Biennale – SAM & 8Q

Brought Ellery with me to check out the Singapore Biennale 2011 exhibition at SAM and SAM @ 8Q.  Some of the work was just ok for me, but Secret Affair was interesting and Factum thoroughly fascinating.

Museum?!

Secret Affair by Roslisham Ismail was an installation exhibit with several fully-functioning refrigerators.  Each refrigerator was stocked by a ‘typical’ Singaporean family (unspecified).  Ismail followed the families as they went shopping, and whatever they bought was placed in the fridge.  Proof for me was a bunch of browning bananas in one of the fridges.  I wonder if they’ll leave it there for the entire duration of the Biennale.  Anyway, it was like a social commentary of sorts.  The kind of places we buy our groceries from, the types of groceries we buy, reflect our lifestyle, socio-economic background and personalities.

It’s interesting that you can tell so much from the contents of a fridge.  Easily, you could discern which were stocked by the more well-to-do families (shopping at Hubers, buying a $52 cut of beef), and the less-well-off (lots of canned food and ‘brandless’, family-sized bottles of juices).  There were the healthy eaters (veggies and fruits a plenty) and the less so (soft drinks, no veggie).  Then there were the OCD (every container inside and on top of the fridge meticulously labelled with the digital print stickers), the less so (chicken all neatly packed in boxes in the freezer), and the anything goes (just toss it in).

But actually, we already knew all that right?  It just appeals to the kapo in you to take a sneak peak into people’s fridges.

The one that I really enjoyed was Candice Breitz’s Factum. She conducted in depth interviews with 7 pairs of identical twins and a set of triplets, with each set of interviews touching on topics close to the hearts of her interviewees – about their parents, views on politics, views on healthy living, sports, eating disorders, etc.  She made each set dress identically as well, and each set of interviews was displayed on separate side-by-side screens.  Her editing made it clear how similar in manner and speech the twins/triplets could be, but also how their views on issues can be so divergent at times.

My favourite two interviews were with the elderly Misericordia twins and the Kang twins.  Pauline and Mary Misericordia talked about their parents and how they felt their father treated their mother – and their views were completely different.  They also discussed what it was like to be of Italian descent in Canada and how there was no pride in that heritage when they were children.  They shared the same regret, though, that they did not learn to speak Italian and have lost that chance to connect with that part of their roots.

Hannah and Laurie Kang talked about their struggle with eating disorders and how it adversely affected their relationship.  It’s something that is now a taboo subject between them.  I wondered whether what they said to Breitz they had ever actually said to each other before.

And that was the part that I think was amazing, that Breitz managed to get them to open up so much and tell everything so plainly.  It was like they were spilling their hearts out.   But not every interview was so emotional.  I think those two appealed to me most because the emotions conveyed were so raw, especially for the Kang twins.

The set of interviews with the Tang triplets (all models) was amusing because it you can see the dynamics between the sisters – the more dominant and judgmental one, the more rebellious one, the more watch-from-the-sides one.  And the interview with the Jacob brothers was also amusing because they were discussing how important clothes and dressing was.  People who thought clothes were frivolous are “misguided”.  For twins, it’s an important was to exert your individual identity.  Seems obvious, but still interesting.

If I hadn’t had Ellery with me I might have spent longer just listening to all their stories.  But he was getting antsy, so I headed off to meet Jon for dinner……which sucked.  We went to try The Mexican at the Kopitiam near SMU.  It was featured in Real Deal For a Good Deal. In the show, Jade Seah made the food sound so good, and since I love mexican food, thought we could try it.  But, oh man.  Maybe they made hers extra special, but ours was terrible.  We ordered a beef burrito, chicken quesadillas, and beef tacos.   And the prize for Worst Burrito Ever goes to them!  The rice was dry and stuck together.  Even if it wasn’t pre-prepared and then heated up (which I’m not sure) it certainly seemed like it was!  The refried beans were just wrong, and it was mushed and dried up with the crusty rice.  And where was the beef?  The tacos completely lacked oomph.  It looked okay, but once we tasted it, we just knew it could be so much better.  Quesidillas were the best of the lot.  But I guess, how can toasted cheese go too badly wrong?

Suffice to say we won’t be going back there.