A challenging and complex discussion about how artists re-define/ re-imagine myth making, rituals, fantasies, and the cliché, in order to choose their cultural responses to the age we live in.  As a given and common thread, the artists Joo Choon Lin, Quynh Dong and Jack Tan work towards the notion that this new age of technological advancements and changes demand a new Romanticism. Through this discussion, audiences are given an insight into the artists entanglement with myths, clichés and stereotypes and thus their claim to the “contemporary”.

The artist Quyng Dong uses as her subject “Vietnam” and “Asia”, and as a starting point her seductively clichéd stylized video and sculptural artworks as shown at her solo exhibition at Yeo Workshop  These works evoke nostalgia, identity and the failed self-imposed (female)(asian) voice.

The artist Joo Choon Lin, through her public art project “Abdominal BASS Cavern Of A Stricken HEART” is interested in the relationship between form and essence; how deep an idea or symbolism reaches and how is perception altered when these cults, niches, horror, associated objects are objectified and re-contextualized.

Jack Tan reinterprets familiar and traditional Singaporean myths in his public art project in order to create new myths for society. His main project is a folkloric children’s parade which is typical of his interest in social interactions and public exchange through legal design, performances, and interventions. This technique is coupled with his belief that the start of a new age calls for a  re-establishment of myth making, rituals and symbolism, that is crucial in people’s attempt to process the anxiety caused by change, and to reconcile changes with the past. These techniques thus inspire societal ethics and an aesthetic ability to imagine.

Register: Please RSVP to info@yeoworkshop.com to register for the talk and complementary lunch. FEE: SGD$15

Venue: Yeo Workshop, 1 Lock Road, #01-01, Singapore 108932