Genevieve Tay_Portfolio

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GENEVIEVE TAYSELECT STUDENT WORKS

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CONTENTS

The Singaporean Meme; What is our culture? 3A planned exhibition for the works of Samantha Lo a.k.a. SKL0

What is home? 7Navel-Gazing in Singapore

Instant Icon 14A Tale of Two Cameras - Article for Photography For Beginners (UK) magazine

The Other China 16Observations In Taiwan

City of Books 21Unravelling a microcosm

All photos (film & digital) by Genevieve Tay, except:Page 3, photo of Skl0 and photo of fire alarm, all photos on pages 4, 5 and 6 (Courtesy of the artist)

Page 21 (courtesy of Books Kinokuniya)

Texts have been edited for portfolio, references were removed for better legibility, original versions available upon request.

As these are student works, no exhibition has taken place and no articles were published.

DESIGN AND LAYOUT BY GENEVIEVE TAY

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THE SINGAPOREAN MEME;WHAT IS OUR CULTURE?A PLANNED EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY SAMANTHA LO AKA SKL0

This is a plan for the exhibition “The Singaporean Meme; What is our Culture?”. The exhibition is set to feature the works of Samantha Lo, who is also known as Skl0 after her ‘Sticker Lady Saga’. Skl0’s works are inspired her daily observations of Singaporeans’ be-haviour and the subject of “What is our culture?”.

The intention of this exhibition is to showcase our local culture mainly through the works of Samantha Lo. The exhibition will be open to the general public and will be made up of four elements, the main one being the works of Skl0. Her works will be exhibited each in their own series – The Champion Colloquial, the LIMPEH series, and First World Status. The second element in the exhibition will be a video wall showing 30-minute snippets of local films, such as Money No Enough, I Not Stupid, 881, and Army Daze. These films were produced and directed by home-grown directors. The culture of Singapore is expressed in the films, through the speech and behaviour of the characters. The third element will be a graffiti area, where visitors are al-lowed to spray their own piece of art along the theme of “What is our culture?”. The fourth element will be a merchandise area selling the works of Skl0, such as her sticker packs.

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THE BIG IDEAThe idea of this exhibition is to showcase the Singapor-ean culture through a series of contemporary art created by Singaporean street artist, Samantha Lo, also know as SKL0. This exhibition plan was inspired by the ‘Sticker Lady Saga’ of June 2012 which shook up the local com-munity and sparked a debate about art versus vandalism. Samantha Lo was arrested for spraying the words “My Grandfather Road” on Maxwell Road and Robinson Road and for pasting circular stickers at public spaces, including traffic-light junctions. A year later, SKL0 had been sentenced to serve 240 hours of community service but the whole saga has pro-pelled her to prominence. Recently, she has even been invited to collaborate with the Sentosa Resort to create signs and bill-boards featuring common Singlish phrases as part of a tourist attraction. The inspiration behind SKL0’s work is drawn from her daily observations and research on the sociopolitical cli-mate of Singapore. She executes her work through a visual commentary of text and imagery, subverting ex-isting situations and giving them new meaning by incor-porating them into urban situations, ideas, messages and emotions with familiar visual codes. She hopes to invoke critical thought on the viewer’s everyday life. SKL0 seeks to create concepts and visual pieces that are meaningful to her, the community and the environment which her work is surrounded by.

OBJECTIVES

The take-home message for the visitors of this exhibi-tion is that the street art in Singapore is a part of the Singaporean culture. Singapore is not merely the glitzy tropical cosmopolis from the postcards; there exists a unique local culture in the way the locals speak and be-have. As Skl0 mentioned in an interview “street art is the act of taking back spaces, the medium where the public is mostly involved in, the medium where your voice is loud and far”.

To inspire Singaporeans to embrace the Singaporean identity through the appreciation of contemporary and street art, and to be proud of the unique Singaporean culture

To create awareness (among the non-locals) through the appreciation of contemporary art; about the real local culture that is being masked by the façade of Singaporean being a modern, urban, and cosmopolitan society.

