February 03, 2020
Each summer, NUS Museum takes on a cohort of interns who develop through practical museum work experience in various forms. To test the cohort’s ability to apply what they have learned, the programme culminates in a research project that asks each group within the cohort to propose a thoroughly researched exhibition, event or programme. The stipulation is that the proposal must connect with themes or concepts that the Centre For the Arts is working with at the time.
Luqman Hakim Bin Abdul Rahman (year 4, Faculty of Arts and Social Science) was part of the 2019 summer internship group and for his project he co-curated a film series that reflected the NUS Arts Festival 2020 theme: Ways of Seeing. The process was testing, with numerous films researched and considered before a final set that spanned cultures and production periods was presented as a potential series.
This student project was the basis for the films that feature in the NUS Arts Festival, and Luqman has remained involved as co-curator of the series!
We spoke with Luqman about how he approached his challenge and connected the concepts behind Ways of Seeing to cinema and curation.
What does Ways of Seeing mean to you?
The influence of John Berger [author of the text Ways of Seeing] on my own modes of seeing and understanding art has been immense. Sight has always been taken for granted by everyone due to its supposed “objectivity” but as Berger demonstrates, this is not the case. Ways of Seeing is thus a mode of looking at art that I find most pertinent today in its placement and understanding of art that is situated within history. There is no larger valorization of art as something completely unique and separate from its mode of production and in that sense I feel that the theme allows me to appreciate art more thoroughly while requiring that I be conscious of the larger history and context that lies behind each piece.
Where did you draw inspirations from to come up with the idea of proposing a film series in your internship group project?
I have never really been a film buff so the fact that we came up with films as part of our project was not entirely our own. We also took input from our supervisors.
Going back to the films themselves, my group and I centered our choice of films around the theme that we chose, art and advertising. In this case we had to scour databases and other resources for films which had some tangential relation with the notion of advertising so as to not stray too far from the topic. My own personal inspiration in choosing certain films has always been linked to a certain kind of revolutionary energy, particularly films that dealt with interpretations of drastic or radical change for the better, or a sort of ‘revelationary’ energy, where there is a revelation of a previously hidden aspect of reality. This showed itself in two of the films we chose for our project, which unfortunately couldn’t be screened in the festival, ‘No’ and ‘They Live’.
Ultimately I feel that it is the revolutionary aspect of Ways of Seeing which guided our choices in the project.
What do you want your audience to take away from each show in relation to the Festival’s theme?
Art has always had a tenuous relationship with reality. Films continuously challenge that relationship and thus our own relationship with reality. I think one important thing that can be taken from the series is how art is not only part of our reality, but also shapes our perception of reality. Art is not a passive representation of reality. Art is not placed upon a pedestal separate from our own reality, it creates a society that learns to appreciate it and critique it according to the conditions of the time. Thus the production of art not only creates artworks for the individual to appreciate, it also creates the individual for the artwork to be appreciated by.
Of the films you proposed which stands out as the most supportive of the Festival’s theme and why?
The notion of Ways of Seeing constantly comes out in the films for the festival, with each one bringing something different to the fray when it comes to the notion of art and reality.
The Act of Killing is one film that I feel should shake us to the core, both in terms of actual topic and its own proximity to us here in Singapore. A documentary that talks about Indonesia’s mass killings of PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia) members. The Act Of Killing is sure to really challenge our notion of reality, primarily through how the director confronts the people in the documentary itself and the notion of re-presenting reality. With a setting right in the middle of Southeast Asia, I do hope that watching the film would ignite a sort of desire in the viewers into attempting to find out different modes of “seeing” as opposed to just listening to the official message. I also hope that in watching the film, the viewers can also understand that our concept of reality and how we see things is very much shaped by material and historical conditions that affect us on a day-to-day basis.
Catch our film series at the NUS Arts Festival 2020. Tickets are now available for each of the 4 selected films. Please click each film title for ticket registrations. Rashomon (20 March), Weathering With You (21 March), The Act of Killing (27 March) and A Quiet Place (28 March) will be held at Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium.