17 October – 23 November 2014Silverlens Singapore

VINCENT LEONG: Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (This Day in History) in collaboration with RogueArt

Vincent Leong’s practice has consistently engaged with structures

and systems of representation to provoke a critical reconsideration

of where and how we locate meaning. He uses various strategies

to deconstruct our experience of popular, iconic or everyday

material, at times subtracting, reconfiguring and recontextualising

key elements, playing off the visual and other aesthetic codes that

govern our perception.

In this exhibition of new and recent works, Leong meditates on the

contradictions and difficulties of framing a national consciousness,

and the means of its representation.

The works adopt or refer to familiar forms of expressing national

identity and agenda – landscape paintings, school murals, a national

monument, the newspaper, and a patriotic song – but they fail to

articulate any clear messages. References are pulled from different

key points in a national narrative – a colonial past, a moment of

independence, a formation of a new nation, a current day, a vision

of a united future; and then pulled apart. Emotional and aesthetic

undercurrents of pride, nostalgia, youthful angst, frustration, and

hope press against one another and up against the pane of this

compromised narrative.

The ideas for the works in this show have been developed over the

past few years, growing out of the artist’s personal experience and

anxiety as a citizen negotiating a problematic national and social

context. Yet each of them pivots on a calibrated sense of disconnect

with and between messages propagated about his national identity.

They pose questions about nationalism and patriotism, news and

propaganda, history and progress, and their meaning.

The title of photograph Kenapamu, Malaysia? (2014) can be roughly

translated as “Why, Malaysia?”. It is a pun on “Keranamu Malaysia”

(“For you, Malaysia”), the theme song for Malaysia’s National Day

from 2000 to 2006. Leong’s photograph is of Malaysia’s national

monument, the Tugu Negara, built in 1962 as a monument to the

brave soldiers who fought the war against communism, which

helped lead to the independence of the Federation of Malaya in 1957.

The historical context of this conflict is in itself problematic 1, but the

angle of this photograph poses a broader question: What does it feel

like to look at a national monument from behind?

Following the moment of Independence, Malaysia was formed in 1963

with the union of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. For the opening

act of this exhibition, Singapore neo-rock ’n’ roll band The Pinholes

performs the song “Divided Land”, celebrating Singapore’s entry

into this union, or reunion, of communities. The physical meaning

of “Malaysia” changed within a very short time. With Singapore’s exit

from the union just two years later, and the very different paths the two

nations have taken since, would young Malaysians and Singaporeans

today recognise, or sing along to, the words of this song?

Through its modern history to today, cultural unity has been a

mainstay of Malaysia’s national agenda as a slogan of the ruling

party and for global tourism 2, while component factions continue

to lobby for a racialised agenda, dividing education and economic

development according to racial categories.

“Recently there have been heated arguments on ‘keeping politics out

of schools’; but it has always been part of our education. Propaganda

gets to you at a very early age, when one submits to be part of the

by RogueArt

1

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (This Day in History)

system. For example, time and time again, we are told that we live in

a multi-cultural nation, although it is mainly governed by and focused

on only three groups of people: The Malays, Chinese and Indians

(and sometimes ‘Others’). We learn that it is always important to

know ‘who you are’ and ‘who they are’. I would like to believe that

it wasn’t always like that.”

– Vincent Leong

For 1000Malaysia (2014), Leong has collected images of school

murals propagating messages of 1Malaysia and cultural unity,

compositing them into a jigsaw puzzle. Fragmented and incomplete,

how do we begin to piece it together?

Adult generations of Malaysians have accustomed themselves to

the reality of limited press freedom, and the idea of mainstream

newspapers, owned by companies linked to political parties, being

a mouthpiece for political agendas. Mainstream newspapers’

messaging in response to the most recent elections, however,

created a heightened furor against its prejudices.

“There have always been criticisms of mainstream media as

propaganda, and its prejudice increases during election seasons; but

of late, these war-chats are now a daily occurrence. Always searching

for new threats, in hope of uniting against a common enemy. UMNO’s

mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, has been provoking citizens by stoking

religious and racial sentiments. Some writers of the hateful articles

published don’t even dare to give their real names. Who are the

organisers and what do they hope to achieve with this?”