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CHAMPION COLLOQUIAL According to Skl0, “This project recognizes Singlish as an honest form of progression conceived over the years by Singapore’s multi-cultural population. It also serves as a reflection on the fast-paced lives and unique mannerisms of Singaporeans.”This series was intended to connect evoke Singapor-eans into feeling connected and Singaporean. Stick-ers with commonly used Singlish catchphrases were designed and applied on places and sites that were relevant to the phrase used.

SIGNS ON THE LOOSE;THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC AND LEPAK CORNEREven though the series Signs on the Loose is site-spe-cific and intended to be displayed at Sentosa, some of the signs can be brought in to be exhibited in the Singaporean Meme so that people who did not have a chance to visit Sentosa to see the series, may view it at the exhibition.

VIDEO WALLThere will also be a video wall that will showcase snippets of Singaporean films that portray the Sin-gaporean culture, such as Money No Enough, I Not Stupid, 881 and Army Daze.

The role of this section in the exhibition is like a sup-porting act. These films were produced in Singapore and directed by Singaporean directors. The Singapor-ean culture is evident in each film, especially through the speech and behaviour of the characters. Permis-sion will be sought from the producers of these films to allow 30-minute snippets of the films to be played during the exhibition. The video will be projected on stretch of white wall. There will be chairs in front of the projection so that visitors can also rest while they watch the snippets of the films.

GRAFFITI-IT-YOURSELF (GIY)The exhibition will also have an interactive area, Graf-fiti-It-Yourself (GIY), where visitors are able to make graffiti (without the fear of being arrested). The graffiti area will be a small area of about 5 by 5 metres, in an enclosed tent-like set-up. Skl0-designed stickers, and drawing tools, such as spray paint, crayons and markers will be provided to encourage visitors to express them-selves along the theme of “What is our culture?”As the exhibition progresses, the interactive area will become an exhibit itself – full of random doodles or drawings trying to unravel what makes Singapore Sin-gaporean.

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MERCHANDISE AREAMinding Singapore’s favourite pastime, there will be an area for the sale of merchandise. The merchandise sold will be the works by Skl0 herself. 70% of the pro-ceeds will be used to offset the budget for the exhibi-tion, and 30% of the proceeds will be donated to the Moral Home of the Aged Sick, the home that Skl0 is currently helping out at.

VENUE/ COSTThe exhibition will be showcased in Gallery 1 at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). The gallery has a floor area of 258 square metres with a max-imum height of 7 metres. It is a rectangular space, flanked by glass doors along the length of the gallery.The cost of renting the gallery is S$900 per day. As the exhibition will be held over a weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday - more days maybe added de-pending on reception), costing S$1,800. There is also a one time charge of S$1,000 for manpower. Most of the manual work should be covered by the manpower provided. The rest of the work will be done by the artist and her crew for free, out of goodwill. 50 plastic chairs will be rented for the video area, so that visitors can also rest while watching the films. The estimated cost per chair rental is S$2.00 from Celebration Party Rentals. The cheap, white plastic chairs were chosen with the intention to evoke a sense of “Singaporeanness” because this is the type of chair that is most commonly found in local coffee shops and void deck events.Factoring in lighting and other additional costs, the total will be S$8,500 per weekend.

The proposed timeframe for the execution of the ex-hibition is 6 months from the approval of rental of the gallery.

TASK PROPOSED TIMEFRAME

Completion of all exhibition series Ongoing - to be completed at least 2 months prior to exhibition

Requesting permission of film producers 2 weeks - emails to be sent out at least 1 month prior to exhibition

Logistics (Chairs, equipment, etc.) 2 months

Set-up of exhibition space 3 months

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WHAT IS HOME?NAVEL-GAZING IN SINGAPORE

As a Singaporean, my national identity is important to me. More important, however, is finding out what this national identity really means. The following photos are part of an ongoing series in which I discover and rediscover my per-sonal Singapore. What do five buildings and five bowls of Laksa have in common? They are all in their own way Singaporean: the modern marvels, the HDBs, the shophouses; all of them contribute to Singapore’s identity. I did not grow up in Singapore, I grew up with Singapore and the city developed and changed just like I did. Somethings are still the same, somethings are not. I will continue to document the changes and the relics of bygone days and with every picture my definition of home grows and gains in meaning.

