IMPETUS

Come watch our first production!

Several historical events escaped people’s memories, seemingly deemed insignificant in our invention of a vibrant, global city. With the aid of self-made and customised audio-visual devices, this multi-disciplinary presentation explores how these occurrences could be recorded, forgotten and fabricated, focusing on the moments and impulses before they transpired.

[Actually hor, we're doing interpretations of memory/history of Singapore in the 1980s. -Yish]

The collaborating creatives for this performance/installation are Ka Fai, Zul, Yi-Sheng, Torrance, Patricia, Joavien, Fared and Andy.

Date : 21, 22 September 2007
Time : 8pm
Venue : 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Rd (located next to The Pier) Singapore 239007
Admission: $5

To book seats, ring: 6737 7213 or email : tworks@singnet.com.sg

www.theatreworks.org.sg
www.72-13.com

First presentation over!

The feedback was pretty good - intrigued reactions from both younger audience members who remembered nothing from the 80s as well as older audience members who'd lived through the history (and in some cases, made it). Multimedia kids loved the way you could see Ka Fai and Zul operating the equipment throughout; tech guys liked the compressed space and the set of winding wired pipes that Torrance had created; others enjoyed the sheer noise and violence of Zul's sound art and my garbled monologue and Joavien's dance, and the desperation and craft of Pat's acting - I think we're a good team. Of course, some people grounded in conventional theatre weren't too thrilled with its lack of cohesion and direction of a specific message - but that's not what we were aiming for with a first presentation of ideas.

Looking forward to our next set of workshops in early October. In the meantime, here's a few shots of Joavien, me and Patricia (taken with PhotoBooth under awful lighting conditions):



And a shot of the audience during talkbacks:

Opening night!

Nervous already... most of the seats have been sold (we come from at least 5 different art communities - drama, dance, literature, art and architecture - and they're all curious).

Fortunately, to help our nerves, Theatreworks has sent us a fruit basket.

KNN... we kena censor.

MDA contacted Theatreworks and asked for us to remove one line of my Confucian timeline poem/monologue from our "Impetus" performance. (Ka Fai says he's never had any problems before with his performances... but this time the MDA specifically requested a copy of the script. Am I officially known as a troublemaker already? :/ Mixed feelings.)

The line cryptically referenced the 1982 death of Wong Ming Yang - Lee Hsien Loong's first wife, who had a fatal heart attack 3 weeks after giving birth to their albino son Lee Yi Peng.

Have to change the line to maintain its rhythmic value. Some loss of semiotic impact inevitable. Sigh.

-Yish.

Light, sound and forgotten events

Adeline Chia
Arts Reporter
The Straits Times
Sept 13, 2007

A modified cookie tin with light sensors and an old video game
console (customised to produce light and sound) are some of the
gadgets that will be featured in a new multimedia production.

Titled Impetus, the 45-minute "performance-installation" brings
together not just edgy instruments, but also artists working in
diverse fields.

It is the first show from V.I.S.T.A Lab, a series of three
experimental collaborations between artists from different
disciplines headed by TheatreWorks associate artistic director Choy
Ka Fai.

This time, his multi-hyphenate team comprises sound artist Zulkifle
Mahmod, poet-playwright Ng Yi-Sheng, set designer Torrance Goh,
actress Patricia Toh and choreographer-performer Joavien Ng.

The theme they are exploring is insignificance - specifically, the
forgotten episodes of Singapore history from 1979 to 1991.

The events they are revisiting include the 1982 visit of eight
Confucian scholars from China to develop a syllabus for Confucian
studies in schools and the 1986 death of the former National
Development minister Teh Cheang Wan, who overdosed on sleeping pills
during a probe into allegations that he had accepted bribes.

The result is a mix of dance, performance, recorded and improvised
sound and video art.

Choy, 28, a multimedia artist who is interested in fusing sound and
video art into live performance events, says: "We're interested in
how we build up, receive and transmit information about these
episodes, such as by television broadcasts. It's important to look
into how people remember things and how memories are constructed."

Impetus is on at TheatreWorks, 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road on Sept 21
and 22 at 8pm. Tickets cost $5. Call 6737-7213 or email
tworks@singnet.com.sg>

Production shots

I've uploaded my photos of us labbing away on Flickr. Some samples:

In conference after the first workshop week.

Joavien and Pat prepping for video.

Rolling rolling...

who.are.we?

Conceived and created by Choy Ka Fai, V.I.S.T.A Lab is a series of workshops that encourage interaction among the collaborating artists, who each produces unconventional works in their respective fields.

The V.I.S.T.A Labbers are:

1. Choy Ka Fai (Multimedia)
2. Mohd Fared Jainal (Graphic Design/Theatre Performance)
3. Torrance Goh/FARMWORK (Architecture)
4. Khoo Eng Tat (Interactive Art)
5. Andy Lim (Lighting Design)
6. Lim Hock Siang (Music)
7. Joavien Ng (Choreography)
8. Ng Yi-Sheng (Text)
9. Grace Tan/Kwodrent (Clothing Design)
10. Patricia Toh (Theatre Performance)
11. Zulkifie Mahmod (Sound Art)

Besides IMPETUS, two other productions under V.I.S.T.A Lab will be staged in December 2007 and February 2008.