ON/OFF/SCREEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The annual Singapore Art Week (SAW) returned this year from Jan 22 to Jan 30, commemorating the prevalence of visual arts in Singapore. The celebration brought forth a variety of new events featuring a multitude of artists across Singapore. 

 

These events spanned the whole of Singapore, with the Bras Basah District offering its fair share of exhibitions and activities. The DECK, Singapore was one of these locations, and accommodated ON/OFF SCREEN, a collaborative effort between eight artists and curated by the Moving Pictures Experiment group. The project took the ideas of moving images, new media, and performance, incorporating it into eight different experiential mediums for the audience to enjoy. 

 

ON/OFF/SCREEN stood out from the rest of the events available in the Bras Basah District, being the only one that featured live art, consisting of three performances that took place on different days but at the same location. The performances explored light and space, combining these concepts to create a cohesive production. 

 

Lynette Quek, an artist who headed one of the performances, said: “Obsolete materials in arts and crafts can actually be put into current settings as a contemporary performance as well.” This highlighted the basis of her performance which she termed “re:-act”.

 

The reception of the performances was generally positive with many agreeing that it was a unique experience. “I think people really appreciate the sort of things that we are showing in this show because it’s vastly different from many other art exhibitions,” said Mr. Dave Lim, one of the curators of ON/OFF/SCREEN.

 

This was a sentiment that was reflected by the audience as well. Lin Li Zhao, a 19-year-old National Serviceman, said: “The performance was great. With moving images, it is really difficult to use your body language and hand gestures to display what you want to portray. I was quite emotional by the end of it and I thought it was quite original and a breath of fresh air.”

 

While the performances were well-received, the turn out for the exhibitions was mixed. According to Natalia Sim, 25, a staff member at DECK Singapore, the exhibitions garnered around 40 people per day when it was first launched, but this number quickly declined to a maximum of seven to eight persons each day. 

 

Mr Lim was not too deterred, stating that: “In terms of thinking about what’s been going on, I think it’s been an okay sort of reception,” chalking it up to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions.