christmas eve.

Xiao Peng and Hao's installation

Da Mei Sha view

Outside the other biennale parallel event.

Outside the other biennale parallel event.

Outside the other biennale parallel event.

Outside the other biennale parallel event.

Outside the other biennale parallel event.

Outside the other biennale parallel event.

Space saving Furniture for the small spaces

A talk in Melbourne and conference on fri - then mod

A talk in Melbourne this Wednesday. I am not going there but doing it via skype or something like that. ISn't internet nice and thinking we should do these cross-border dialogue like these. Less carbon footprints right.

ANCER conference on Fri to Sun.

Then moderating the post-screening discussion this Sunday at Freedom Film Fest.

All these while writing a new 13 week Southeast Asia contemporary art course at ADM for next year. It is a very fun course to work on and builds on this new body of research work to think through narrative of SE Asia Contemporary art. A great opportunity to read through or rather to read more in depth some of these 'key' texts, 'flash points', entry points in the story of art in this region.

Book pairings today.

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1qrJQRh

Friend looked into my tote bag. And said what a strange party of books. So here is an attempt to pair them together. #Rehomingbooks

Stevphen Shukaitis replied: Yeah totally connected. Capital punishment in 18th century to prop up property rights and capital accumulation. See Peter linebaughs the London hanged for how that worked. 

Learning from an Introduction

Translation from a PAKSI book, Antologi Puisi 56 Penyair.

[[[]]]]]]

Di manakah sempadannya antara usaha-usaha pembangunan material dengan usaha-usaha pembangunan seni-budaya dan intelektual?

Where is the boundary between material development efforts with the efforts of the development of art and culture and intellectual?

\]\]

Atau di manakah sempadannya daerah kehidupan dan aktiviti seni-budaya itu sendiri?

Or where is the border areas of life and activities of art and culture itself?

\]\]

Apabila beberapa buah Kampung Melayu ("terakhir") yang masih wujud dalam sekitaran kota metropolitan Kuala Lumpur ini hendak dihapuskan dan dipadamkan daripada peta tamadun kebanggan kita sendiri - apakah kita sebagai seniman-budayawan tidak tersentuh apa-apa pun?

When several Kampung Melayu ("last"), which still exists in a metropolitan Kuala Lumpur is to be deleted and erased from the map, the pride of our own civilization - do we as artists, humanists are not touched anything?

][][][][\\]]]

Mash up translate:

Atau di manakah tersentuh apa-apa pun dan intelektual dan aktiviti seni-budaya itu sendiri?

Or where were touched anything and intellectual and artistic-cultural activity itself?

* Translation by Google Translate

Mashup: Extreme + Picnic Pt.2

Mashup sketch Pt.2

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_sports

Extreme sports (also called action sports and adventurous sports) is a popular term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and highly specialized gear.

The definition of an extreme sport is not exact and the origin of the term is unclear, but it gained popularity in the 1990s when it was picked up by marketing companies to promote the X Games and when the Extreme Sports Channel and Extreme.com launched.

While use of the term "extreme sport" has spread far and wide to describe a multitude of different activities, exactly which sports are considered 'extreme' is debatable. There are however several characteristics common to most extreme sports.[4] While not the exclusive domain of youth, extreme sports tend to have a younger-than-average target demographic. Extreme sports are rarely sanctioned by schools.[citation needed] Extreme sports tend to be more solitary than traditional sports[5] (rafting and paintballing are notable exceptions, as they are done in teams). In addition, beginning extreme athletes tend to work on their craft without the guidance of a coach (though some may hire a coach later).

Activities categorized by media as extreme sports differ from traditional sports due to the higher number of inherently uncontrollable variables. These environmental variables are frequently weather and terrain related, including wind, snow, water and mountains. Because these natural phenomena cannot be controlled, they inevitably affect the outcome of the given activity or event.

In a traditional sporting event, athletes compete against each other under controlled circumstances. While it is possible to create a controlled sporting event such as X Games, there are environmental variables that cannot be held constant for all athletes. Examples include changing snow conditions for snowboarders, rock and ice quality for climbers, and wave height and shape for surfers.

