ampulets

Which I did not quite suffer from, despite Singapore being 6 hours ahead of central European time. There is the comfort and relief of being home, and the discomfort of the weightiness of home. Travel, even for work, provides a kind of suspension. Perhaps it is because summer in Europe provided the shadiest of day, even at 9pm. Once in Singapore, gravity hits. And the heavy, moisture-laden air. As promised, some silly comics during my visit to Art Basel , the Venice Biennale and Documenta 12 - these are all I managed when I was awake on the hotel bed/train/plane. J told me his weeknights then were spent watching Matthey Barney's Cremaster Cycle (which showed at the National Museum of Singapore), trying not to cough, and working. (1/2) J & Y appreciate art (3) Art appreciates! (4) J appreciates more art (5) Art appreciates Venice (6) J ____ work (7) Singapore artists appreciate Venice (8/9) amps prisoners of artwork And contrary to what these smarty pictures seem to s...

(Drawings and pics of the trip coming up soon when I get back home!) The night before last my colleagues and I got lost in Venice. And I thought of Calvino's Invisible Cities . As it was still early after dinner, we had taken a meandering, leisurely walk through Venice's narrow alleyways towards the city's edge to catch a ferry back to Lido island. We did not know where exactly we were, or which pier we would eventually find. And when we did hear the gentle lapping of the water against the city's edge, we did find a pier. It was not a pier we recognised, but the sign said that one of the ferries would be headed to Lido. We were surprised by our good luck. We waited about 20mins before the ferry arrived and boarded it. It chugged slowly off and sputtered to a stop along the way at some other quiet piers. The ride was taking longer than we had expected. But the air was cool, and in the darkness, who knows where we were all going anyway? Then each stop grew mor...

art-ed out 3 whole days of looking at art here , and it is hard to pretend that it is not about the money. While, visually or intellectually, the works have not been engaging so far. Perhaps Venice and Kassel the next few days will be different. Silly me brought a camera, but did not bring the wire to download. But if you are keen to see some pictures of Art Basel, click here .

love-hate doodles I'll be going to Venice, Basel and Kassel late tonight - for work (yes, hard as it is to believe, there's work to be done in these cities!). But it must be yet another sign of growing old, that despite the seemingly exciting destinations, us amps are dreading being apart. Such cringey stickiness aside, we are happy to share that there's an Invisible City you can actually see (ah, loveliest of oxymorons!) without having to leave these shores - So go get your tickets to and check out the trailer for Tan Pin Pin's latest documentary Invisible City here ! The much anticipated newest work from Tan Pin Pin Invisible City opens 19 July 2007 with free screenings at NUS followed by a commercial run at The Arts House. Tan Pin Pin, one of Singapore’s best known filmmakers, directed the critically and commercially acclaimed Singapore GaGa as well as the multi award-winning Moving House . She now turns her sharp and witty eye to the subject of memory....

light spirit - from an old sketch Walking home after lunch today, we saw 2 boys walking toward us, one holding a can of lemonade. We did not know them, but they were - without doubt - neighbourhood boys. Y: Hey, did you smell that? J: Yup. Y: Those boys just sniffed glue huh? J: [ turns around ] He's still sniffing. See. Y: I wonder why...what on earth can be so compelling about that smell? And the damage to your brain cells! J: I don't know. It's the same for people who wake up and immediately start to drink beer, or need to have a smoke. Maybe it numbs or relaxes, leaves a good feeling. Y: I guess, I can understand how having a smoke can be relaxing... but things at the human level - they're strange, aren't they - smoke, glue, alcohol. Whichever government or culture, for all the talk the big time folks do at parliament, it can seem so removed from these smaller realities. J: ... So this explains the empty tins of tiger brand glue or some other solvent b...

a quick colour exercise If you were a day in a week, and you were a tuesday - ah, what a nondescript day you would be. You would not have the distinction of being blue and black to salaried slaves who take the morning train. You would not bear the mid-week exhaustion. You would not even have that slight anticipation, that borrowed happiness of being just a day before - yes, thank god! You certainly won't enjoy any dates or get mentioned with the late night movies. And there'll be no rest - holy or otherwise - attached to your name.