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INSTANT ICONSA TALE OF TWO CAMERAS - ARTICLE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BEGINNERS (UK) MAGAZINE

Fans of instant photography have only one girl to thank: Jennifer Land. It was when she asked her father, Edwin Land, why she could not see the photo that he took of her right away, that he was struck with the sudden inspiration for the concept and research for instant photography.

The name “Polaroid” has often been misused to la-bel instant photography in general. One cannot really fault the general population for making that mistake. The Polaroid Corporation, founded by Edwin Land, has a long history dating all the way back to 1937 when the company was founded. However, it was not until 1947 that instant photography was introduced to the public. Unfortunately, those cameras were any-thing but user-friendly. Handbag-friendly salvation came in 1972, as it saw the introduction of the Po-laroid SX-70: the first camera to use Polaroid’s then new integral instant film that contained all the chemi-cal layers required to expose, develop, and fix the pho-to, which allowed the photo to develop automatically in daylight. It was also the first collapsible single lens reflex (SLR) camera to produces instant photographs. A single lens reflex camera uses a prism to reflect light to the viewfinder, similarly to periscopes, so that what the photographer sees will be what he gets. This is unlike point-and-shoot or rangefinder cameras, where the viewfinder is just a simple window through the body of the camera; you don’t see the real image formed by the camera lens, but you get a rough idea of what is in view. Despite the SX-70 being an SLR (which brings to mind the professional digital SLRs in the market these days), it is fairly simple to operate with just two dials: one to adjust the exposure, and another for focusing.

When Polaroid announced in February 2008 that the production of all their instant film will be ceased, many fans worldwide scrambled to lay their hands on what was left of instant film on the market. However, in October 2008, The Impossible Project managed to salvage the last Polaroid plant, and “started to invent and produce totally new instant film materials for

traditional Polaroid cameras”. With that, owners of classic Polaroid instant cameras did no longer have to worry about their cameras becoming unusable relics after the preying of the last film .

Some lovers of this vintage gem chose to stay faithful to their Polaroid instant cameras, sourcing in every nook and cranny for any remaining original film or buying The Impossible Projects products, while oth-ers chose to turn to the one popular alternative avail-able: the Fujifilm Instax Mini camera.

Fujifilm’s line of instant cameras began in the 1980s, modelled after Kodak’s lineup. Over the years, the design and function evolved, and in the 1990s, Fuji-film produced a new series of instant cameras called the Instax series. The flagship Instax mini 25s may-be even more user-friendly than the SX-70. It is an improved model of the Mini 7s, and it features basic functions which allow users to pre-set on their camera before composing a shot. One function allows users to tweak the brightness of their photos depending on the lighting available, by setting the exposure modes accordingly before taking the photo. The focusing ranges from 0.5 metres to infinity, which users are able to toggle between with a button on the camera. It also has three simple exposure modes: lighter, normal and darker.

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Besides its user-friendly functions, the Instax Mini 25s also has a wide range of accessories to make instant photography a better fit for the age of spongebob iP-hone cases, Michael Kors iPad sleeves, and Pantone christmas tree ornaments. For instance, users can now choose the design of the film they want their photo to be framed in, instead of the typical white frame; who wouldn’t want Captain America and Hulk to dance around the edges of photos of their loved ones. Fujif-ilm has come up with cartoon-themed film packs, such as Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and, of course, the insufferably cute Hello Kitty, just to name a few. Other additional accessories include fix-on lens-es, such as the macro or close-up lens, which can be attached to the built-in lens of the camera so that it will be able get your best friend into focus, even if he is just 35cm away from the camera. For fish-eye-fetish-ists a fish-eye-lens is also available. Aesthetics-wise, the Mini 25s is sleek in its white, matte body. Needless to say, a special Hello Kitty edition, with the same func-tions, is sold to Hello Kitty fanatics.