Whilst traditional sporting judgment criteria may be adopted when assessing performance (distance, time, score, etc.), extreme sports performers are often evaluated on more subjective and aesthetic criteria.[6] This results in a tendency to reject unified judging methods, with different sports employing their own ideals[7] and indeed having the ability to evolve their assessment standards with new trends or developments in the sports.

http://www.topendsports.com/sport/new/guide.htm

Guide for Inventing Sports

If you have thought up a sport which you are passionate about and think that it can become popular, taking the next step is often daunting. For many people who have created a sport it does not get much further than just an idea. Here are few ideas (from someone who has not invented a sport!) to guide you on a path I think would move you from an idea into a functioning sport. Follow the links for more information.

Mashup: Extreme + Picnic Pt.1

Mashup Exploration part 1

Extreme Picnic is a development from Post-Museum’s interest in land contestation (Bukit Brown Index, 2014-) and communal spaces (OutPost series, 2011-). The project is a mash-up of picnic and extreme sports.  

Extreme in dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/extreme 

adjective, extremer, extremest.

1.

of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average:

extreme measures.

2.

utmost or exceedingly great in degree:

extreme joy.

3.

farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost:

the extreme limits of a town.

4.

farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction:

an object at the extreme point of vision.

5.

exceeding the bounds of moderation:

extreme fashions.

6.

going to the utmost or very great lengths in action, habit, opinion, etc.:

an extreme conservative.

7.

last or final:

extreme hopes.

noun

9.

the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree:

cautious to an extreme.

10.

one of two things as remote or different from each other as possible:

the extremes of joy and grief.

11.

the furthest or utmost length; an excessive length, beyond theordinary or average:

extremes in dress.

12.

an extreme act, measure, condition, etc.:

the extreme of poverty.

13.

Mathematics.

1. the first or the last term, as of a proportion or series.
2. a relative maximum or relative minimum value of a function in agiven region.

14.

Logic. the subject or the predicate of the conclusion of a syllogism;either of two terms that are separated in the premises and brought together in the conclusion.

15.

Archaic. the utmost point, or extremity, of something.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic

A picnic is an excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors (al fresco or en plein air), ideally taking place in a scenic landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open-air theatre performance, and usually in summer. Descriptions of picnics show that the idea of a meal that was jointly contributed and was enjoyed out-of-doors were essential to a picnic from the early 19th century.

Picnics are often family-oriented but can also be an intimate occasion between two people or a large get-together such as company picnics and church picnics. It is also sometimes combined with a cookout, usually a form of barbecue; either grilling (griddling, gridironing, or charbroiling), braising (by combining a charbroil or gridiron grill with a broth-filled pot), baking, or a combination of all of the above.

On romantic and family picnics, a picnic basket and a blanket (to sit or recline on) are usually brought along. Outdoor games or some other form of entertainment are common at large picnics. In established public parks, a picnic area generally includes picnic tables and possibly other items related to eating outdoors, such as built-in grills, water faucets, garbage containers, and restrooms.

Some picnics are a potluck, an entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table for all to share. When the picnic is not also a cookout, the food eaten is rarely hot, instead taking the form of deli sandwiches, finger food, fresh fruit, salad, cold meats and accompanied by chilled wine or champagne or soft drinks.

Jakarta Takes Over 25 Flat Units in Marunda

This will be where the Jakarta Really Really Free Market will happen in November.

I archive the article about Marunda here. When we spoke with a resident at Marunda, we heard about this problem that some people abuse the system. These people don't really qualify for the housing because they are not 'low-income' or 'poor'. They somehow get allocated these flats and would sub-rent it out for profit.

I have also heard of such cases in Singapore where some 'rental flats' are allocated to them because they could circumvent the system.


http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2015/08/02/057688485/Jakarta-Takes-Over-25-Flat-Units-in-Marunda

SUNDAY, 02 AUGUST, 2015 | 09:22 WIB

Jakarta Takes Over 25 Flat Units in Marunda

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In order to prevent any flat misuses, the Jakarta Housing and Government Buildings Department took over tens of Marunda low-cost flat units, Cilincing, North Jakarta, Friday (7/31) night. As a result, as much as 25 flats were padlocked and 10 flats were red-sealed.

