journal | in four movements

by Chua Ying Qing

On composition

It is rather peculiar that we have begun composing in space, without really knowing the language of space. What are the syntactic rules, the physical forces, the natural laws that govern the space? Do they operate differently from the world outside, the space beyond? Is there a need for an order, a system, a logic in the space? Just as how sounds are drawn to silence, would objects gravitate toward voids? How much of these physical inevitabilities are in play when we think about composing in space? 

National Museum of Singapore // Safe Sea

On arrangement

Fidelity to artworks is a tricky situation. We are told to let the works speak, allow them to breathe, listen to their individual voices. But fidelity has to be silenced (or at least tucked away) before the exhibition begins. If we overly commit to every work, we sin by omission because all the voices get through. By refraining from editing, we lose voices because they drown out in the space. So then, how do we play off the voices, how do we pit them in counterpoint? 

Asian Film Archive // Invisible City

On performance

Authenticity serves a single point in time. To be deemed authentic, we justify the work in the present, in relation to the past. As Dr. Eva Meyer said “To understand something, is giving it a past”, but which past do we want? And who is entitled to it? Is the question then the authenticity of the interpretation (rather than of the work)? Perhaps then, we can view exhibitions as moments of re-enactment, by the artist and the viewer, entering the works.

Singapore International Festival of the Arts // Give Me Your Blood and I Will Give You Freedom

 On reception

How do you plant an idea? How can we articulate the subconscious? When the audience experiences an exhibition, they perceive it through a series of reflections. They never get to see the original source – the womb of curatorial intention. The trick then is not to leave traces of the illusion/intrusion. For we are now double agents, and this is the perfect crime.

NUS Museum // Crime Scene