The Youth Voice

Are cockroaches art?


That question seemed to hover over a small group of visitors as they peered incredulously at the white cockroaches encased in glass exhibits in a basement of a shophouse.

Revolting? But the roaches were still, unthreatening, almost pristine in their glass imprisonment. So what was this exhibit supposed ­­­to mean? There were no plaques which are traditionally used by museums to explain the work of 'art'.

It was only until the tour guide explained that local artist Zhao Renhui, who dug these roaches in the Tottori Desert of Japan. The perception of roaches, long condemned as vile vermin by mankind, was challenged when Zhao placed them in a different context altogether -- such as a basement of a shophouse, eliciting a strange sense of surrealism.

Of course, there are no limitations to interpreting the art piece, as roaches can mean differently in a societal perspective. Perhaps Zhao wanted to portray social pariahs in the form of cockroaches.

But one thing remained for these visitors -- the image of a white cockroach encased in a glass canister would be stuck in their heads for sometime.

And this is what the OH! Open House art exhibition concept attempts to do – provoking memorable impressions in its visitors. Eight private shophouses along Niven Road were opened to the public showcasing 20 artists’ works, both local and international, from Dec 4 to Dec 6.

Without the traditional museum formalities, Open House presented an experiential and raw approach of looking at art, which was fairly new and unconventional in Singapore.

“What drew the crowd was the concept of entering people’s private spaces and to draw upon the impression of each art piece placed there,” said Stephanie Burt, a member of the OH! Team.

Hopping from house to house, visitors in groups of 15 were invited to immerse themselves in installations and paintings placed in different ambiences, conjuring different moods. For instance, local art collective :Phunk’s whimsical art sculptures stood out against the setting of an antique red Oriental house.

In another kooky homage to pop culture, :Phunk invited visitors to put on 3D glasses on a small hunt for their lightbox artwork as they navigated their way through dim rooms illuminated by pink fluorescent lights.

And on the walls of a Parisian parlour, the haunting portraits of children stared austerely at visitors. Clothed in traditional garb, some of these children had missing hands or bloodied limbs. Not much was known about the painter, Huang Wei, a local, as his works were just recently discovered – and that fact only served to evoke more mystery and eeriness in his art.

Tour guides were volunteers ranging from students to working professionals. Keeping with the OH! concept of open-ended, interpretive ways of looking at art, they were given only a partial context of the works that were exhibited.

Student Joycelyn Ng, 21, who hails from LASELLE College of the Arts said: “Not just visitors, even volunteers like us are given lots of leeway for our own interpretation of each work. This isn’t a museum walk at all, there is no fixated way at how one should look at an artwork.” Joycelyn signed up because she wanted to gain more experience in art curating.

“Thus OH! presents a more engaging and interactive response from the audience, instead of being just passively guided along.”

Chad Han, 21, who is currently serving his National Service, felt that such experiential art should be encouraged more in Singapore. “I definitely like the way how they present their artwork. And I’d prefer an experience like this rather than the usual museum tours.”

He was particularly impressed with Singaporean artist Lynn Lu’s installation of her own hair collected over a period of two years and then spun painstakingly around a four-poster bed.

“Initially I thought it was kind of gross until I heard the explanation. Despite hair is on a living person, it is actually quite dead. When you see hair in unwanted places or on a person you do not know, you shun from it,” he said. “However, if it’s from a loved one, no matter how ‘gross’ you find, the thought goes away. That I find pretty amazing.”

An estimated number of 700 visitors went for the house tour over the three-day period. OH! was organised by Alan Oei of Salon Projects, a curatorial company. He was also the mastermind behind Blackout, another art exhibition held in a warehouse in July. Mr Oei also hoped that through OH!, more would be drawn to art.