Artist SpeakMaking of 'September Sweetness' |
| By Richard Streitmatter-Tran | |||||
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Our installation at the biennale also occurs one year after the violent crackdown on the Buddhist clergy by the same military government. It can be argued that little has changed over the last twenty years, and we wonder if that small pagoda in Drentel’s photograph still stands today. It is worth noting that the temples in Bagan are in a serious state of neglect. The authorities have been reluctant to seek expert advice toward the conservation of the temples and have opted, instead, to compel villagers to perform patchwork repairs on the structures with whatever materials they may have on hand. In this installation, we have chosen sugar as a common and everyday material, in line with the real world situation. As with the villagers, we have no knowledge on how the structures ought to be built, only how we imagine they should appear. This is probably explained by the fact that these temples, until recently, were usually cared for by the Buddhist clergy known as the Sangha. In September 2007, the Sangha lent their support to civilian protesters and led massive street demonstrations throughout the country, until the military suppressed the largely peaceful demonstrations with violence and without restraint. And since then the Sangha have been targeted by the military, leaving a conspicuous absence in the temples and in public life. Civilian life continues to be dicey with a highly unpredictable inflation, under the rule of generals who are managing the resource-rich nation like children in a candy shop, often in complicity with its ASEAN neighbours. In our installation, we have tried to provide different levels of access so that the work itself may be understood and appreciated on several levels, depending entirely on the amount of investment the visitor cares to put in. Of course, it is our intention to bring forward the social and economic situation in Burma to public awareness, and, as artists, we have sought to find a poetic way to do this. But, more importantly, we hope that the thought behind the installation extends beyond Burma, or even Southeast Asia. As such, this is the first time we have come together to work collaboratively and, so far, it has been the most research intensive project art work we’ve been involved in. The process of our work has been incredible too and full of challenges and surprises. For instance, it’s amazing that architecture with so much history and documentation, whose basic structures have been replicated and built over the span of centuries, can present all sorts of new complications with a simple substitution of material. Then, again, perhaps it’s not so surprising given that new material technologies inevitably give rise to new architectures. In our case, we are sort of regressive, using old and inappropriate materials. Sugar is an interesting material to work with. It dissolves so easily in water and is so tempting and is so tempting for a variety of hungry organisms that it is totally inappropriate for an outdoor installation. Yet, that made it a perfect challenge. The regressive highlights the repressive. We experimented with a wide range of natural and household materials that we could combine with sugar to give it the strength to support its own weight. Our initial experiments were surprisingly successful, with different ratios of sugar and lime, the sort that is consumed with betel nut. Although it was strong, the sugar lime composite dried too quickly and was too dark for the appearance we were after. We tried gelatin and different types of flour in small amounts. Finally, we decided upon a sugar and rice starch composite that, when heated, became a relatively strong compound that was water-resistant and had the level of whiteness we wanted. The next challenge was structural. As a symmetrical structure, we wanted to make one mold for each of the components that could be duplicated and interlocked to form the other sides. Each mold had to fit like a puzzle. We studied Khmer scale models in Phnom Penh and countless books on traditional Southeast Asian architecture. In the end, it came down to intuition. We used molding clay to built the first model, to get an idea of the visual form and scale, and then moved on to making a Styrofoam model to deconstruct the model into modular shapes that would then be scaled up for the final fiberglass molds. Everything was a learning process from the beginning. My background is in media arts and performance, and Chaw Ei’s base is in painting and performance. We asked Aung Ko to join our team for his experience in traditional Burmese arts. Our arts assistant, Mai Tung, was invaluable in making everything happen according to schedule in Vietnam. At this point, we really don’t know what to expect in Singapore, during the Biennale. We hope the structure will realise as we have planned. Yet the struggle with the project has allowed us to empathise with a number of issues, and we hope that those encountering September Sweetness will find something they can relate to, as well. Richard Streitmatter-Tran is an artist who lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. He can be found at www.diacritic.org 1 http://designobserver.com/burma/burma_18.html
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