By Jennifer Lam
Think of the word 'Concept'. Refer to the word 'Conceptual'. Think of the word 'Performance'. Refer to the word 'Performativity'. We live in a reality that requires certain definitions in order for us to identify with things on a symbolic level. However, such definitions have this effect of closing up situations in which we can think about things. Identify the problems involving language and exhibitions.
– Module 5, by Heman Chong (6 Modules)
Should there be a strategic reason behind why
we received the specific modules we did, I was quite sure what mine was.
Rewinding
to the application process of Curating-Lab 2012 in July, one of the tasks was
to write a review on a chosen exhibition out of a list of three. I picked PANORAMA: Recent Art from Contemporary Asia
at Singapore Art Museum[1].
Two languages were used in the opening paragraph[2],
followed by an analysis on the exhibition layout, exhibition flow and design,
curatorial concept, and representation of the concept with artworks. The review
ended by asking readers to “be conscious that it is never an easy task to take
the first step in creating a new canon and define a position in Art, especially
in Contemporary Asian Art”. These fit nicely into Module 5.
[Language + Definitions = Associations →
Presumptions ~ Restrictions]
Module 5 first appeared to be simple. Language and Definitions give birth to Associations,
which leads to Presumptions, and thus
form Restrictions.
One reads
the word ‘apple’ and straightaway define it to be either the fruit or the brand
made famous by Steve Jobs. With the former, one is triggered to think about
apple crumble, toffee apple, Granny Smith, teacher’s day, Adams & Eve, Snow
White etc. With the later, one is triggered to think about iPhone, iPad, Mac
Book, Apps, competing models and brands, technology advancements etc. However,
‘apple’ can also be (the name of) your distant cousin or a fashion boutique
down your block. This is where Misunderstanding
enters the picture.
Working
with one language brings you to this equation that reminisce the butterfly
effect. Imagine what it will be like working with more than one language!
Issues on locality of languages and being lost in translation are inevitable.
Being fluent in English Language, Mandarin
Chinese (simplified written Chinese) and Cantonese (traditional written
Chinese), juggling linguistic matters is part of my common daily affair in both
the private and professional realms. Often when translating English to Chinese
and vice-versa, the product of translation makes no sense if the context is
ignored. Few phrases are able to have direct one-on-one translation. Let us
take the English term ‘Art’ for example.
[Art = Yishu]?
‘Art’ can be translated to ‘yishu’ (艺术) and ‘meishu’ (美术) in Chinese. Yishu carries a connotation that includes all kinds of Art, i.e. painting,
sculpting, poetry, literature, dance, theatre, opera, cinematic, architecture, landscape
architecture, flower arrangement. The list can go on, as yishu ultimately refers to any skills and practices that are deemed
upon as forms of a higher humanistic expression.[3]
The term yishu can be traced to origin from the Han Dynasty (circa 206 BC –
220 AD). Each syllabus refers to four kinds of abilities / activities. Yi (艺) refers to literature writing [shu (书)], mathematics [shu(数)], archery [she (射)], and ability to ride a horse or drive a horse
carriage [yu (御)]. Shu (术) refers to the practices in
medicine [yi (医)], carpentry [fang (方)], foretelling
[bu (卜)], and divination
[shi (筮)].
Evidently, ‘yishu’ or ‘Art’ in the context of Chinese culture and history relates
very different to our nowadays understanding of the term. Yishu was associated with technique-based activities, rather than a
visual element or form of expression. However, this does mean there has not
been any conceptual development or awareness in artistic expression.
Cultural literacy (文化素养) was seen as
an essential quality of the scholar-bureaucrats or literati of imperial China. The
level of cultural literacy works similar to military rankings. In order to
prove their level of cultural literacy, competence in ‘qin qi shu hua’ (琴棋书画) is measured. Qin (琴) refers to the stringed-musical instrument guqin. Qi (棋) refers to a board game called weiqi, known as Go in English and sometimes in modern colloquial
terminology as 'Asian Chess'. Shu (书) refers to calligraphy, but should not be confused
with the shu mentioned earlier in the
passage. The earlier refers to the ability to articulate and write cohesively
and the later refers to poetic expression, both in content and form (brush
works and intensity of ink). Finally, hua
(画) refers to painting, and is
unarguably the greatest measure of individual creativity and cultural literacy.
These four activities /
abilities have existed as individual entities since the Three Sovereigns and
Five Kingdom period (circa 2600 BC - 2110 BC), and later placed together during
the Tang Dynasty, hence forming what we know now in English-translated terms –
The Four Arts in Historical China.
Another translation for ‘Art’ is ‘meishu’ (美术). ‘Meishu’
has a closer reference to ‘Fine Art’, narrowing down to paintings, sculptures, literature
and music. The term meishu was first
used by Cai Yuanpei in the New Culture Movement, which occurred in the early 20th
Century. Broken down to syllabus, mei
means ‘beauty’ and shu refers to a technique,
hence referring to tangible objects of beauty.
