Objectifs Gallery presents a special exhibition, M.M. I Love You, held in conjunction with Singapore’s National Day. An exhibition about modern Singapore, M.M. I Love You features works by five Singaporean artists exploring the mythology of nationhood. Each artist provides a unique perspective on the stories that we tell ourselves and others about being Singaporean.
M.M. I Love You will offer viewers a chance to not only see artwork by some of the most important contemporary Singapore artists today, but also to think more closely about the formation of national identity and its frame(s) of references. Re-think the founding of Singapore and our gaining of independence. Consider the spectacle of our National Day Parades and our national icons. How is modern Singapore shaped and represented?
The exhibition features works by Ho Tzu Nyen, Amanda Heng, Tan Pin Pin, Jason Wee and Bryan van der Beek. More information about the artists and artworks are at Annex.
There will be a press preview of the exhibition on 5 August at 12noon. Lunch will be provided.
About the artists
Ho Tzu Nyen
Ho Tzu Nyen’s practice ranges across filmmaking, painting, performance and writing. His videos, paintings, performance-lectures, and theatrical projects have been presented at major art exhibitions and festivals around the world. Most recently, he showed at the Asia-Pacific Triennial and the Cannes International Film Festival in 2009.
M.M. I Love You will feature one of Ho’s most well-known works, Utama: Every Name in History is I. The short film has exhibited at the 26th Sao Paulo Biennale (2004), and the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2005). The film was also shown at various film festivals, such as the Bangkok International Film Festival (2004) and Hong Kong International Film Festival (2006), and was voted by the film critic Alexis Tioseco in 'The Senses of Cinema' as one of the three best short films of 2004.
Jason Wee
Jason Wee was awarded the 2008 Young Artist Award for visual arts in Singapore. He was a Studio Fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 2005 to 2006, and his large-scale installation ‘1987’ was shown in the 1st Singapore Biennale 2006. Jason has exhibited internationally in the Chelsea Art Museum (New York), Singapore Art Museum, Peer Gallery (New York), Photo New York, PS122 Gallery (New York), Asian-American Art Center, Art Seasons Gallery (Singapore).
M.M. I Love You will feature an edition of Self Portrait (No More Tears Mr Lee), an installation Jason first showed at the 2009 Singapore Art Show, which also won the Audience Favourite Award. The work is inspired by the media coverage of Lee Kuan Yew during Singapore’s separation from Malaysia. Jason will be producing a new vertical adaptation of the work for this exhibition.
Amanda Heng
Amanda Heng is a full-time artist who adopts an interdisciplinary approach to art-making. Her works focus on the intersections of eastern and western values and the traditions and gender roles in a multi-cultural and rapidly-changing Singapore.. Amanda was one of the founders of the Artists Village in 1988.
Her works have been exhibited in Cleveland Performance Art Festival USA (1997), the 3rd Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Australia (1999), the 1st Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Japan (1999), the 7th Havana Biennial in Cuba (2000). Werkleitz Biennale in Germany (2000), Performance Art Festival in Spain (2001) and Channel N at Kyoto Art Center (2001). She has also organised and participated in various exhibitions, public forums, workshops, research projects and art events such as, The Space, fringe event of 1992 International Art Fest in Singapore, Women And Their Arts (1990), The 1st Asian film Appreciation workshop (1994), Memories of Senses (1994), Women About Women (1997), The Friday Event (2000) and Open Ends (2001).
For M.M. I Love You, Amanda will be showing www.singirl.net, a web-based project she initiated in 2009 to look for the real Singapore girls. The SIA girl is a Singapore icon that Amanda has constantly tackled in her oeuvre.
Tan Pin Pin
Tan Pin Pin is an award-winning writer / director whose works have won more than twenty awards and nominations, including a Student Academy Award and the USA-ASEAN Film Award for Moving House. They have been screened in Cannes, Seoul and Arkansas among others. Her television credits include Afterlife, which won two Asian TV Awards, Crossings: John Woo for Discovery Channel Asia and Building Dreams for Singapore’s Arts Central.
Pin Pin is the recipient of the Eastman Scholarship for Cinematography, the Rajaratnam Scholarship and the Institute of Humane Studies Scholarship for Film. She was the first Asia Artist in Residence at the University of Technology, Sydney in 2004, and has also been invited to show at the Singapore Biennale 2011.
MM I Love You will feature an installation of a segment of Singapore Gaga, which premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2005. Singapore Gaga was the first Singapore documentary to have a theatrical release and has screened at festivals all over the world. It remains one of the most important films made about Singapore.
Bryan Van der Beek
Bryan van der Beek a Singapore-based photojournalist, and currently a press photographer with The Straits Times. He graduated with a journalism degree from Indiana University. He has worked for magazines and newspapers in Singapore and the United States and his clients include Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek and the Washington Post. His coverage of demonstrations in Indonesia won him an award at the prestigious Hearst Photojournalism Competition 2001.
Bryan has just finished a book project for the Singapore Disability Sports Council, as well as a project on SARS for the Singapore History Museum. He has also recently started on a long term project on aging Singapore.
For the exhibition, Bryan will be showing a series of photographs from Singapore’s National Day Parades.
