WOLF Degree Show Issue

Wolf Newsletter Degree Show Issue 1 July - 8 July 2014

Under The Influence of Little Boy And Fat Man Fascinated by the developments in Japanese Art and Design in the 20th century (especially since the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945), Kenny Low has produced a breath-taking series of six digital paintings that apply the themes of mutation, fantasy and hybrid design to a whole new vision of Singapore! This is the Island state as you’ve never seen it. For Kenny, Singapore is a fastpaced polyglot that needs a deeper, more expressive culture. In his own words: “This is a city constantly searching to express itself: it’s a mutation of cultures and global influences and through this project I embarked on an imaginary journey to discover my image for Singapore - if it had been influenced by only one culture – postwar Japan.” Look out, you will fall “under the influence of Little Boy and Fat Man.” Artist/Designer: Low Kenny, Communication Design

“This is a city searching to express itself: it’s a mutation of cultures and global influences.”

Students engage in big issues Many claim to push the boundaries. Often this is hyperbole. But even a cursory visit to the GSA Singapore Degree Show reveals that here this often tired axiom is true. The work engages with politics, the environment, stereotypes, gender, genetics, mutation and social class to name just a few. And true to their calling the students manage these issues in experimental and non-literal ways challenging the viewer to consider their own position.

For Program Director, Frazer McDonald-Hay, this is exactly the kind of communication and interior design that he was aiming for when he accepted the position in Singapore two years ago. He says, “My father was from Glasgow and we used to pass the doors of Glasgow School of Art and he would tell me, “there’s magic happening in there son.” At the time I never thought that I’d get the chance to walk through those doors. When I did get the opportunity to work for the school, I saw the quality of the lecturing and I have to say the amazing quality of the students that came out of GSA and I was inspired. Coming to Singapore, I wanted to create an equally impactful ethos that would produce awesome students and hopefully the same magic for us right here. To me, it is such a fantastic thing, that through a piece of art or design, you can connect, engage or even thrill.”

The GSA Singapore Degree Show exhibition runs from 1 July -8 July 2014.

9th August The Transparent Singapore The premise of the 9th August is centralized around the notion of nation branding. The aim is to hypothesize how everyday Singaporeans can contribute to and build their own true impression and image of Singapore, one more accurate than current government efforts. With limited natural resources, Singaporeans are the nation’s best assets.

Singapore’s inhabitants play an exceptionally significant role in becoming ‘living’ ambassadors of the nation, portraying Singapore’s nation brand to the international community.

Dreams, Desires & Fears Step into someone else’s dream and begin the process of understanding your own. Caline Ng invites you to experience the dreams of four participants in her video installation ‘Impermanence.’ Supported by the position of the famous psychotherapist Carl Jung, Caline asks us to consider the origins of our own dreams and the possibility of revelations about our secret selves that are hidden by our conscious mind. Ultimately, this unique combination of video and text asks us to consider the truth about ourselves and the vulnerability of the human condition that we share with everyone.

Resting beneath the Marina Bay float is the proposed interior – an office and exhibition for the transparent Singapore organization, and through the concept of ‘obfuscation’ elements become revealed and tangible through curious exploration, rewarding those inquisitive enough to enter. This concept of obfuscation permeates at each level and scale of the design, the purpose being to cloud and distort our understanding of Singaporean identity, thus making it inevitable for us to reassess and reflect upon it.

Artist/Designer: Larry Ong, Interior Design

Artist/Designer: Ng Caline, Communication Design

Radical Installation Presents Cycling in a New Light Min Da is a cheery and relaxed guy, but his work is curious and controversial. In his multi-media installation ‘Surface’ he positions cycling as a viable and healthier form of transport. He satirizes commonly held perceptions about cycling in Singapore by portraying them as “banana skins.” This is a spoof on the idea of causing a “slip-up” which in local custom is the act of sabotaging a person or an idea that may be useful or important.

