The Longue Durée …

A blast from the past … the 3 January, 1994, edition of The New Paper, to be exact.

Singaporeans of a certain generation will remember this.

For a blow-by-blow account of the Josef Ng affair and its consequences, see here.

—————

The front page, featuring an skimpily-clad Josef Ng snipping his pubes.

The article, on p. 6.

WE ARE ARTISTS

By Ng Li-San

Two Singaporean artists saluted the New Year early on Saturday with unusual versions of the traditional “bottoms up”.

One vomited. The other turned his back on the audience, bared his buttocks and then trimmed his pubic hair. They said they were protesting against media reporting.

It was part of a 12-Hour New Year’s Eve event put by members of Fifth Passage Artists Ltd and Artists Village on the open corridor at the fifth floor of Parkway Parade.

Artist Josef “Brother Cane” Ng pasted a Straits Times report on the arrests of 12 men during an anti-gay operation in November 1992 on each of 12 tiles. He then placed tofu and a packet of red liquid on each tile.

Cloaked in a black robe, he danced around the hall with a cane, whacked each tile and said: “They were three strokes of the cane”. The liquid splattered and stained the mashed tofu red.

Then, Mr Ng did his trimming-of-public-hair act.

He piled the hair on a tile, and asked for a cigarette. Suddenly, he pressed the lit cigarette against his upper arm, burning himself.

Mr Ng explained: “It’s a protest performance. I agree those men (who were arrested) were guilty of soliciting. But the press didn’t have to print their names. And why were the men caned when they had already received a jail term?”

About an hour later, graphic art student Shannon Tam, 20, burned a copy of The New Paper in protest against its “unfair reporting” of the 5^th Passage’s screening of a censored tape of a movie featuring gays and homosexual acts.

(See pictures and captions on right.)

on Dec 30, The New Paper had a report on its front page with the headline What’s On? It said the 50-minute screening of the blank tape was upstaged by the performances of artists Josef Ng and Shannon Tam.

The article had comments from two artists not associated with the group. They said the censor’s decision was right because the movie was being screened to a public audience.

The artist who protested against The New Paper later said the report was very one-sided.

“The media talks about pushing the fringe arts towards mainstream arts. But they are not bridging the gap, only pushing them further apart.”

WHY ARTISTS ARE ANGRY

The artists are angry with The New Paper because the paper focused on the controversial performances, one of them said.

Mr Lee Wen, 36, a performance artist, said: “There are other events going on.”

He said last week’s events marked the first time in Singapore that people from different arts backgrounds had a chance to be together.

“But coverage of these events only started after the tape (Tongues Untied) was censored.”

“We don’t want people to misunderstand that Artists Village supports controversial performances.”

Asked about the screening of the blank movie, Mr Lee said an organiser he “cannot set criteria. I cannot, because of my own judgment, stop them from doing certain things.”

Where does he draw the line between screening a controversial film to a private and public audience?

Mr Lee said: “People who come in are aware that this is an art show.

“We have put up signs warning that some of the materials are not suitable for children, and parents uncertain about that should check with the Artists Village.

“People are free to decide for themselves if they want to watch it.”

Of the vomiting act, he said: “I think he was clear in what he was trying to say.”

As long as the artist knew that and was not “out just to attract attention”, it was OK, Mr Lee said.

THE GROUP

- The 5^th Passage is described in a Life! report as a multi-disciplinary artist centre in Parkway Parade. It regularly holds thematic exhibitions.

- Its artists come up with ingenious ways to recycle discarded objects, using fridge trays, bicycle frames, washing machine drums and even stockings.

- It is run on a voluntary basis by a group of people. It has a free two-year lease by Parkway parade Development Holdings.

THE SHOW

- The week-long show was billed in a press release as a stimulating visual spread for art lovers and supporters.

- There were art forums, screening of movies, workshops, musical performances, interactive comedy theatre.

Protesting against The New Paper: Art student Shannon Tam, 20, arranging joss sticks in front of a copy of last Thursday’s The New Paper (above [top]), setting the newspaper ablaze (left [middle]) and drinking a glass of water with the burnt ashes (below [above, last]). But instead of swallowing, he spat out the ashes — and then, sticking a finger down his throat, vomited into a rubbish bin. Before burning the paper, he gave a short statement about censorship, banged on a drum set, howled and barked like a dog, sang a medley of pop songs, and crawled on his hands and knees.

—————