Towards the mid-20th
Century, yishu was used as an analogy
during a Communist Party Speech by Mao Zedong in 1939, with the phrase of “The
Art of War”. Later, Mao turned the term into a political agent at a speech in
Yan’an (1942), where yishu / art is
categorized by levels and used to reflect particular social classes. In the
late-20th Century, various other associations of yishu came around. Some use it as an
adjective referring to ‘being rich and varied’. Others referred to the term as
an object or element that expresses and represents life and one’s soul. This
last connotation is similar to what the West refers to as ‘aesthetics’.
Meeting Jim Supangkat (aka Pak Jim)[4]
in Bandung, during the program’s regional fieldtrip, brought reassurance to my
finds and excitement to my critical-thinking mind.
Image: Notes taken during the
Dialogue with Pak Jim, 11 Sept 2012 at Selasar Sunaryo Art Space
Fifteen of us sat sluggishly, struggling to
stay attentive in silence after a delicious hearty home-cooked lunch at the
Selasor Sunaryo Art Space. It was a warm autumn afternoon with an occasional
cool breeze passing by through the surrounding woods. We were seated at Bale
Hadap, a pavilion inspired by traditional Javanese architecture. Agung[5]
was sharing with us a power-point on curatorial strategies and the relation of
curating & space, gathered from his professional experiences thus far. Our
facilitators fidget in their seats, stealing frequent glances at the brick
staircase which leads upwards to the main entrance of the complex.
Swift like a breeze, one of our facilitators
sprang up from his seat and walked purposefully towards the brick staircase. A
pair of brown loafers descended to view, followed by legs covered by denim
jeans, a healthy belly tucked-away by a black belt, a simple black long-sleeved
turtle neck… Pak Jim is a tall angular man, wearing circular thin framed
glasses, a tidy full moustache and beard and matching white hair tied neatly
into a short ponytail, and black bowler hat adorned with a red speckled feather.
Pak Jim sends off an edgy rocker aura. Among ourselves, we silently nicknamed
him ‘The Indonesian Art Godfather’.
During the dialogue, Pak Jim elaborated upon
his previous writings and theories. He also shared with us his decision in
becoming an art critic and curator, shedding away his artist-self, and the
importance of writing a local art history aside from following Western theories,
which often is viewed as the mainstream. It was through this rare moment of
encounter and exchange that I came to learn to view my earlier thoughts on yishu in a different angle.
In
September 2009, Pak Jim’s The Seni
Manifesto was published on-line in Global Art Museum website.[6]
By tracing the linguistic and philosophic basis for artistic discourse in
Indonesia, as compared to a Western ideology of art through theoretical analysis
on the key phrases of “seni”, “seni rupa” and “kagunan”, Pak Jim pointed out
the necessity of cultural translation to fully understand the developments in
art and art history, without having to resort to the persistent thesis of
cultural incommensurability.
Through the
manifesto, Pak Jim introduced me to Stephen Davies and Denis Dutton, their
debate[7],
and his treatment for seni, leading
us back to Dutton’s question – Do
they have our concept of art?
Looking back to [Art = Yishu]?, yishu has evolved through historical and
cultural contexts of China into a term we can now closely link with the Western
terms 'art' and 'aesthetics'. The essence of creativity and artistic expression
in Chinese art has always been around, and was merely given a different name to
yishu and known as other nouns. These
qualities survived through time by being infused into the Chinese culture and
daily lives. Hence, answering Dutton’s question – Yes, we do share the concept
of art, but on different trajectories, particularly time.
[Art = Yishu
= Seni → Alternative Modernism]
Throughout the world, regardless of cultures,
philosophers did not anticipate that there would be other cradles of heritage
that developed differently and provided alternative thoughts. This is
particularly so in the Euro-American realm, as Pak Jim also mentioned in his
manifesto. It was only when mechanics and technologies enhanced mobility, did
continents and their people became closer to each other. The birth of the World
Wide Web in the early 1990s sparked off a pivoting change to accessibility of
information, mode of acquiring knowledge, and dialogue exchange. A myriad of
discourses were generated, mainly from the West[8]
and brought back to the homeland of travelers and visitors of the West.[9]
One of the pressing discourses we are situated in by default is the topic of
Modernity aka Contemporaneity[10].
Do all cultures undergo the same range of cultural changes in a uniform pattern
that result to Modernity?
Applying the treatment of yishu and seni into the
concept of Modernity & Modernism, I am sure you are able to now confidently
point out that there is neither one single form nor one single definition to
Modernity & Modernism.
Modernity
is a condition of the ‘modern’, whether it may be a social or political stance
for example. Modernism is a noun that describes the character or quality of thought,
expression, or technique of the ‘modern’. Coined by Western cultures, Modernism
marks the beginning of rationalism, reasoning, scientific thinking and parting
with traditional belief. All of these were defined specifically to historical,
social and political realities in Euro-America. When one pauses to contemplate
on rationalism and reasoning, do the Middle East and China not have a longer
history, i.e. in relation to Mathematics and Medicine?
The
connotations Modernity & Modernism bring with them are very much rooted in
Western cultures egoism. Hence, direct transfer of the terms will not work in
our local context in Asia and Southeast Asia. We need to be mindful about the
implications and perhaps restrictions that go hand-in-hand with the terms,
using our sensibilities as judgments, and not forgetting our own unique aesthetics
and philosophies.
