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Misc: I Dare the Moderator to Delete this Subversive Entry
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances; Esplanade has drawn much flak from Singaporeans who complained about the exorbitant bill (a whopping $600 million) that tax-payers have to pay to get it up and running. It’s for the angmohs isn’t it? Why are we paying money for their entertainment one may ask.
Someone else casually mentioned that Esplanade is part of government’s effort to manufacture artificial creativity in the people. Without espousing more on his ideas, I gather he sounded frustrated with the state of affairs of our art scene.
Interestingly, the debate on Esplanade came up during class and there was a weak consensus that Esplanade was pretty much a turn off because of its in-your-face moves to promote the arts.
Some quotes from my forum
- “In Singapore, Art is treated like a ka-ching cash machine.”
- “We need REAL SPACE. SPACE TO OFFEND AND PROVOKE, TO ENTERTAIN AND EXPRESS, ETC. IN ALL WAYS.”
- “The question that organisers at esplanade should be asking is. With this act/musical/concert, who do I want to attract? what do i want to promote? It is natural that not all acts will be able to appeal to all audiences, and everyone in singapore.”
- “They should get Green Day concerts, rock concerts, that kind of thing. Not high art but very popular culture. Preferably American bands.
Then again esplanade is too high class. Its really meant for high art right? Not for the everyday Singaporean.They should instead of subsidizing tickets for the high art scene bring in rock bands that express Youth’s discontent with the system.”
Well, I don’t know…do you guys really think that Esplanade promotes only high art that targets a niche population? I don’t think the West considers the Mosaic Music Festival as high art for example. Yes, Esplanade does offer symphonies and all but on the other hand, they do rock bands as well. I do agree, however, that the sheer majesty (read elitist feel) of the complex itself does alienate youths and perhaps, the average Singaporeans
I don’t think Singaporeans are incapable of appreciating the arts or the high arts for that matter. It’s just that they need time to venture out of their comfort zone and realize that arts is really about appreciating the beauty in things, enjoying the entertainment from art forms, not something particular to a specific class of people.
I think the problem with Singaporeans is they complain too much even before they understand the issue fully and even after they understood the issue fully, they won’t soil their hands to right the problem. They commented, complained, railed against the government’s efforts but other than criticisms, have they done anything concrete to alter the present situation? Do we as a nation and community dare voice our opinions to the authorities and say look this is not what we want and this is what we want.
Let’s not touch high politics and the likes. Let’s just talk about Esplanade for example. If we don’t like the symphonies and the ballets, why don’t we write to esplanade’s programming team for example and tell them bring in Green Day, make Esplanade redefine arts. Music in the 21st century is rock bands and the likes, not some Austrian guy whose bones are crumbling in some obscure grave.
The arts scene in Singapore is young and it is up to us, Singaporeans to tell them our aesthetics preference.
And one man in his time plays many parts
What’s yours?
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on 15 March 2006 at 3:54 pm
There is a line drawn between arts and pop culture. Even that line itself could possibly be an artistic venture.
on 15 March 2006 at 4:17 pm
hmm brennan i don’t understand what you were trying to say
on 15 March 2006 at 4:32 pm
[…] tumtum questioned the viability of the Esplanade. In fact, its is pretty amusing to read about how prickly is the durians. […]
on 16 March 2006 at 11:53 am
I’m not saying we should eliminate them. What I’m saying is that we should redefine arts for youths. Youths don’t like symphonies and the likes then why can’t we have rock concerts for youth appreciation. the rest of the people can go for high art. That’s not a problem to me. Just that stop pushing ballets and the likes to us
on 11 September 2009 at 2:17 am
so what’s the problem, what’s the problem, what’s the problem?
youths aren’t happy with esplanade choices?
then don’t bloody go there.
if they do happen to, as hardcore as anything else, want more of these popular rock bands, or whatever they may be deemed to be, there’s a bunch of other organizers who has been working hard on getting acts like above mentioned to have shows here. and it’s plenty.
everyone’s got to have something on their menu. esplanade’s got their own.
the mosaic festival does have its fair share of obscurity (think Of Montreal, Psapp, Mum, Battles, Cinematic Orchestra and many others [even if they are popular elsewhere, they’re definitely not on your top40s here.] {come to think of it, they aren’t ‘high art’ or whatever else it is they might be now aren’t they?}) when it comes to inviting foreign acts to perform here.
the idea of presenting such acts, (and just personally i believe) is to open up our ears and mind for those of us who can’t go overseas to enjoy such live gigs. it’s an experience to be able to watch a live show. any type of live show. and personally, the amount of bands coming in to Singapore has risen. and it is impressive.
(motherf*cking Nine Inch Nails???!!?)
art isn’t just defined by the mediums it encompasses. it’s more than that. and the problem with seeing art in its separate mediums is the fault of mass production. but that can hang out for a bit so lets not go there.
best way to work out a situation? there are no best ways around it. that needs to be eradicated.
to appreciate is to understand. otherwise you’re just enjoying. and whilst there is nothing wrong with that, enjoying is merely a taste bud, in reality. and the problem with tastes is that it always changes. but, so does perception. but it takes a hell of a lot more to change perception.
ok, what am i getting at? what am i getting at? when your understanding is rooted to something, it’s far more concrete than a mere “oh, what shall i wear today?” or “oh, i feel like this today!”. when you understand, everything from what you think to what you say is concrete. it’s fixed. the foundation is solid. it’s objective. the only form of biasness comes from having an opinion about something. even then, it’s probably credible if your understanding for things and knowledge of things is as hard as (can’t think of a non-sexual metaphor) anything else in the world.
there is no need to redefine arts for youths. art should be appreciated by anyone and everyone who’d want to appreciate it. if you don’t want to appreciate a particular type of art, then don’t. also, actually, by propagating the things youths would want by giving them what they want, is not redefining it at all. that’s just feeding the masses.
this is not just a case of liking this or that. this is a problem with people not educating people. properly.
you keep having idiots teaching idiots, you won’t get much in the future. if all teachers or educators are at the end of the day is about a fat paycheck and a bloody vacation, then i think i’d know what the future is like here. it’s about time we started thinking about how to keep everyone in the know of things as compared to just remaining ignorant about matters.
although, ignorance is bliss.
perhaps we’re happier that way.