Appreciating AH-RT...

On the very 1st Day of 2009 - I visited the museum for 2 photo exhibitions.
(HAPPY NEW YR, by the way.... )

The showcase featured works by 2 photographers:
1) VOOM PORTRAITS by Robert Wilson
2) DOUBLENESS by Chang Chien Chi

It wasn't just because of this that I was there:


Nor was this the reason...


Okok, Brad Pitt's more like the incentive when I got there, the main reason was more of Yyn convincing me to go see before it all ended on the 4th. (Yyn- thanks for the motivation by the way coz I enjoyed the exhibit much better than Biennale) :P

1) VOOM PORTRAITS by Robert Wilson

Portraits are still images, right? Videos are meant to capture moving objects moving, right?
WRONG....
Robert Wilson's gallery featured video portraits ("What's that, again?!") of his years of works... Basically they're video clips whereby the actors stay really still and slowly & progressively make their movements so that the pieces can look like "still pictures" that are real life.

"I do not interpret my work. Interpretation is for others." - Robert Wilson

Sorry, i didn't quite get this one, except for the star-studded subjects.... Maybe someone else can shed some light..... :P

Preferred the 2nd exhibit better.....

2) DOUBLENESS by Chang Chien Chi


There were basically 3 forms of "Doubleness" that Chang Chien Chi wanted to explore.

1) DOUBLE HAPPINESS

Taiwanese men & Vietnamese women - brokered marriages

- explored the "doubleness" from the chinese word "喜喜" which depicts "double happiness". The couple/strangers are bounded together by marriage but divided by language & culture differences.

The photos of the "matchmade couple" at the matching agency listening to a briefing. Clearly don't look like they're in love.

2) CHAINS

- Chang visited a temple in Taiwan where their mode of therapy to treat mental patients do not involve any form of psychiatric or medical treatment. They believed that chaining these mental patients in pairs would help in their recovery. A more stable guy is chained to a less stable one. Day in & out, the more lucid one would lead both of them in their daily chores (to get food, clean up the temple etc)

- Two total strangers are physically bounded by chains to become PAIRS till the day death do they part.

The patients in the pictures looked mostly miserable and they lived in isolation.

3) CHINATOWN

1st set of photos captured Chinese migrant workers in New York City's Chinatown

Photos of male migrant workers (in mono) - to show the loneliness, how much they miss their families...

Photos of their families (in colour), to show how their families are comparatively prosperous from all the remittances.

Depicted the physical separation between the men and their families & the stark contrast between their doubled lives.

But connected through blood ties, phone calls, old photographs & the longing to be united again.

100 HOUSEHOLD SURNAMES

DOUBLENESS: ZHENG! My surname.
I took this shot of another Zheng (my sis) snapping at her surname- that's my interpretation of Doubleness