Charles Lim 5
Details
Charles Lim 5
Metadata (MODS) |
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|---|---|
| Titles | Charles Lim 5: Clip 5 |
| Name | Charles Lim |
| Name | Dr. Joanne Leow |
| Type of Resource | still image |
| Genre | Interview |
| Identifier | Interview |
| Identifier | Charles Lim 5 |
| Abstract | Charles Lim discusses anxiety as a cultural phenomenon for Singaporean artists and talks about the importance of continual dialogue between opposing opinions regarding social change. |
| Extent | 3:28 |
| Form | sound recording |
| Note | Joanne Leow: I was thinking of the other “SEA STATE”s as well, like you must film the waterways, you must film “all lines run out,” right. Do you think that if you live in a different country you wouldn’t have this kind of anxiety? [0:13] Charles Lim: I think it’s interesting, I think the anxiety is interesting. Because at that point in time, when I was in, I think, in the ‘90s, or when I first started engaging in art, self-censorship was real, man. It was real scary. It’s really scary to make work and then someone will come…that kind of thing happens. And actually, it affected a lot of artists, they felt afraid of transgressing. But the thing is that I was actually studying abroad, so I wasn’t…I mean, if I was studying in Singapore, I think that that fear would have been embedded in me completely. But when I came back to Singapore and I was from abroad, I guess, it was not so embedded. So, what happened was that I kind of challenged that, actually, in a sense. But then I tried to find a strategy of doing it. But I feel that it’s interesting to engage with that, I think—I feel that we should, actually, engage with it. Also, in a sense, the problem is that, you know, I see the state is—and then you have the people on the other side. They’re both trying to show a future, they’re both trying to say—like the state will say, “oh, look at our future, it’s so wonderful!” And then, you know, the powers-that-be on the other side, then you’ll be showing another future, like, “oh look, we have this future, it’s so wonderful”—or they will start looking backwards, they’ll go, “oh, it was so wonderful before!” I feel that as an artist I’m not interested in the future and projecting a future, I’m more interested in actually living in the now, actually. Through living in the now, informing our future. I think that’s very important, because otherwise you’re always using a solution that is from somewhere else. And the problem is that that solution is not aware of your presence. Say like, maybe an NGO from outside, they will say, “oh you need more this,” you know. But it’s not quite tailored for who we are, actually, as people, and I think that’s important. And the other thing is that, I think with the state, what’s—and when I’m talking to power, actually, this is something I’m slowly trying to formulate when I speak to them, is that—when I show something negative, I try to tell them—I don’t know whether it’s working—but I try to tell them that when you’re trying to form a picture, a real picture, a portrait of someone, you need to show the flaws also, because if you don’t show the flaws, it is a form of violence on itself, actually. Of course, you want to be perfect, clean people, but that perfect person does not exist, even in the most perfect place. So, I think it’s this anxiety of being wrong, I think we need to get away from that, or being “good.” I think, in a sense, we’re all kind of biased also, and we…although, say like we do something, say like, I’m doing a work about the sea, and I know that there are—like, my friends from the Malay community, like Zai [Kuning] he’s doing something about…I feel that I cannot represent them also, you know, I can’t. So it’s important to have a conversation and allow that to happen. [3:26] Joanne Leow: And to understand the limitations… Charles Lim: Yeah. |
| Access Condition | Contact Dr. Joanne Leow |
| Subject Geographic | Pacific Ocean |
| Subject Hierarchical Geographic | Asia--Singapore------Singapore |
| Subject Local Name | ----Communication--Censorship--Culture--Pacific Ocean-- |