Amateurs who pursue instant photography as a hob-by, or users who are not familiar with the more com-plex techniques of photography, may prefer the Fu-jifilm Instax Mini 25s for its simple features and its appeal with regards to the availability of accessories, which in rare cases even aid its function. It is also more economical to own as the coloured film (plain white frames) costs approximately £8 for a pack of 10 exposures. This is because electrical power sourc-es and pressure plate springs are integrated into the camera’s body rather than in the disposable film pack, as with the Polaroid.

The SX-70, however, appeals more to artists or pho-tography nerds. Besides just the usual colour film, The Impossible Project also produces and sells silver shade film for black and white photographs. Each film pack contains about 8 to 10 exposures, and costs twice as much as Fujifilm’s instant film.

The SX-70’s cult status still prevails. It might even be more iconic today than it was during its heyday, but the Instax Mini is building on the Polaroid’s heri-tage and has taken instant photography into the 21st century. Thanks to these two cameras generations to come can enjoy the pleasures of waiting for a pho-to to develop before their eyes, slowly revealing more details until the initially blank film has given way to a memory.

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THE OTHER CHINAOBSERVATIONS IN TAIWAN

As a Singaporean Chinese, I have a strong interest in Chinese Culture around the world. The following observations from Taiwan are part of a larger series about Chinese heritage in different Asian countries.

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CITY OF BOOKSUNRAVELLING A MICROCOSM

The perception of reading books differs among groups of people. There is however, one com-mon perception of book reading in all groups of people, communities and societies: that for one to enjoy book reading as hobby, it is an indication of literacy – a literacy that is a part of a higher culture. Most book stores are great-ly respected by the people, as much as people respect the wealth of knowledge that a library provides.

I touch upon the concept of book reading be-cause it has a cultural significance in the site that I am about to discuss. In this essay, I de-constructed the book store, Books Kinokuniya, using the frameworks of philosophers like Mi-chel De Certeau, Louis Althusser and Jürgen Habermas, relating to their cultural theories such as ideology and ideological state appa-ratuses, interpellation, everyday practices and the public sphere. I discussed the cultural for-mations within Kinokuniya as a corporation, and in its physical stores as well.

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF LITERACYCorporations as big as Kinokuniya function almost like a country. They approach their “state” with strat-egies designed to define its subjects. These strategies arise from the ideology of the corporation. Like all other corporations, the ideology of Kinokuniya is laid out in its corporate values, such as its mission, vision and core values. Just like in Michel De Certeau’s Walking in the City (2007), where he explained the concept of an opera-tional city, a Kinokuniya book store functions almost like an operational city. There is a “government” within this city – the store management; there are the physical structures of the city – the physical design and layout of the store, and then there are the sub-jects of the city – the people within the store, be it the staff or the customers. Like a city, the store man-agement governs its subjects with ideologies and the strategies and structures that are put in place. The store also has its own culture and “laws” – a part of which still retains the Japanese culture from the cor-poration’s roots in Japan. One example is the way ap-pointed store personnel are required to stand by at

the different entrances during store opening. As the store shutters rise up along with the store’s opening tune, these store personnel get ready to bow and greet the first potential customers of the day. Bowing as a greeting is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, and this is evident even in the culture of a Japanese cor-poration that has landed on Singapore shores. This is but a small part of the culture of the “country” Kinokuniya and its cities. The almost rigid Japanese work culture can be observed in the way the store’s staff are uniformed in shades of blue, a colour that is seen to symbolise reliability and confidence especially in a business setting. Just like a city’s uniformed law enforcers, the store’s staff personnel are empowered with the responsibility to ensure that customers “be-have themselves” in the store, and also to ensure that store operations run smoothly. Uniforms are put in place with the idea that they create a larger identity for the organisation they represent, and yet uniforms, by creating an identity for an organisation, masks or erases the individual identities of those who are wear-ing them. They function like ideological state appara-tuses that discipline the individuals who put them on.