Adding Curating to the Equations
In order to mindfully apprehend the definitions
across different languages, one need to break away from Associations, abolish
Presumptions, and look into the context in which the term was created and used.
Such a task is where dictionaries come into the picture. Being time specific,
the definitions of terms need to be updated accordingly. In spite of this, how
do such anthropologic and linguistic theories have to do with Curating?
“A curator takes
up the role of a challenger”, as Dr. Patrick Flores shared with us during one
of Curating-Lab 2012 intensive workshops. S/He is a contemporary explorer,
where written and verbal languages and visual languages are weapons. Curators
push cognitive boundaries, “leading their audiences out of comfort zones”,
prompting them to gain awareness of issues oblivious about. In succeeding
these, curators either communicate verbally (i.e. guided tours, dialogues and
round tables), through text (i.e. curatorial statement, essays, wall text,
labels), or visually in the form of exhibitions. By doing so, curators also act
as mediators, between the shown object and audience. Just like lawyers, who
take up the role in presenting the law in an easily comprehensible fashion, art
curators present art history and art in an accessible and understandable manner.
Manifesto is an excellent example. Pak Jim
curated this exhibition with the curatorial aim to explore the Indonesian
understanding of seni and seni rupa. Opened at the National
Gallery in Jakarta (May 2008), showing over 350 artists from Indonesia, Manifesto was the visual form of The Seni Manifesto. This was Pak Jim
showing and telling his seni manifesto
using no other objects than art / artworks themselves.
Module 5 – the quest continues
A topic that first appeared to form a
succession of simple equations, turned out to be a Pandora box. Conversing with
my fellow curating-lab mates, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that all of us
joined the program with several questions in mind – What is curating? What kind of qualities do Curators have? Can you
curate books and architectures? – but with three-quarter of the program
completed, we carry with us more than our initial mental capability can hold.
In this
paper, we have looked closely at the problems of language and derived a
possible solution to minimize the effect of the cause. However, the relation of
language and exhibition can be further explored. At this point in time, I am
unable to present a respond as I am still on the quest. I can only share with
you that my cognitive process has now join arms with the practical areas of
exhibition-making. Questions like ‘role of language in an exhibition’ and
‘contributing factors in exhibition-making’ are embedded in the process of
writing the curatorial statement and labels, where the use of wall text remains
a debatable issue, and designing the layout of our show. It will be the final
assessment to this program, available on view in January 2013.
Perhaps
Professor Apinan Poshyananda’s drop of wisdom is true[11]. Upon picking up the task of curating, we
are on a long labyrinth path.
[1] The review was written on the inception part of PANORAMA at SAM building. Since 29 Sept
2012, the show has moved to 8Q with a new rotation works on display. It was
publicized that a PANORAMA Part II
will be on view in 2013. To view the full review, please visit SOUPPODS
BlogSpot http://souppods.blogspot.sg/2012/07/exhibition-review-panorama-recent-art.html
[2] The review began by describing PANORAMA with a metaphorical reference to “Rojak” – a word in Malay
language meaning “wild mix”, and the name of a local bite-to-eat.
[3] Definition of yishu
on Baidu Encyclopedia http://baike.baidu.com/view/576.htm#1
[4] Jim Supangkat is an art critic, theorist, and
activist. He founded Indonesia New Art Movement in 1975, which proclaimed the
re-definition of art and the search of Indonesian subversive perception on art.
To know more about Pak Jim, please refer to his short bio on Global Art Museum
website - http://www.globalartmuseum.de/site/person/222
[5] Agung Hujatnikajennong is a lecturer at the Department
of Art, Faculty of Art and Design, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.
Having concluded his undergraduate (2001) and graduate (2006) studies, he is
now doing his doctoral research on Indonesian art curatorship at his alma
mater. Agung also works as an independent curator, and has just completed his
term as curator at Selasor Sunaryo Art Space.
[6] Jim Supangkat, The
Seni Manifesto, Sept 2009 [http://www.globalartmuseum.de/site/guest_author/222]
[7] The debate between Dutton and Davies revolves around (1.)
the understanding of the term ‘aesthetics’, (2.) manner to view and comprehend
non-Western artworks and terminologies, and (3.) the concept of art in Western
and non-Western context.
For further reference, please refer to their individual publications: Stephen
Davies, “Non-Western Art and Art’s Definition”, Theories of Art Today, Nöel Carroll (ed.), The University of
Wisconsin Press, 2000 and Denis Dutton, "Chapter 5: But They Don’t Have
Our Concept of Art.”, The Art Instinct:
Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution, New York Bloomsbury Press, 2009.
[8] The West here refers to Europe and America.
[9] For a quick introduction in the constitution of
Modern/Contemporary Asia through the lens of Art, kindly refer to my personal
blog post: http://souppods.blogspot.sg/2012/08/introducing-chinese-20th-century-art.html
[10] Definition of Contemporaneity is 1. modernity; 2. the
quality of being current or of the present.
[11] Curating-Lab members met during a closed-door
round-table at Visual Arts at
Temenggong, 9 Oct 2012.
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