Betta Under The Radar
A broken on-line papier machine
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Betta versions
My first post must have been sometime in November 2005. The blog was called an on-line Papier Machine, after an installation by Australian sculptor Elizabeth Presa (a big influence on me), which in turn took its title from Derrida's collection of essays on the future of text and writing in the digital age.
I had just returned from Australia, and was trying to settle down in my home city of Kuala Lumpur again. It's been three years now since my return, and there's been a great deal of evolution in my life, art and by extension, my blog.
This blog is a great crutch for me. I have by turns called it my resource, my weakness and my ego surrogate (like that last one do you? So do I!). As much as I am driven by compulsion to reveal and confess, I have been known to be dogged by strange feelings of revulsion and extreme vulnerability in the aftermath.
I am also a compulsive throw-away-er of my works. After an exhibition, not only do I detest revisiting what I've done, I almost cannot stand to have any remnants or reminders of past works in my immediate environment. (I do make rare exceptions with things I have sufficiently distanced myself from). This harsh treatment of things meant specifically for public consumption applies doubly to things that I make or write mostly for personal and developmental purposes.
Hence after only about a year and half, I finally made good on my many promises and put Betta Simplex into hiding and eventually to death.
But I couldn't resist the blogging itch (as Newty calls it) and so Super Secret Center is a rebirth! I think (or so I'd like to believe) it reflects a more steady state of mind, which is partly a result of increased day-to-day living comforts,as well as being with someone who makes me happy. I do find that the extreme edge of anxiety I used to carry with me has dulled somewhat. I'm glad about that.
A good friend recently brought to my attention that he preferred the old blog (i.e. this one), or rather he missed the history. He wondered if I might make available the old posts in a archive. I was reluctant, but after some thought, I suppose... what's the harm. I guess it's ok (nice, even!) to hang on to some things, to have a sense of history. I'm all about evolution, but maybe self-iconoclasm doesn't need to be necessary for change.
However, I have set some posts to private, as is my prerogative. There'll always be some secrets! ^_- ¶ 3:29 PM 0 comments
I had just returned from Australia, and was trying to settle down in my home city of Kuala Lumpur again. It's been three years now since my return, and there's been a great deal of evolution in my life, art and by extension, my blog.
This blog is a great crutch for me. I have by turns called it my resource, my weakness and my ego surrogate (like that last one do you? So do I!). As much as I am driven by compulsion to reveal and confess, I have been known to be dogged by strange feelings of revulsion and extreme vulnerability in the aftermath.
I am also a compulsive throw-away-er of my works. After an exhibition, not only do I detest revisiting what I've done, I almost cannot stand to have any remnants or reminders of past works in my immediate environment. (I do make rare exceptions with things I have sufficiently distanced myself from). This harsh treatment of things meant specifically for public consumption applies doubly to things that I make or write mostly for personal and developmental purposes.
Hence after only about a year and half, I finally made good on my many promises and put Betta Simplex into hiding and eventually to death.
But I couldn't resist the blogging itch (as Newty calls it) and so Super Secret Center is a rebirth! I think (or so I'd like to believe) it reflects a more steady state of mind, which is partly a result of increased day-to-day living comforts,
A good friend recently brought to my attention that he preferred the old blog (i.e. this one), or rather he missed the history. He wondered if I might make available the old posts in a archive. I was reluctant, but after some thought, I suppose... what's the harm. I guess it's ok (nice, even!) to hang on to some things, to have a sense of history. I'm all about evolution, but maybe self-iconoclasm doesn't need to be necessary for change.
However, I have set some posts to private, as is my prerogative. There'll always be some secrets! ^_- ¶ 3:29 PM 0 comments
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Self reminders
Links for myself to explore in case I forget, which I inevitably will...
http://baires.elsur.org/
http://endlesshybrids.com/jeff-barry/
http://www.futureofthebook.org/ ¶ 9:50 PM 0 comments
http://baires.elsur.org/
http://endlesshybrids.com/jeff-barry/
http://www.futureofthebook.org/ ¶ 9:50 PM 0 comments
Saturday, February 10, 2007
I love this artist
I exhibited with Lynn Lu in Open Sea at The Substation, Singapore last year. She's a performance artist after my own heart - completely inspiring, elegant, assured work. She's responsible for chopping my hair off too, something I'm infinitely grateful for, as this hairstyle was perfect for me looking for a new direction. Check out her work on her website: www.lynnlu.info
I predict the day when everyone knows her name is not far off.
¶ 1:21 PM 0 comments
I predict the day when everyone knows her name is not far off.
¶ 1:21 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Raving genius
All hail Galliano.
Just watched footage from his Spring 2006 runway show and I am totally in love. It was mad - midgets with pirates with sailors with whores with old women - and all loooking so absolutely beautiful. Men in dresses, women in tophats. So fantastic! It's like he plucked these people straight out of the magic garden of my dreams - where things are a little scary, a little drugged-up, a little morbid; home of intense love affairs and suicidal flying castles, crumbling libraries, fields of velvet tophats.
I love it!! *Overwhelming sensation of pleasure buttons being pressed all at once*
Also it's been a much-needed reminder to me to go big, go bold, go brave - or go home.