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According to Althusser in Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (2006), these apparatuses (ISAs) are private institutions – such as churches, schools, fam-ily, trade unions, et cetera – that function predomi-nantly on ideology, and secondarily on repressiveness. These ISAs use ideology to create a false conscious-ness among its subjects, so that these very subjects can act according to these ideas. This function of ideology can be observed in the way Kinokuniya functions as a book store. While in the uniform, staff are expected to behave appropriately, especially in the presence of customers. They are constantly reminded that they have an image (of the corporate identity) to uphold. Just like a citizen looking to the police or the city’s mayor for help, the store’s customers will look to these uniformed personnel for any enquiries.

INTERPELLATION - STRATEGY AND SUBJECTS“[…] if it is true that a spatial order organizes an en-semble of possibilities (e.g. by a place in which one can move) and interdictions (e.g. by a wall that pre-vents one from going further), then the walker actual-izes some of these possibilities. In that way, he makes them exist as well as emerge. But he also moves them about and invents others, since the crossing, drifting away, or improvisation of walking privilege, transform or abandon spatial elements.” -Michel De Certau

Books Kinokuniya as one of the largest book stores in Singapore – covering a hefty 43,000 square feet of floor area , with a range of over 500,000 titles - is a enormous structure. The physical design and the layout of the book store can be read as structures that were put into place with an intention, just like Althusser’s notion of interpellation – a process in which structures and ideologies precede the indi-vidual. These structures work as strategies to bring about a certain mode of behaviour in its subjects. Yet the very subjects give meaning to the spaces through their practices. In this sense, these subjects somehow stamp out and overwrite the ideology of the city. The narrow aisles and ceiling-high book shelves function just like streets between skyscrapers in a bustling city. The aisles in between rows of shelves are strictly in-tended for navigation in between the shelves in search for books. The simple and minimalistic design of the book store exudes a feeling of seriousness, much like that of a library, the ceiling-high book shelves impos-ing an aura of power and dominance on the store’s customers. This feeling of seriousness extends to the store’s customers, whom upon entering the store, are made to respect the store as they would respect a library. One would step into the store with the per-

ception that books are to be respected, like how one would respect a wise and knowledgeable elder. Or perhaps it is the state apparatus at play in regulating the behaviour of the people in the store. The store’s entrances are guarded by security staff and electronic alarm systems. Security cameras are placed in strate-gic corners all over the store, none too discreetly. The surveillance put in place works just like Foucault’s dis-cussion about the panopticon, in which the conscious-ness of being watched internalises discipline within an individual and “normalises” one’s behaviour. The division of different categories of books into different sections within the bookstore are necessary to provide consumers with a more organised shopping experi-ence. Customers in the store may believe that it is the effort of the store’s management to provide a less clut-tered shopping experience. However, the customers do not see the strategically placed shelves that feature the current best-sellers or the new titles, usually near the entrances so that the products are able to catch the customers’ attention. The layout of the bookstore works in such a way that it “readies” the potential consumers for consumption. Like in De Certeau’s Walking in the City (2007), these organisations and structures are blind to the people who walk within it.

As a book store, it is logical that Kinokuniya, wants to make a profit from the books on its shelves. The store disapproves of customers who loiter in the store to read a book but not buy it, yet the store does not explicitly express this disapproval. This disapproval is manifested in the way the store tags its expensive books with alarms or plastic wrap is so that browsing is not possible. Yet one can still find customers who seat themselves rather comfortably along aisles to im-merse themselves in a good they picked off the shelf, and after a good read, put the book back to shelf and leave, as though they were frequenting a library. In this practice of the everyday life, the store’s customers have managed to recreate the dominant consumption culture of the city for their own interests and their own rules.

The different sections of the book store can be seen as spaces where people “perform their identities”. The categorisation of the types of books within the store is in itself the mechanism of interpellation at work. Take for instance the Design and the Arts section in the store, carryings titles on art, both high and pop-ular art. It is a demarcated area within the “city” for the “deviants” of society – the people who fall under a certain subculture. It is easy to identify these people by their fashion sense or their “style”.