– Vincent Leong

Impropaganda (2014) is a pared-down reflection on the role and character

of the media today, which can be read both on a local and a global

level. A stack of broadsheets emptied of text, it reduces the newspaper

medium to its cold reality as space for rent, a form of real estate mapped

according to the design of commercial and political interests. In this

illegible, ambivalent works, questions hang in the air about the kinds of

agendas shaping our contemporary reading of the nation.

Leong’s interventions into various forms of national representation may

appear as simple, playful formal exercises. Yet they are also emotional

acts, expressing a sense of betrayal, frustration, disenfranchisement,

fragmentation and loss.

The exhibition’s title is borrowed from an educational television and radio

programme, “Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah”, aired on a daily basis on Malaysian

national television and radio since 1980, which creates a bridge between

the trials and achievements of a nation’s past to a present day.

Two digital works, made in collaboration with Martin Constable,

create a similar bridge across history, using a form of node-based

software to composite contemporary elements into early 19th

century landscapes of Penang.

In One Hundred Years (2014), a couple of young motorbike riders hang

out in the foreground of a landscape captured by Captain Robert Smith,

a British colonial artist in 1818, a tourist information complex now nestled

in its once pristine hillslopes. In Pictures of You (2014), Smith’s Cascade,

from the same year, and later popularized in print versions and modern-

day postcards, a damming project, complete with warning signs,

interrupts the flow of a luscious cascade.3

2

These picturings of a country’s landscape and identity have already

been written over by the present. How will we see this day in history,

tomorrow?

In Roundabout (2014), we find a different kind of pun on the

Malaysian landscape painting. The young biker character appears

again, this time in the role of the painter, marking the canvas with

the front wheel of his bike, in what is known in mat rempit slang

as a “roundabout”. Illegal street racers who terrorise local traffic

(and are at times hired by political parties to popularise their

campaigns), mat rempit represent a renegade community, a racial

and cultural stereotype of bored, frustrated youth out to prove

their daring and masculinity.

3

1 The Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was a crucial ally of the British dring the Second World War, fighting against the Japanese Occupation. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, the MCP changed its name to ‘Malayan Peoples’ Liberation Army’ (MPLA) in 1948, and the party began to campaign for a Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Malaya, which included Singapore. Thus began the long war between the MPLA and British colonial and then Malaysian forces, and the 12-year Emergency period, which ended in 1960.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Communist_Party2 “Malaysia, Truly Asia” has been the theme for Tourism Malaysia’s promotions since 1999.3 The two works are titled after songs by British rock band The Cure, led by the vocalist and songwriter, Robert Smith. “During the early 1980s, the band’s increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cure

There is a kind of violent listlessness expressed in the act and form of

this marking – a pointless journey in an autocentric landscape “where

roads replace rivers, trees make way for concrete towers, automobiles

behave like animals. This is our landscape now.”

“If only I’d thought of the right words,

I could have held on to your heart.

If only I’d thought of the right words,

I wouldn’t be breaking apart/ all my pictures of you.”

– Pictures of You (Robert Smith, 1989)

4

From left to right: 1000Malaysia, Impropaganda and Kenapamu, Malaysia?

Installation view at Silverlens, SingaporePhoto: Silverlens Galleries

5

Kenapamu, Malaysia?digital c-print mounted on 3mm aluminum composite sheet59.06 x 40.16 in • 150 x 102 cm2014Editions of 15

Impropagandaoffset print on newsprint, broadsheet format, 16 pages, 555 copies, in acrylic display case45.48 x 8.27 x 17.32 in • 115 x 59.5 x 44 cm2014Editions of 2

6

7

1000Malaysiajigsaw puzzle32.48 x 46.77 in • 82.5 x 118.8 cm2014Editions of 2

8

From left to right: One Hundred Years, Pictures of You (in collaboration with Martin Constable) and Roundabout

Installation view at Silverlens, SingaporePhoto: Silverlens Galleries

9

Roundaboutold motor oil, tyre skid marks on canvas10 x 10 ft • 120 x 120 in • 304.8 x 304.8 cm2014

