Checking Out 8Q SAM

Being the new kid on the block, 8Q SAM was supposedly a cutting edge 'new' museum space.

I had been quite taken by contemporary art, given my recent stint as a volunteer at the Singapore Biennale 2008, so I thought I'll check it out. Of course it really didn't hurt that it was free to visit from 12-2 pm every day either.

It is located at the former location of a school so it was quite apt they were exhibiting the works from a group of Singaporean artists under the title "8Q-Rate:School"

Oddly enough, what caught my attention was what one could see from the entrance of the museum. There is a church facing it. That happens to be the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. Of course, with the government trying to convert the area into a heritage area, it was inevitable that the museum would be surrounded by so many churches (there's a very contemporary Grace Church along the same street).

But what is one to make of all that splashes of colour?

Of course, one could say it looks all pretty but I have a sneaky suspicion that the painter/s were probably inspired by Piet Mondrian who enjoys painting white spaces and having linear blocks of colour in his paintings in a similiar fashion.

I have to say I was scratching my head when I reached the first room in the museum. What appeared to be like collars made fashionable by the Tudors were scattered on a very X-file styled light box/operating table . This is contemporary art? While it looked very elegant and almost beautiful, I failed to see the relevance of it. The artist statement is couched in obscureness and opacity (yes it does sounds that) Why can't art be about things looking beautiful? Why is there a need for messages and statement all the time in contemporary art, especially when its all about regurgitation / theory sprouting / referential?

I moved on to the exhibit directly next to it. It looked like a mess of rattan. Very spartan and very primal and definitely done on the cheap (now who said contemporary art was expensive?) since all one sees are long strips of bamboo tied together to form airy domes. As I walked through the space, I could not help but think about camping tents and South Africa. With all this global warming going on in the world, will this be what we might be reduced to living under when all that oil and natural resources is gone and one can't build and mix cement?

Shaking my head and with a shudder in my heart, I moved on to another floor of the building. And just to take a break, I checked out the toilet as well. I have say its really quite retro, with its brightly coloured tiles in yellow and red, which served as a coherent theme throughout the whole building and reflected along the stairwell. It almost looks hippy and very cheerful, with the whiteness of the basin contrasting all that colour.

There's a whole wall of graffiti. Nasty. If you can see the text written within it, it reads "Made In An Altered State of Confusion". Its by Jahan Loh and I feel it was one of the better works in the exhibition only because it suited the theme of "School" perfectly. Which one of us haven't doddled drawings during boring lessons and waiting for the bell to ring?

Enough Said. Preoccupation of Most School-going Singaporeans?

This set of pictures/artwork are just for those people who like things to make sense, especially with artwork. No, the goldfish isn't part of the collection. But it was probably the less scary looking one in glo-paint. Love to have that on my wall. I am not sure if the paintings were anti-war but it is very retro (for contemporary art) and in-your-face. But is it art? Or are they just paintings?

I have to say this is the most creepy of all the exhibits at the 8Q SAM, and yet it is one of the most thought-provoking one. At first sight, all one sees is a table with a very old fashioned monitor screen and lots of relics, like an old National Geographic magazine and note clips. In the background are ominous dark wood cupboards and if you wander into the seemingly forest of cupboards, you will notice pictures of doll faces and LCD panels illustrating pictures/photos of dolls which are really really spooky since there isn't that much light in the middle of the cupboard installation. Names are labelled on boxes which are arranged in the cupboards. Just describing it gives me the creeps. This work is done by Donna Ong, she of the Ikea-chirpy container box/information box cum garden for the Singapore Arts Festival 2007.

She seems to be in her gothic mode at the moment (you get to see another installation of hers just to the right of the museum, which is a structure made up of test-tube/glass round bottom flasks). And this exhibit is no different. It actually touched on the history of the American Blue-eyed dolls which had repercussions for the americans/japanese when world war 2 broke out. It was quite a moving piece of work but I would NOT recommend you looking at the exhibit all by yourself....are those dolls looking at you...what is that noise...who's looking at you on the monitor...

And from one hair-raising exhibit to another....

Projections on walls. A mysterious girl opening and shutting doors. Double images. Hitchcockian? Nah, its just the artist being filmed and manipulating the video images. If you look at the picture above, you see me in it, and yes I did that intentionally. One's response to the video would be to wonder "where does one stand?" There were a group of people who entered the door and then backed out of it after being confronted by the artist's video. The loud soundtracks did nothing to convince that they should stay.

However, if one's bravery can be rewarded, then one will discover ANOTHER exhibit when you walk though the first room and past a strange artwork on the floor into another space, whereby you see the artist's video of her rolling back and forth against a wall. Disturbing.

I should mention this steel jeep, located at the information counter, is done by the Aquilizans who have also displayed 2 pieces of artwork for the Singapore Biennale 2008. Take your time to read all the writings on the vehicle. Thought-provoking.

By now, one would be a tad overwhelmed or underwhelmed by the artwork in 8Q SAM but wait! There's more.

Right through large green doors (having a Wizard of Oz moment) are 2 (yes TWO) more artwork. A house made from chalkboard? A structure made from cellopane and bamboo and lit up from within. Intriguing.

I have to say by now, after spending slightly more than one hour (and climbing all those stairs) I am feeling quite brain dead so just looking at the exhibits and not having to think too hard was good. One of the fun things to do with the chalkboard school is that you can draw/write whatever you want with chalk (but of course). Of course, in politically correct Singapore, there is a warning just before the green doors (don't they look like chalkboards too?) that there might be rude words ... and this makes me wonder about the whole doctrination one experiences when one enters an institution, be it a school or a company? For an institution that purportedly teaches us to think for ourselves, yet we have rules and regulations to follow, mostly not of our own accords. Food for thoughts there.

There is one final 'artwork' which is not credited but I am only saying it in jest as its really the control room which monitors the whole museum, which does tie in with the whole indoctrination nature of a school/museum.

Do not touch this. Do not touch that. Don't take any photographs. Do not enter. Do not go there.