Who's afraid of contemporary art?
Left: Dr Ian Woo. Right: Mr. Hsieh Fu Hua
MEETING STORY by Leow Fang Yi
Are you afraid of a challenge that is unknown for today and tomorrow? Artist-academic Dr Ian Woo started the first part of the speech with this question and it immediately drew the attention of his audience.
With a full house turnout and a session free from the media, Temasek Holdings’ Director and President Mr Hsieh Fu Hua and senior lecturer at Lasalle College of the Arts Dr Ian Woo took the stage on 28 October 2011 at the NUS Museum to host the talk as titled.
Contemporary art has influenced the way of looking at art today. Local and regional examples, together with visual art history were brought up in this dialogue organised by NUS Centre for the Arts Speaker Series 2011.
As Hsieh put it (“Pals through paintings, The Straits Times, 27 Oct. 2011), the talk aimed to “drive the importance of an open mind in appreciating contemporary art to students”.
Hsieh also briefly explained the contemporary artists’ mindsets when they paint or do creative work. “They come up with art pieces not to please you or me, but to express themselves authentically; that’s the beauty of art.”
Later in the speech, Ian and Hsieh brought up three categories of people who are afraid of contemporary art.
First, they are the group of people who could not relate to such artwork. Contemporary art is, as explained by Hsieh, “non-figurative, abstract, unknown and may even seem nonsensical.” This void of comprehension and connectivity bring about a sense of fear to them. Hsieh suggested an approach of experiencing and internalising these artworks as they are rather than finding a meaning behind them.
Second, they are the group of people who repel against contemporary art. There are extremes cases of contemporary art, of which one is brought up by Woo – the public exhibition of an artist drinking his own urine to project the idea of recycling.
Third, they are the art bureaucrats. More than often, contemporary art is controversial. One example brought up by Hsieh was the Singapore Binnacle in its earlier days. A specific route was set up to make sure the then Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kwan Yew only viewed certain artworks and not the controversial pieces, as they fear what he might say after seeing them.
This sparked off another example for the talk. Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts was the “ministry of propaganda” in the past according to Hsieh. The ministry restricted free flow of information for the creative industries and also used one-way information flow from the mainstream media to the public.
Are you afraid of a challenge that is unknown for today and tomorrow? Artist-academic Dr Ian Woo started the first part of the speech with this question and it immediately drew the attention of his audience.
With a full house turnout and a session free from the media, Temasek Holdings’ Director and President Mr Hsieh Fu Hua and senior lecturer at Lasalle College of the Arts Dr Ian Woo took the stage on 28 October 2011 at the NUS Museum to host the talk as titled.
Contemporary art has influenced the way of looking at art today. Local and regional examples, together with visual art history were brought up in this dialogue organised by NUS Centre for the Arts Speaker Series 2011.
As Hsieh put it (“Pals through paintings, The Straits Times, 27 Oct. 2011), the talk aimed to “drive the importance of an open mind in appreciating contemporary art to students”.
Hsieh also briefly explained the contemporary artists’ mindsets when they paint or do creative work. “They come up with art pieces not to please you or me, but to express themselves authentically; that’s the beauty of art.”
Later in the speech, Ian and Hsieh brought up three categories of people who are afraid of contemporary art.
First, they are the group of people who could not relate to such artwork. Contemporary art is, as explained by Hsieh, “non-figurative, abstract, unknown and may even seem nonsensical.” This void of comprehension and connectivity bring about a sense of fear to them. Hsieh suggested an approach of experiencing and internalising these artworks as they are rather than finding a meaning behind them.
Second, they are the group of people who repel against contemporary art. There are extremes cases of contemporary art, of which one is brought up by Woo – the public exhibition of an artist drinking his own urine to project the idea of recycling.
Third, they are the art bureaucrats. More than often, contemporary art is controversial. One example brought up by Hsieh was the Singapore Binnacle in its earlier days. A specific route was set up to make sure the then Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kwan Yew only viewed certain artworks and not the controversial pieces, as they fear what he might say after seeing them.
This sparked off another example for the talk. Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts was the “ministry of propaganda” in the past according to Hsieh. The ministry restricted free flow of information for the creative industries and also used one-way information flow from the mainstream media to the public.