The effort was done as either the occupant or flat owner been reported often handed over and unoccupied. Therefore, the Management Unit of Low-Cost Flat (UPRS) Region 1 Jakarta Housing and Government Buildings Department has already sent warning letter with deadline until Monday (7/27).

“We’ve sent warning leter to the owner. But they remain neglect it, that’s why we react,” said Abdul Rahman, Head of Low-Cost Flat Management Unit Region 1 for Jakarta Housing and Government Buildings Department, Saturday (8/1).

Rahman conveyed that, the controlling was done in three clusters in Marunda Flat. The management also sealed the units as the owner did not comply the rental agreement (SP).

“We’ll red-seal the unit, if there’s a wrong procedure. We give them much time until next Monday to take care of their flat,” he disclosed.

ANTARA

Hong Kong arts and culture project makes foreign domestic workers the creator and the muse

Photos: Arista Devi

I record the following article about Para Site project for reference (in case it gets lost). A Singaporean curator, Lim Qin Yi is quoted here. Glad to hear such a meaningful project in Hong Kong. Hopefully this can inspire some artists and migrant workers right activist friends to do a project in Singapore.


http://hongkong.coconuts.co/2015/08/24/hong-kong-arts-and-culture-project-makes-foreign-domestic-workers-creator-and-muse

Hong Kong arts and culture project makes foreign domestic workers the creator and the muse

By Priscilla Yu August 24, 2015 / 12:14 HKT

Hong Kong is home to more than 320,000 migrant domestic workers: 49.4 percent are from Indonesia, 48 percent are from Philippines and the others are mainly from Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Although this large minority group makes up four percent of Hong Kong’s population, migrant domestic workers, their legal rights, society status and personal needs are often absent from local narratives. 

According to a 2013 report by Amnesty International, migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong are at high risk of seeing their human and labour rights violated.

Hoping to make a difference is Para Site, a contemporary art centre in Quarry Bay that has been collaborating with domestic workers and grassroots cultural organisations to produce a multifaceted platform of programmes, spanning photography, art, education and literature.

The latter art form saw the creation of the “Afterwork Reading Club” – an ongoing cultural project that brings the writing of domestic workers to their peers and the wider community.

Coconuts HK spoke to Qinyi Lim from Para Site and Brigitta Isabella from Indonesia’s KUNCI Cultural Studies, who teamed up to spearhead the reading/writing initiative.

Starting in February simply as educational research on Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong, a six-session Sunday reading group was set up by KUNCI in a bid to see both domestic workers and locals explore the issue of migrant workers’ rights.

The project, based on the translated work of Indonesian writers, encourages migrant workers to read and produce prose about their situation. Reading groups were set up at three locations, Victoria Park, a centre for domestic workers, and at private housing.

While private housing may seems an odd choice, Isabella explained that the changing of roles of the location offer different perspectives.

Conventionally, domestic workers help around the house, yet being a participant and a guest in an activity changes the division of labour and can connect them to their employers in a different way.

“The migrant workers come together with the employers in an equal position and discuss the text together,” Isabella said.

“For the employers it [the house] is considered as a private space, but for domestic workers it’s like a workspace. The idea of inviting the employers with the workers to discuss the text on an equal basis makes it more like a neutral area,” Lim added.

While Isabella admits some of the writing produced may seem trivial or mundane, she believes such insights reflect, not only a migrant worker’s perspective on life, but also these women as individuals. By abolishing the inequality and class within Hong Kong society, they hope the writings will not only represent a domestic helper, but also a writer, a woman and an Indonesian.

“It came from our first discussion and it is related how people see domestic workers. They are classified as a specific gender and class. I want them to be seen as equal, as human,” Isabella said.

“For example, if you go to Victoria Park on the weekend, you will see their informal economy in action, like pedicures, fashion shows and even dance and rock concerts. You don’t see them as domestic workers,” Lim insists.

By writing, a worker is seen to be contributing to “intellectual” actions rather than the usual manual work. The production is a sharing of knowledge that the organisers hope will change the concept of intellectuality in mainstream society. 

As every session can only accommodate five to seven participants, a travelling suitcase filled with a selection of Indonesian literature is available for domestic helpers to borrow from at weekends in Victoria’s Park.

