A group show conceived by Jason J S Lee, featuring artists from TAV (The Artist Village).
Event Poster
My contribution to /*semble*/This multidisciplinary site-specific project turned out to be the perfect occasion for me to complete the cycle started with Retro Specks Future Pix in 2005. I had had in mind to present in-situ the video work recording the train journey back and forth between Tanjong Pagar and Johor that made the back bone of the mix-media work, but the access to the station was not an easy matter to resolve. Jason's persistence allowed me to finally do so. I used the booth of the former Malaysian police post in the main hall to install the 2 channels video work that was retro-projected on the window glass of the booth. But this initially planned contribution also turned out to generate the idea of an unexpected contribution that made full use of the specificities of this historical building.
While working on the installation in the days ahead of the events I could step into the ticketing counter, and that brought back memories. For well over a decade in the 80s-90s I had commuted regularly by train between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and over the years come many times to that counter to buy my tickets. Suddenly I could experience the same place but from the opposite point of view, from behind the window glass of the counter. This reversal of situation triggered an idea that would project the historical Tanjung Pagar station into the future with a humorous performance in which I would become the ticketing agent of SingaSolar, an interstellar travel company operating there in the future. These two works were complemented with the display of a series of nine prints of the coffee shop that used to open right onto the arrival platform of the station and where I had also drank countless kopi while waiting for departure or upon arrival in the early morning after a night in the train.
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Retro Specks Future Pix video in-situ installation
SingaSolar Performance SingaSolar Mission Statement and Services Provided:
Combining the best of the republic's reputed culinary tradition to the latest comfort in interplanetary travel, SingaSolar is pleased to offer a whole new experience on the occasion of Singapore platinum jubilee. Departing from the newly refurbished Tanjong Pagar Interplanetary Station, you will travel across time and space in the world of luxury and indulgence Singapore has become famous for in the whole solar system and beyond. Next departure to Saturn is Tuesday 10 March 2075, followed by Jupiter on the 12, Neptune on the 15 and so on. So don't hesitate any longer, come to Tanjong Pagar Interplanetary Station to buy your ticket to a whole brand new horizon from the usual ticket booth.
The Coffee Shop Memories ExhibitionBesides the Retro Specks Future Pix video installation and the SingaStellar performance this Artist Village project also provided me with the opportunity to exhibit a small series of black and white photograph of the station coffee shop that used to open up right onto the arrival platform.
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