‘Surface’ wants to set cycling free from the prejudice of those who see it as dangerous or simply ‘alternative.’ It challenges naive perceptions and asks us to imagine a future with a reduced role for the motorcar inside our cities.

Inside the installation, visitors have to pass a number of obstacles, not least the rubber banana skins. Once past these, they are invited to ride an idealized silver and white cycle in order to discover a radical message.

Artist/Designer: Chia Min Da, Communication Design

‘Surface’ is not to be missed.

Rethinking Burial Spaces in Singapore Deliverance Sarah’s project, entitled ‘Deliverance’ explores the district of Geylang. It is regarded as a parallel world within Singapore, one which belongs to those forgotten and stigmatized. Within this parallel world are streets of sin and salvation, sinful acts such as gluttony, lust and gambling are easy to find. However there are a large amount of places of worship within the site, perhaps to save the sinners. The project’s purpose is to offer a place of regeneration and renewal, through actions and rituals usually reserved for the religious. In effect bringing the spiritual relief and uplifting experiences typically associated with religion – thus creating a religious space for the non-religious. This notion, arrived at from observations into the area, where there are many churches and places of worship but some appear exclusive, possibly judging the outcasts as sinners.

The design itself is for a refurbished shop house that becomes a home to the marginalized and frowned upon. A place rich in poetic spaces and details that will purge and refresh them before leaving.

Artist/Designer: Sarah Lim, Interior Design

Motivating Edwin’s project are two main issues; one is the increasing constraints of land scarcity, whereby Singapore has little land left to develop, and secondly is the need to preserve traditions and rituals that are often lost or neglected as Singapore develops rapidly. Since 1985, 21 cemeteries were cleared to make room for housing, expressways and MRT to accommodate the increasing population. The recent proposal to demolish cemeteries such as Bukit Brown and Bidadari have caused upset among Singaporean, as such spaces are important symbols of history and culture.

Edwin’s project suggests and examines one hypothetical solution: updating the notions of a typical Buddhist cemetery, but relocating it to a space with no risk of upheaval or change, in this case adjacent to an existing MRT station. By breaking down and distilling the key components of the Buddhist cemetery Edwin is able to reimagine it in a new form, but still retain the essence and integrity of the original cemetery as a place of reflection and contemplation. The product is a progressive interior space that enables long established traditions and rituals to continue but also engages with future generations.

Artist/Designer: Edwin Chia, Interior Design

Photo Credits : Right, Sim Jun Yi Clarence. Cover, Alicia Santa Maria.

THE GSA SINGAPORE MANIFESTO We believe that ideas are like oxygen and that imagination is the lifeblood of progress. Celebrating a liberal university art school education, we encourage students to generate ideas that challenge the status quo, take a position and change perceptions. We encourage experimentation and playfulness. We avoid any kind of rigid methodology, allowing the freedom of a hundred schools of thought.

We foster aesthetics and intuition and subject both to critical thinking.

Inspired by the great tradition that is Glasgow School of Art, we beat on against the current – certain of the potential of youth, the possibilities of talent and the power of ideas to push the human race forward.

We are GSA!

OF FIRES, FAME AND GREAT VIEWS It’s common knowledge that our world famous Art School in Glasgow, Scotland caught fire on 23 May 2014 causing enormous damage to the building designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Finally completed in 1909 this celebrated example of Art Nouveau architecture is symbolic of the endeavor of an art school education that has produced some of the planet’s leading designers, architects and fine artists.

Curiously, the fire coincided with the completion of the new Reid Building across the road. Designed by the eminent American architect Steven Holl, it houses all of the departments that make up the GSA School of Design.

Meanwhile in Singapore, we look forward to making ourselves at home in our new GSA-SIT Building at the Temasek Poly campus in Tampines. The location is fantastic, enjoying unobstructed views of Bedok reservoir from the studios and common areas: a relief for those tired eyes after a long day of learning. So, while our dedicated workers add the finishing touches on the building, we’re all very busy preparing for our very first graduation show right here.