Day 8 - Set task

So pick a favourite piece of art work and discuss or analyse it.

The video sort of says it all....

1. What is the medium?

The medium is video projection.

2. Why do you think the artist chose this medium?

I think it was the best way to show or 'rebel' the idea of putting works (of art or advertisment) on public walls but at the same time, not liberally applying it.

3. Do you think it communicates effectively the curatorial premise of the show/how?

I don't know how to answer this one really.....

4. Are there any elements that give a sense of place and not from Australia? What are they?

Yes as the footage is taken in/from a remote place in Vietnam. The artist must have known that posters or advertisments or even art work like graffiti was not allowed to be placed on walls in public. I could tell it was Vietnam as there was some signs with Vietnamese language and that one of the guards on duty in that area of the museum had let me in on the fact.

5.Can you see a global thread in the work that gives you a greater understanding of the work, what is it - or are you having difficulty reading it? why?

I don't know how to answer this one really.....

6. Is there something about the work that you don't understand and that you might seek out the answer by research later?

Probably a further understanding of the culture, which I come from, as to why the society is like that.

Day 7 - Set task

So, what we had to do, pick a favourite piece of tapestry and write about it ^^

This is the tapestry piece I chose to analyse.

1. Stand in front of one of the alter cloths, how does it make you feel? Is there just fabric, or is there an underlying structure?

Well, I feel oriental asian :p but really, I feel like it is somewhat influenced or is like Asian pottery, like Chinese dinnerware, the colour of blue and white. Alot of the other tapestry or most of them had the fortune colour red, which meant that one of the purposes was to bring good luck or ward of evil. But I also feel like the purpose of this tapestry was perhaps made for good intentions of luck.

2. Look at the colours, how many can you see and what do you think they impart to the viewer?

I only see 2 and if it were to impart on a viewer, it might be a nice colour combo and may even remind them of Chinese dinnerware XD and I'm not trying to be funny! The colour combo makes the tapestry beautiful and does not make it look loud unlike other ones with red, green, gold & etc. It is subtle and would work anywhere. Perhaps it's balance as well since the phoenixes within the design represent that aspect of balance.
3. What are some of the motifs/symbols/typographic devices that you can see in the selected cloth? Are there any patterns? Are they repeated? Why do you think this is so?

I see alot of floral designs that appear to be reflected.

4. Choose a motif/symbol/pattern - sketch one of each/choose the ones that communictae the strongest to you.  

I'm most attracted to floral aspects of the design. It is what attracts me and communicates with me weirdly enough when it should be the phoenixes, god or the colour that should be communicating with me.
  5. What are the textural elements of the pieces? How many layers of processes can you identify?

It looks like a type of screen or block printing in my opinion and there may be more than 20 processes as they would have had to illustrate the gods and one might tell with the different few shades of blue.

6. Can you see any narratives? What are they?

I'm not 100% about a narrative but what I can see or what I am assuming that the purpose of this tapestry was made for was to bring about good luck and fortune since within this piece, one can see phoenixes and three gods of fortune. The in Chinese culture, Phoenixes are meant to represent balance and unity and with the three gods of fortune, a unity of these three gods and their power would be a sign of empowering or giving a boost of luck to the person or household gifted with this tapestry.
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7. Consider the possibility of adorning your market stall with cloth, what symbols, typefaces and narrative devices might you put on it? What fabric and etc?

I couldn't really say as our product is very art Deco and modern, using geometric shapes as a center piece so our stall would be more of an industrial look.

Analyses trait Day 6

So just walking around, many shops were closed but since the buildings were all pretty old, they still retained these pretty geometric shapes on the ornaments that 'decorated' the buildings. These were like the window bars for example.

If the shops were open, perhaps one would be able to see more of  new businesses and the design of it all integrating themselves into the old buildings.

I also don't know if I did come across any form of cross-media whilst walking around, but I happen to have spotted these creative interactive  forms of cross-media.

Analyses trait Day 5

One of the things that caught my eye today were the geometric concrete 'towers' that were seen around the NUS campus gardens.

They have a modern industrial feel but that is quite an obvious fact. Though, I am more interested in the different geometric shapes and forms that have been constructed within each of the 'towers' as I feel like they can be an inspiring ideas for my groups' product and brand.

Upon wondering elsewhere on the campus, such as the NUS shopfront, I noticed that the displays or packaging used strong colours of blue, gold-ish yellow and red, which would obviously resonate with the colours of the NUS logo but designs on the merchandise didn't quite fit in with the NUS branding, in my opinion.

Analyses trait Day 4

Having seen Chinatown and Arab street, it seems like alot of the cultural towns are very influenced with these western/European buildings. Though, the ones throughout Little India were more colourful than most buildings that I have seen in the few days I have been in Singapore. Even the temples too.

It still had some Chinese influences within the town and most at one end of Buffalo Street, where it was alot of the Jewellery stores decked with red and a lot of outstanding gold jewellery .

Though, with the Indian design, its very widespread and complex floral designs and gold is used mostly to deck out the designs on the fashion and accessories. On the male fashion, it is a bit more subtle but a floral aspect is still imprinted but the colours are bright. The women's fashion and accessories are the extreme with so many colours, complex patterns or beading applied

As for Orchard road....I'm gonna have to explore it out on my own sometime on the weekend.

Analyses trait Day 3

Hmmm...We visited up to 5 places today so what did i pick up that was really interesting?

The first place we visited was the National Singapore Design Centre. I didn't really see anything really appealing except the architecture design displays at the entrance but while we were in the lecture/ presentation theatre, the 5 minute video that was shown was very inspiring as it was a small documentary about design and what it was about. I thought it was put together really well as well.