10

One Hundred Years(in collaboration with Martin Constable)20 minutes video, framed 32” LCD TV and USB flashdiskframed TV: 22.24 x 34.65 in • 56.5 x 88 cm2014Editions of 3

11

Pictures of You(in collaboration with Martin Constable)25 minutes video, framed 24” LED TV, USB flashdiskframed TV: 27.56 x 18.5 in • 70 x 47 cm2014Editions of 3

12

GALLERY EVENT

Gallery Event (Opening Reception)

The Pinholes Performance17 October 2014

watch full performance here

13

Vincent Leong (b. 1979, MY) is an iconoclast and saboteur whose works in video,

assemblage and site-specific installation often pare down experience to sets of structures

and systems. By selecting aspects of the ordinary and the popular, he investigates social

misconceptions within a larger cultural context.

VINCENT LEONG

SOLO SHOWS

2014 Vincent Leong: Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (This Day in History), Silverlens, Singapore

2012 You Are Here, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur

2007 Tropical Paradise, Sculpture Square, Singapore

The Exhibition That Was, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur

2006 The Fake Show, Reka Art Space, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2014 Re/call/Re/form/Re/master, curated by Jason Wee, Silverlens, Singapore

Fall into the Sea, to become an Island, Run Amok Gallery, Penang

2013 No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia, Guggenheim Museum, New York

2012 CUT2012: New Photography From Southeast Asia: Politics, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Singapore

2011 Tanah Ayer: Malaysian Stories from the Land, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung

2010 The Future of Exhibition: It Feels Like I’ve Been Here Before, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Singapore

2009 Some Rooms, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong

13th Jakarta Biennale, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta

2008 Contemporary Art in School Project (CAIS), Stella Maris School, Kuala Lumpur

2007 The Independence Project, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur

Selamat Datang ke Malaysia, Gallery 4A, Sydney; and Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur

4 Young Contemporaries, Num Thong Gallery, Bangkok

Threshold, 13, Jari Art Space, Gwangju and Zeroone Design Center, Seoul

2005 3 Young Contemporaries, Valentine Willie Fine Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

ART RESIDENCIES

2009 Koganecho Bazaar, Yokohama

2007 Sculpture Square, Singapore

2006 Asian Cultural Contents Creation Center Workshop, Gwangju

AWARDS

2004 BT Goldsmiths prize in Digital Media, London

2004 Malaysian Video Award for Best Experimental Video: Amateur, Kuala Lumpur

EDUCATION

2004 Goldsmiths College, University of London, London Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

2000 Centre of Advanced Design (CENFAD), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Foundation Studies

SILVERLENS (Manila and Singapore), through its

exhibition program, artist representation, art fair

participation, and institutional collaboration, aims

to place its artists within the broader framework

of international contemporary art dialogue.

SILVERLENS, founded by Isa Lorenzo and

Rachel Rillo, has earned recognition from both

artists and collectors as one of the leading

contemporary art galleries in Southeast Asia.

Artists represented include Maria Taniguchi,

Patricia Eustaquio, Gary Ross Pastrana, Luis

Lorenzana, and I Lann Yee. Recent collaborations

include the Museum of Contemporary Art and

Design Manila, Vargas Museum Manila, and

Singapore Art Museum. Silverlens participates

annually in key international art fairs.

in collaboration with

Vincent Leong: Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (This Day in History) in collaboration with RogueArtCopyright © 2014 by Vincent LeongAll rights reserved.

Published by Silverlens Singapore Pte Ltd

Vincent Leong: Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah (This Day in History) in collaboration with RogueArt presented in Silverlens, 12 September to 12 October 2014, at 47 Malan Road, #01-25, GillmanBarracks.

Exhibition Notes by RogueArt

No part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the above mentioned copyright holders, with the exception of brief excerpts and quotations used in articles, critical essays or research.

ISBN: 978-981-09-3107-0

Cover Image:Kenapamu, Malaysia?, 2014; Vincent Leong (detail)

Back Cover Image:Impropaganda, 2014; Vincent Leong (detail)

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