AIM: Raffles - lee wen 李文
1. A.I.M. (Artists Investigating Monuments):
Untitled ( Raffles )
Raffles Landing Site, Singapore
June 2000
Concept
To build a scaffolding with a platform of equal height and as close as possible to the pedestal that the statue of Raffles is standing on.
Invite audiences and passers-by to go up to the platform and look at the statue of Raffles from the platform.
Take photographs and interview the audience who go up to the platform asking them the feeling of looking at Raffles from a different perspective.
Raffles Landing Site, Singapore
June 2000
Concept
To build a scaffolding with a platform of equal height and as close as possible to the pedestal that the statue of Raffles is standing on.
Invite audiences and passers-by to go up to the platform and look at the statue of Raffles from the platform.
Take photographs and interview the audience who go up to the platform asking them the feeling of looking at Raffles from a different perspective.
2.A.I.M. (Artists Investigating Monuments):
In response to Henry Moore's "Butterfly" sculpture at the House of World Cultures"
Spaces and Shadows: Politics of fun, House of World Culture, Berlin, Germany 2005
Lee Wen in collaboration with Kai Lam
As a follow up to the AIM project in Singapore where artists investigated various public monuments in a site specific and contextual response, we would like to propose a work to explore the Henry Moore’s “Butterfly” sculpture in Berlin.
Cleaning Performance:
We would like to appear in bright colored working clothes or overalls and wash the sculpture with (ecological) soap and water. This is in memory of how the owners (OCBC Bank in Singapore) of Henry Moore sculpture (reclining figure
1938/1984) in Singapore polished the sculpture and resulted in a protest by the Henry Moore foundation some years ago. The polishing gave the sculpture a shining surface and had destroyed the patina that the bronze sculpture had acquired over time.
The Cleaning performance also has allusions of the obsession with cleanliness in Singapore’s society. The performance is based not on spectacle but the normal menial tasks of doing cleaning work, which is mostly done by foreign labour in Singapore.
Gearing up to the actual performance we also plan to make a research through the Henry Moore Foundation or other public monument organizations to establish contact and to find out if they have any standing instructions or an appropriate way to ‘clean’ the sculpture. We may want to exhibit these findings with the context of the other photo/ video documentations of the exhibition.
Installation:
1. To build a pontoon leading from edge of the pond pointing in direction from the entrance of the HKW to the “Butterfly Sculpture” and making a platform surrounding the sculpture.
2. Photo/ Video Documentation for the exhibition:
1.Photo/ Video documentation of Cleaning Performance.
2.Photo/ Video documentation of highlighted works from past AIM projects.
3. Wall texts:
Research with Henry Moore Foundation on cleaning of sculptures/ monuments
Research/ correspondence with public monument organizations on cleaning of sculptures/monuments.
Spaces and Shadows: Politics of fun, House of World Culture, Berlin, Germany 2005
Lee Wen in collaboration with Kai Lam
As a follow up to the AIM project in Singapore where artists investigated various public monuments in a site specific and contextual response, we would like to propose a work to explore the Henry Moore’s “Butterfly” sculpture in Berlin.
Cleaning Performance:
We would like to appear in bright colored working clothes or overalls and wash the sculpture with (ecological) soap and water. This is in memory of how the owners (OCBC Bank in Singapore) of Henry Moore sculpture (reclining figure
1938/1984) in Singapore polished the sculpture and resulted in a protest by the Henry Moore foundation some years ago. The polishing gave the sculpture a shining surface and had destroyed the patina that the bronze sculpture had acquired over time.
The Cleaning performance also has allusions of the obsession with cleanliness in Singapore’s society. The performance is based not on spectacle but the normal menial tasks of doing cleaning work, which is mostly done by foreign labour in Singapore.
Gearing up to the actual performance we also plan to make a research through the Henry Moore Foundation or other public monument organizations to establish contact and to find out if they have any standing instructions or an appropriate way to ‘clean’ the sculpture. We may want to exhibit these findings with the context of the other photo/ video documentations of the exhibition.
Installation:
1. To build a pontoon leading from edge of the pond pointing in direction from the entrance of the HKW to the “Butterfly Sculpture” and making a platform surrounding the sculpture.
2. Photo/ Video Documentation for the exhibition:
1.Photo/ Video documentation of Cleaning Performance.
2.Photo/ Video documentation of highlighted works from past AIM projects.
3. Wall texts:
Research with Henry Moore Foundation on cleaning of sculptures/ monuments
Research/ correspondence with public monument organizations on cleaning of sculptures/monuments.