RI sculptors fill Singapore's Volume and Form

By Amir Sidharta

SINGAPORE (JP): Visitors lining up at Singapore's immigration checkpoint at Changi airport are greeted with the city's latest touch of aesthetics. Works of fine art and quite monumental sculpture are placed in each of the four arrival halls of the airport, giving a new dimension to the vast and otherwise rather mundane space.

Actually, many other sculptures are placed along the long walkways connecting the main terminal to the terminal gates. Among others, Indonesian artist S. Teddy D's Tak Kutuk Dadi Watu (I Curse To Become Stone) consists of stone television sets and can be seen by observant passengers passing through gate sections D and E, located between Terminal 1 and 2 of the airport.

Hundreds of sculptures by artists from 20 countries in the Asia Pacific region have been brought to Singapore as part of the Volume and Form exhibition, which will last until Sept. 5. The exhibition is meant to transform the island nation into a vast outdoor sculpture gallery. Sculpture pieces will be placed throughout the island; from the airport, to parks, museums, hotels, commercial areas and other public spaces. The largest concentration of works can be found in the 52-hectare botanical gardens.

Indonesian-based sculptors have also been invited to participate in the show and their works can be found in and around the Singapore Art Museum. A piece by Pintor Sirait is placed prominently in front of the Singapore Art Museum. Reminiscent of a large fowl with a purple and green body and an orange tail, this colorful sculpture is titled Phoenix Rising. In fact, the sculptor describes the phoenix as a mythical pseudobird related to myths symbolizing resurrection.

Equipped with a spiral staircase, the artwork constructed out of painted steel and aluminum allows or even invites people to climb around the sculpture, making it a rather interactive piece.

"I am encouraging the viewer to not only experience this sculpture visually, but interact with its ascending/descending spiraling potential in relation to the idea of a mandala as a dance," explains the artist.

Sculptures by Mella Jaarsma, Anusapati, F.X. Harsono, and Yusra Martinus are placed in the glass-encased corridors of the Singapore Art Museum. Harsono's Charred Victims (1995), an installation of charred wood pieces put together to look like corpses with the use of nuts and bolts, reminds viewers of the charred victims trapped inside shop houses and shopping malls during the May 1998 riots in Jakarta. Interestingly enough, the work was done three years before the incident. It is clear that the artist is not only referring to a single historical incident, but to a larger issue of violence and society's deprivation of humanity.

Mella Jaarsma's My Kampung's Private Places is another installation consisting of metal woks placed on terra-cotta urns. Photographs of various Javanese kitchen scenes are set in fiberglass resin in the wok, so as to create an impression that the images are floating. In two woks, there are molds of hands, perhaps a reference to the emphasis on manual labor of such kitchens. "A kitchen, which is the essence of family life, is a very closed place. This is not a place for strangers to visit, it is often very dirty and impractical," the artist explains. She contrasts the kitchen with other parts of the house. She observes that the elements found in a kitchen reflect the social status of the family.

Anusapati's Object no. 9 is a giant wooden spoon that consists of two parts connected with a hinge. "An important source for my works is traditional equipment produced and used by people in the village, which is not disappearing, but is replaced by modern, industrially made equipment," says the artist. The hinged spoon certainly raises the issue about the utensil's usability. What is the function of the hinge? Does it increase its function, or does it make it rather unusable?

A grouping of sculptures placed at the city's new Sculpture Square, a venue converted from a modest old church not far from the Singapore Art Museum, is perhaps the most interesting arrangement of works in the exhibition. A gigantic head of a goddess titled Devi by Indian sculptor Ravinder Reddy, measures almost three meters high, and is placed in the main hall of the old church. It appears like a giant trapped inside the small old building, especially to passers-by at night, giving a rather surrealistic impression. There were also some people who thought that the place was an Indian church of some sort. In fact, Reddy's sculptures address the issues of gender in contemporary Indian society.

Hedi Heryanto's sculpture, Silakan Makan (Bon Apetit/Eating Nothing) is also placed in the building which is the main gallery space of Sculpture Square. It is a construction resembling a giant teapot warmer through which people can walk. The outer wall is formed using tin cans from food products, primarily biscuits and milk. However, the artist has also used the tin container of contact adhesive in this construction. Hundreds of spoons are placed on the inner walls of the construction, creating a nauseating effect to those walking into or standing inside it. The piece is certainly a commentary on food and diet. The artist wants to show industrial dominance on the food products that we eat today, and how it contains more chemical compounds rather than "the essential substances that our body needs".

There are also works by G. Sidharta Soegijo and Nindityo Adipurnomo in the Volume and Form exhibition. However, it is unclear where their works have been placed.

Although the organizers have made an interesting brochure to promote the event, there is still no map showing the location of the works. It is really unfortunate that the organizers have not been able to provide an informative map that would make it easier for art enthusiasts to look for the sculptures in Volume and Form. A map that lists all of the works in the show along with a visual reference and provides geographical information about where the pieces are located would be a crucial management tool for a visitor to the island nation in determining which works they would like to see and where they are located.

Without this map, the exhibition becomes too reliant on visitors walking through and stumbling into a piece of sculpture. Even seasoned travelers who use Changi airport all the time might not realize that a wonderful show of sculptures is going on, and the airport is one of the venues in which the exhibition is staged. Much less would first-time tourists to Singapore notice the show. Some works also might not be clearly identified as a sculpture.

Despite its shortcomings, Singapore's Volume and Form can certainly offer some inspiration for Jakarta to hold a similar show in the festive year 2000. Jakarta can certainly learn from the accomplishments as well as the mistakes that Singapore has faced this year, so that they will be able to hold a similar if not better show next year.