Although the books are free to obtain, interested parties are required to first write a short note explaining their expectation and reasons for taking the text.

In terms of future plans, KUNCI will be publishing a book containing the writings of Hong Kong’s domestic workers received throughout the project to act as a reflection on the scheme.

“The text will be translated into English, but we also hope to translate some of the migrant workers’ work into Chinese and hopefully Tagalog and distribute to the community in a book form,” Lim explained

To learn more about the upcoming afterwork reading group sessions or on-going domestic helper-focused set projects at Para Site, click here.

Photos: Arista Devi

KEEP CALM and Carry on!

Looking back at LHL UOB rally. He also used the metaphor of the rainbow as some form of hope. His rainbow metaphor is better than his other GE metaphors like unicorn / Qi Ling. Someone must stop this tradition of politicians with bad metaphor. IT is not helping and it really messes with the real message.  

Well, we are at the end of GE 2015. I did not get to see the rainbow I want to see. I accept the results. I hope that this new parliament can reflect Singapore's diversity.   

Here is my response in the form of a comic. Inspired by comic heroes the Art of Charlie Chan (Sonny Liew), Demon-Cratic Studio and Cartoon Press. Do support them by buying their work. 

ps. I actually enjoyed drawing this. Jen can tell you. 

Gudang Sarinah Jakarta

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1IuluMK

Our trip to Jakarta to plan for our work in Jakarta Biennale. This is a picture of the main site called Gudang Sarinah. Part of a warehouse complex and this particular one was once a DHL warehouse.  

Clay Nite 2 invitation

Dear friends, Post-Museum will be having another clay nite - party this tuesday. (in case you missed the last one, or feel like claying some more!) We had one last wednesday and it was really quite fun and nice. 

Basically, we are inviting our dear friends whom we have met in various fields: civil society, art and life to come and hangout at Post-Popup before we move out.

Then make your very own work to be fired in the dragon kiln as part of the Awaken the Dragon 2014. 

I guess its a way for our cool friends to meet with each other. I hope the dragon fire can bring about new friendship, new hopes and much more. 

For the food situation, Some food and drinks will be provided. You are welcome to bring more munchies to share. 

Please bring some funds to contribute towards the costs of the clay and refreshments. You are also welcome to bring more munchies to share :)

More info here and click attend, so we know how much to prepare. 

https://www.facebook.com/events/729588753799101/?fref=ts

Best

Tien 

Post-Musem 

Da Vinci Code to go...

Dear friends, 

Open bid: I finally got a chance to read bit of it but I am don't need it now. I am lettin this book go. Interested please pm me. 

Meanwhile, if you know someone who wants a copy of this book - do let them know. 

On the Threshold of Modernity

Remembering 2005. I am not deleting my old emails exactly. I am trapped my thinking that everything is important. :(.

Flash Flood in Singapore

Sent: 13 January 2005 16:17
To: [singaporeheritage]
Subject: [singaporeheritage] [Fwd: Seminar by Asia Research Institute and Department of Historyon Tuesday, 25 Jan 2005, 2 - 3.30 pm]

Asia Research Institute (ARI) and Department of History

National University of Singapore jointly present

On the Threshold of Modernity: Fifty Years of Regime Change in

Insular Southeast Asia 1780-1830

A seminar by

Leonard Blusse

Professor of History of Asian-European Relations

History Department, Leiden University, Holland

Professor of Southeast Asian History

National Research Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Xiamen University, China

Day, Date, Time, Venue

Tuesday, 25 January 2005

2.00 p.m. – 3.30 p.m.

