ShoutOUT!:Filmmakers part of the limelight in Singapore Biennale 2011

Tan Pin Pin,Ming Wong and Charles Lim takes their limelight in the Singapore Biennale 2011.

At SAM at 8Q

Tan Pin Pin will present five short films along with unused footage that have not, or have rarely been screened in Singapore. Shown in the context of the Biennale, this selection clearly indicates her desire to work more directly, organically and experimentally with space and her subjects. The Impossibility of Knowing (2010) will have its Singapore premiere during the opening weekend of the Biennale.

Check out our Production Talk with Pin Pin on the works here.

Over at Old Kallang Airport

Ming,will present Devo Partire. Domani, co-commissioned by SB2011, transforms Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 film Teorema by setting the film in contemporary Naples with Wong playing each of the male and female roles.

Charles,on the same location as Ming,will present All Lines Flow Out, where he will contemplates the drain (longkang) system in Singapore. As obscure passages with a largely unidirectional flow, these drains can trace a hidden journey from one point on the island to another. Lim records, collects and re-presents what he finds, bearing witness to realities otherwise submerged from view.

Themed "Open House",the third-edition of Singapore Biennale is back and in locations like Old Kallang Airport,National Museum Of Singapore,Marina Bay,Singapore Art Museum,8Q at SAM.

The details of the exhibition as follows:

Date:NOW-May 15 2011

OPENING HOURS:10am – 7pm daily(Last entry 6.15pm)

ADMISSION
Adult	$10
Student	$5
Senior citizen 60+ years	$5
20% off adult admission for 20 or more people

Includes one-time entry to all venues, one complimentary Short Guide and one-time free audio guide rental at all venues.

Free Admission (with valid identification)
Children 6 years and under Singaporean or Permanent Resident senior citizens
Full-time National Servicemen (NSFs)
Local schools students and teachers
Old Kallang Airport and Marina Bay venues free entry for all.

Audio guide $3 (for rent or downloadable Smartphone application on iTunes and Android Marketplace) and Short Guide by donation for those who enjoy free admission.

Tickets available at all SB2011 venues except Marina Bay.

"Got My Tickets,Gonna Explore the Biennale Soon..."

Ming Wong's Obssession with Impersonation

While he is recently most well known for his work, Life of Imitation, which involves actors impersonating roles from famous movie scenes, Ming Wong himself has slipped into a dozen roles, making impersonation seemingly a stubborn motif of his works.



'I impersonate these characters/actors/personalities - they are all wrapped into one - as a tribute to both the vision of their creators (writers, actors, filmmakers) and the roles that they represent. often they hold up a mirror to the moral values of society, usually on the brink of change. Most of these films were made in the 60s & early 70s, which were tumultous times for pre-independent Singapore, post-war Germany & Italy. Even though its the same person in these guises, after a while, the differences in race, gender, age, nationality, class status etc become irrelevant, what remains is the vision of the artists/filmmakers and the symbolic roles of these characters.'



We asked Ming to share 7 of his most meaningful impersonations here.

Ming Wong as Gustav von Aschebach, the artist in crisis who goes on holiday to Venice.

Ming Wong as Tadzio, the most beautiful boy in the world, the subject of von Aschenbach's obsession.

These are the 2 main protagonists in 'Death in Venice' (Visconti's 1971 film version of Thomas Mann's classic novella).

Ming Wong as both the old German cleaning-lady and her younger Moroccan immigrant car mechanic husband in Fassbinder's 1974 film 'Ali: Fear Eats the Soul'.

(Above 2) Ming Wong as the maid in Pasolini's Teorema, who performs a miracle in her village and becomes a saint, and buries herself alive in the soil of Italy, at a place and time when agriculture gave way to urbanisation, capitalism and materialism.

Ming Wong as P Ramlee as Kassim Selamat the blind saxophone player in the classic Malay Melodrama 'Ibu Mertuaku' ('My Mother-in-law').

Ming Wong as Mak Dara as the Mother-in-law.

Watch out for his new works in Singapore at the Singapore Biennale next year 6 March.

About Ming Wong

Ming Wong's practice explores the performative veneers of language and identity through his own 'world cinema'. He represented Singapore at the 53rd Venice International Biennale in 2009, gaining critical acclaim for his presentation 'Life of Imitation', which won Special Mention (Expanding Worlds). He has also shown at the Sydney Biennale 2010, Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and ZKM Center for Art & Media amongst others. He has assumed international residencies at ACME studios, London, and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin. Past awards include the London Artists' Film and Video Award by Film London and the Pearson Creative Research Fellowship at the British Library.

License to plagiarise - Ming Wong's 'Life of Imitation' opens here

Poster of 'The The Mood for Love' with an Ang Moh 'Maggie Cheung'

She says, 'Is it another woman?'

Standing next to a work of art

Old School finger food!

60s style rock band playing in the Glass Hall of the Singapore Art Museum

My 'Hipstamatic' version of the rock band

Ming Wong looking spiffy in a bow tie

This photo is part of a collection of polaroids showing old cinemas all over Malaysia and Singapore. It really captures your imagination how a shophouse like this can actually be a cinema.

Chinese poster of a pontianak film

Old made-in-Singapore film poster featuring well-knoen comedian Ye Fung

Parting shot of yesteryear