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They frequent this area of the book store because it seems to be “made for them”. Unlike other sections of the store which feature bestsellers and popular ti-tles, the titles in the Design and the Arts section are usually less heard of and of limited copies. These titles further define their identity as people of style; people who do not conform to the masses or to what is currently popular. Style in this case, is used according to Hebdige’s definition:

“Style in subculture is, then, pregnant with signifi-cance. Its transformations go ‘against nature’, inter-rupting the process of ‘normalisation’. As such, they are gestures, movements toward a speech which of-fends the ‘silent majority’, which challenges the prin-ciple of unity and cohesion, which contradicts the myth of consensus.”

COFFEEHOUSE FOR THE MINORITYCoffeehouses, in a cultural discourse, function as a site for social interaction, much like public spheres. The origin of the culture of coffeehouses can be dated back to the Ottoman Empire, where people gathered in coffee shops and engage in conversation and dis-cussions. This practice then travelled out of the Otto-man Empire to Europe and quickly became popular.The concept of the public sphere as theorised by Jür-gen Habermas is an area in society in which private individuals get together to form a public body or a public opinion. It is in this public sphere that citizens have the freedom to express their opinions about mat-ters of general interest. The importance of coffee-houses as a form of public sphere can be traced back to the emergence of coffeehouses in Europe. Such coffeehouses catered to the bourgeoisie because of the luxury of coffee and the accompanying pastries that were served. They slowly became sites for literary and art discussions, which then expanded to topics such as politics and economics.

Returning to the discussion that Kinokuniya store functions like a city, it can be said that on one hand, the operation of the store functions like a city, the presence of a small café within the store premises is akin to the presence of a public sphere. It is a strategic showcase of the corporation’s vision - that is: to create “opportunities of contacts between cultures and civil-isations and developing the growth of local cultures and talents with the aim of promoting better under-standing amongst cultures ”. The presence of a small café, tucked away in a cosy corner of the bookstore, is the promotion of a type of lifestyle. There as been an increasingly popular trend of cafes being set up with-

in or next to book stores. There is a certain appeal in sipping a cup of coffee while savouring a novel. It is the epitome of an idyllic lifestyle for the middle to upper class. Just like Bell Hook’s reference to cultural commodification, Kinokuniya is no longer merely a book store selling books by placing a café within the store itself; the store is commodifying a way of life for its customers. Such a way of life can also be observed in the way of the bourgeoisie in Europe in the early 19th century, which brings us back to the discussion on public spheres. The location of the café next to the Design and the Arts section of the book store may be merely a coincidence, yet one cannot deny it is a rath-er canny coincidence. As previously said, this section of the book store is demarcated for the deviants in the society; for those with style. Do not forget that after all, public spheres started out as sites for the discussion of art and literate – both a higher culture. The place-ment of a coffeehouse next to an area of arts seems like the perfect plan for the creation of a public sphere within the city of Kinokuniya for the minority.

CONCLUSIONKinokuniya as a book store is regarded as a site of high esteem by many. Throughout history, books are regarded as medium of knowledge and culture. The commodification of books by a corporation such as Kinokuniya has moulded a contemporary culture out of the store – as a site of economic driver – and of the people who consume books.

Like most corporations, the Kinokuniya Corporation can be regarded as a private institution. The way in which Kinokuniya functions as a corporation is just as Althusser described in Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. The corporation’s corporate values – its mission, vision and core values – are in fact the ide-ology of this institution. Its staff, in this sense, are the subjects of this institution. Their behaviour as a Ki-nokuniya staff mirror the values of the corporation.

The Kinokuniya book store as a physical site func-tions like a small city. The operation of the city is gov-erned by its management, and the customers and staff are its subjects that put in place De Certeau’s concept of “everyday practices”. What was once a book store with a strong Japanese identity is slowly shifting and losing its definition as a result of the practices of its subjects. The store has evolved into some thing less Japanese, a little of Singapore, and a little bit of the rest of the world.

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