ARI Seminar Room AS7 #04-09

Abstract

On this occasion, I should like to draw your attention to a crucial period in Southeast Asian history, which I believe, deserves further study by an international team of historian in the years to come. In this regard my exposé should perhaps be regarded as a feeler put out to perceive whether there is enthusiasm towards participation in such a project among historians in Singapore, who as I see it, should be part of the vanguard in carrying out its execution. I confess that it may seem somewhat out of tune in an age, in which post modernity reigns supreme, to propose a research project with the title On the Threshold of Modernity, yet I do so because I feel that the origins of the present political situation in maritime Southeast Asia should be pinpointed in the 1780-1830 period. These fifty years witnessed the demise of the Dutch East India Company shortly after the fourth Anglo-Dutch war (1780-84) and a series of no less than four changes of colonial regime, all aimed at coming to terms with the local situation through reforms of colonial exploitation. The most obvious outcome of this Western interference in the area was, of course, the establishment of the free transit port of Singapore and a division of spheres of interests between the dominant colonial powers in the region. All this ultimately resulted in the emergence of the Indonesian and Malaysian nation states, not to speak of such unfinished business as the contested political identity of Aceh. 

I would like to advocate such research because it will enable us to address as a whole the maritime region, which comprises present dayMalaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. It will also allow historians to transgress the borders of the present day nation states and integrate the region within the larger sphere of the adjacent policies of East andSoutheast Asia two hundred years ago. As a matter of fact, because of the historical position that this cross roads region has been traditionally enjoying in the flow of religion, ideas and international trade we inevitably are also forced to cast our net even wider and pay close attention to such contemporary players on the scene as the Indians, Chinese and the Dutch, English, French and American traders.

Until fifteen years ago the writings of Nicholas Tarling, David Bassett and John Bastin, well researched monographs based on primarily English archival records, seemed to be safe beacons for historians studying the expansion of British power in the Southeast Asian archipelago. Since then various studies and collections of articles have questioned that unilinear narrative. I am thinking of Jim Warren’s pioneering works on the Sulu zone and the Iranun, Reinout Vos’ Gentle Janus, merchant prince and Diana Lewis writings on the developments in the Straits of Melaka, the collection of articles edited by Tony Read under the title The last Stand of Asian Autonomies, Response to Modernity in Diverse states in Southeast Asia and the volume edited by Femme Gaastra and myself on the Eighteenth Century as a Category of Asian History to name just a few. These studies in one way or another have brought the autonomous history of the region to the fore, and even questioned to some extent, as the Reid volume does, the impact of Western modernization by pointing out an undertow based on traditional policies.

Yet it cannot be denied that two phenomena, that marked the demise of ancien régime and the birth of modern society in the West, effected a profound impact on insular Southeast Asia. The years 1780-1830 witnessed two revolutions with a global impact: the French revolution, which shook ancien regime Europe and dramatically changed its socio-political landscape, and the industrial revolution, which reshaped inter continental trade by changing European trade with Asia from a ‘bullion for goods’ into a ‘commodities for goods affair’, dramatically changing the rules of the game. In maritime Asia this same period witnessed the rise of the China market, and led a scramble by all coastal and maritime people in the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea to connect to this aorta of Asian trade. Country traders started bartering opium for local products throughout the archipelago, raiders and freebooters such as the Illanos, destabilizing local traffic.

Within this general context, I would like to look, in more detail at the various ways in which four successive (colonial) regimes in the Indonesian archipelago have attempted to grasp with the quickly changing situation in insular Southeast Asia.

Speaker

Leonard Blusse is Professor of History of Asian-European Relations at the History Department of Leiden University, Professor of Southeast Asian History at the National Research Institute of Southeast Asian Studies of XiamenUniversity in China and Co-director of the Towards a New Age of Partnership (TANAP) Program.  He is the author and (co) editor of 39 books and 77 published academic articles.  They include: Companies and Trade, Essays on Overseas Trading Companies during the Ancien Regime  (The Hague 1981),Strange Company, Chinese Settlers, Mestizo Women and the Dutch in VOC Batavia (Dordrecht 1986), Zhong-he jiaowang shi or A History of Sino-Dutch Rela­ti­ons (Xiamen 1989),  Pilgrims to the Past, Private Con­versati­ons with historians of European Expansion (Leiden 1996),  On the Eighteenth Century as a Category of Asian History, Van Leur in Retrospect (Aldershot 1998), Bridging the Divide, 400 years of Dutch-Japanese Relations (Amsterdam 2000),  Bitter Bonds (Princeton 2002), Shiba shiji-mo Badaweiya Tangrenshihui or The Chinese Community of Batavia at the End of the Eighteenth Century (Xiamen University Press 2002)

For more information, please consult this website: http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events.htm