¶ 8:43 PM 1 comments
Just watched footage from his Spring 2006 runway show and I am totally in love. It was mad - midgets with pirates with sailors with whores with old women - and all loooking so absolutely beautiful. Men in dresses, women in tophats. So fantastic! It's like he plucked these people straight out of the magic garden of my dreams - where things are a little scary, a little drugged-up, a little morbid; home of intense love affairs and suicidal flying castles, crumbling libraries, fields of velvet tophats.
I love it!! *Overwhelming sensation of pleasure buttons being pressed all at once*
Also it's been a much-needed reminder to me to go big, go bold, go brave - or go home.
¶ 8:43 PM 1 comments
Friday, January 19, 2007
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Francis Alys
I seriously love this artist - and I'm glad because loving a new artist means a new direction. Former influences include Simryn Gill, Wong Hoy Cheong and Elizabeth Presa. I'm restless with all this text stuff. Especially after checking out Simryn Gill's latest Pearls series. Very beautiful and intricate. But - it is not enough for me anymore. It's too hermetic and I am feeling desperate. I want dirt and grime, something off the streets, which is what Francis Alys talks about:
"No ivory tower allowed for the street will always beat your imagination... So, might as well stay on the street... "
Nice.
"No ivory tower allowed for the street will always beat your imagination... So, might as well stay on the street... "
Nice.
Labels: art
¶ 10:05 PM 0 comments
Friday, January 12, 2007
How is it (City of Sand - reprise)
How is it
We know each other
In every place
but here
In every time
but now?
Forced to confront the present
we are strangers
who loved each other
only a moment ago
or later tonight
We exist
in another city
A City of Sand
in which every grain is a machine
that comprehends us
and translates us
into Itself
Leaving - impossible
Staying - impossible
We seep
out of each other
out of the present
into what we were
what we could be
We know each other
In every place
but here
In every time
but now?
Forced to confront the present
we are strangers
who loved each other
only a moment ago
or later tonight
We exist
in another city
A City of Sand
in which every grain is a machine
that comprehends us
and translates us
into Itself
Leaving - impossible
Staying - impossible
We seep
out of each other
out of the present
into what we were
what we could be
Labels: B.A.P.
¶ 8:00 PM 0 comments
Oh Yoko
Yoko Ono in an interview with Everett True for Plan B magazine:
“It’s almost like the trees in the park. Some people think you should cut all the trees in Central Park because you can make tons of money. That’s denying the trees. If you cut all the trees in Central Park, you would notice that this city is no longer the city it was, so you would see that the trees are important. I’m like one of those trees. I’m just being myself and staying alive.”
Do you find yourself getting angrier as you get older?
“Listen, I’m not mellowing at all. What is there to mellow for? The kind of world we’re living in, how could we be mellow? The artist’s world is becoming more important and more urgent. Art is a way of survival. I said this in my liner notes, there’s a guy in St Petersburg, a DJ who put a metronome on because the whole city was in a siege and there was no food, nothing, and people were getting lethargic. The DJ was playing all kinds of music and making people happy. But then he became lethargic too and he put the metronome on and the whole city was just listening to it, tick tock, tick tock. That’s how they survived. That is the thing that was needed, not tap-dancing but a metronome. Artists are going to be the metronome of this society.”
Clicky for full transcript
Yoko Ono in an interview with Everett True for Plan B magazine:
“It’s almost like the trees in the park. Some people think you should cut all the trees in Central Park because you can make tons of money. That’s denying the trees. If you cut all the trees in Central Park, you would notice that this city is no longer the city it was, so you would see that the trees are important. I’m like one of those trees. I’m just being myself and staying alive.”
Do you find yourself getting angrier as you get older?
“Listen, I’m not mellowing at all. What is there to mellow for? The kind of world we’re living in, how could we be mellow? The artist’s world is becoming more important and more urgent. Art is a way of survival. I said this in my liner notes, there’s a guy in St Petersburg, a DJ who put a metronome on because the whole city was in a siege and there was no food, nothing, and people were getting lethargic. The DJ was playing all kinds of music and making people happy. But then he became lethargic too and he put the metronome on and the whole city was just listening to it, tick tock, tick tock. That’s how they survived. That is the thing that was needed, not tap-dancing but a metronome. Artists are going to be the metronome of this society.”
Clicky for full transcript
Labels: art
¶ 3:58 PM 0 comments
Magic carpets
"When you have to sit still, you want to fly. When you have to fly, you want to sit still."
Why can't I find my balance? My head is a continent away from my feet. I look down and I want to hug the ground - like a homely, humble carpet. I look up and I dream... freedom, movement. In between is a huge mess, unsteady swinging back and forth - I just can't learn to move upon the ground.
Victor Vasnetsov. The Magic Carpet. Detail. 1880. Oil on canvas. The Art Museum of Nizhniy Novgorod, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia. ¶ 12:30 PM 0 comments
"When you have to sit still, you want to fly. When you have to fly, you want to sit still."
Why can't I find my balance? My head is a continent away from my feet. I look down and I want to hug the ground - like a homely, humble carpet. I look up and I dream... freedom, movement. In between is a huge mess, unsteady swinging back and forth - I just can't learn to move upon the ground.
Victor Vasnetsov. The Magic Carpet. Detail. 1880. Oil on canvas. The Art Museum of Nizhniy Novgorod, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia. ¶ 12:30 PM 0 comments