There were some nice geometric patterns in the banners ...heh heh

Though, the highlight of the day was when we visited the design hub, which was a interior designers' and architectural's playground in my opinion as it had sooooo many materials for designing a house. My favourite section was the wallpaper section as the wall paper had so many beautiful designs, whether it be floral or geometrical and because wallpaper design has to be made in a way that it continues to overlap without obvious ends, the inspiring aspect of that part is the 'continuous' factor.

There was also this painting that was located in the art centre area of the Design Hub. I don't know much about abstract art like this but it's very colourful and positive from my perspective. The colour aspect could be a inspirational factor :)
  

Analysis trait Day 2

Today, there wasn't alot to really be inspired by but there were some really nice and beautiful patterns that were seen on some of the artifacts at the Asian Art Museum. Mostly floral but geometric shapes could be seen through some of the tapestry and rugs there.

Here example here I though was pretty cool for a ancient design, looking somewhat modern to me :P

Analyses trait Day 1

The first cultural destination of the day was Chinatown.

Just looking around, there were so many irresistible shops to to go through :P

But Chinatown in Singapore was not what I sort of expected. It was spectacular and still had the lucky colours of red and gold throughout the street, the classic Chinese lanterns and Kanji adorning the street and pillars along with the nostalgic scents of Chinese cuisine or the burning in-scents from the Chinese Temples around. But it was the how the culture had integrated itself into this westernised or European influenced area, which was evident from the architecture of the buildings above and around with the art nouveau designs on the external areas of the buildings.    

As for Arab street, I never really got a chance to check the place out since the my class somehow lost me....><

But it was supposedly located behind a big mosc, which was located somewhere behind The Sultan Hotel.

I looked at some pics though taken by a friend and it appears to have the same western/European architectural influence but the difference of that compared to Chinatown was that there were a lot of vibrant colours with outstanding patterns/shapes and of gold. Even the buildings were colourful. The patterns were floral and geometric as well, with a, I think, 6 pointed star as features for both symbolism and design.

The reason I have not placed any photos though is that I would prefer to have taken the pictures myself, meaning I could have had a better experience and analysis of the area if I was actually there.

Though, not even knowing, I probably would sound quite racist with this remark, but I really dislike and dislike the smell of curry and certain spices so in some ways I'm a bit glad I wasn't there.....><

Day 2 - Set Task

So here is the Q&A for the set task we had to do at the museum. the 'A' part is based on my opinion or perception as there could be a right and wrong but not exact answer.

What are the major cultural groups of Singapore? How are they represented in the Museum (what tools, patterns, symbols, images etc)?

The major cultural groups of Singapore are Malay, Chinese and Indians.

1st approach - As for their representation in the museum....I felt like there were many artifacts that represented  the major cultural groups and if so if i had missed some, I'de say they would be best identified under similar motifs. Afterall, what I saw were artifacts from each of the cultural groups but each of them had different items and there wasn't much of a bases to try and work off since there weren't any similar artifacts between the groups.

2nd approach - The Malays represented them selves with tools such as weapons, accessories and sculptures. The Chinese displayed instruments, clothes and attire and interesting migration documentation. As for the Indians, portraits and furniture -___-"

Malay Tribe weapons

Chinese instruments

Traditional Chinese clothes

List some of the traditions (of each group) and how have they been kept in the face of progress. Why and how are they kept alive?

For traditions being kept in the face of progress, I'm assuming that these traditions could be referring to manners and respect of how things were done back then such as tasks or recipe methods. They're being kept alive so that history is kept alive, which is especially common in family lineage and also applies to recipes as some traditional recipes can only be created using spacific cooking methods. For manners or methods of doing things, a bit like the recipes, they could be or are kept alive for making everyday tasks and chores easy to carry out in the present and as for manners, to show respect, An example, respect towards your elders.

Do you see similar motifs/patterns/symbols occurring throughout all cultures? sketch or take a photo of the motifs so that you might use them in your work.

Yes I do see similar motifs symbols throughout the different cultures but am not 100% sure on the patterns. There were many floral motifs applied to the many artefacts, weather it was engraved or carved. Animals, people or even insects could be seen within some of the designs as they were elements for symbolism within the culture of the belonging artefact. Many of the symbolism is related to Buddhism.  An example can be seen in the traditional Chinese attire above. Butterflies can be made out within the design and the symbolised protection against evil.

Traditional Malay necklace with engraved floral motifs

How do each of the cultural groups and their traditions vary from your own cultural traditions? How are they the same?

This is an interesting question. I particularly come from an Asian background and because many of the cultural traditions share similar traits in being Buddhism I couldn't say that they vary too much to my cultural traditions really. Like, to pick out some differences, each different culture is represented with different animals such as Chinese Buddhism with Dragons and Phoenixes and Hindi Buddhism with cows and elephants or how some rituals, especially with burial rituals, can vary. Similarities, probably the floral motifs or how the burning of in-scent sticks and even some paper items for the afterlife and for the gods.

What is your favourite object/image in the museum and why?

My favourite artefact would have to be the Chinese Pipa.

This guitar like instrument is one of China's oldest instruments, dating back to 2000 years or more. It is called a Pipa because the sounds produced sounded of 'pi' and 'pa' and is played standing vertically, which is evident of the angled string attaching handle which acts as a form of shoulder placement. What I like about it is that it produces a unique sound when the strings are plucked and the instrument still exists today and is still played. It reminds me of the operas that my mum use to listen to when I was a kid and the way it is played is elegant.

On appearance as well, it looks like symbolism has been applied as the angled handle looks like a dragonfly motif has been applied.