The strange world of early video art

HOW do you get a chicken to appreciate the beauty of Mona Lisa? In a 1985 video work, Thai artist Apinan Poshyananda sits cross-legged among a brood of chicks, shows them a picture of the painting, and patiently explains why it’s a masterpiece. 

Back then, Poshyananda had just gotten a job as an art lecturer at Chulalongkorn University and was anxious about his ability to shape young minds. He channelled these fears into art – and the result is a work so strange and eccentric, it remains today one of the best instances of early video art to emerge from South-east Asia in the 1980s.

This and other works from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines make up National Gallery Singapore’s new two-part showcase on video art in the region.

Living as we do in the age of media saturation, it might be hard to appreciate a time when video was such a nascent technology, not many people knew what to do with it. But the solutions that these artists came up with were often surprising and ingenious.

One work by Singapore artist Chng Nai Wee was created for the 1991 National Sculpture Exhibition. Instead of using traditional sculpture materials such as wood and metal, Chng offered stacks of TV sets showing actors sobbing or screaming as they respond to the various tragedies that confronted the world then.

The work, titled Sin Of Apathy, invited viewers to stand before the screens, watch these responses at length and examine their own apathy and indifference towards issues such as poverty, war and famine experienced by other countries. As the work is over 30 years old, the images have lost some resolution – but the message to Singaporeans feels as relevant as ever. 

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Other intriguing works in the show include Jean Marie Syjuco’s playful giraffe installation powered by video technology, and Baharudin Mohd Arus’ ominous-looking camera-fitted automation that hints at the future of surveillance.

See Me, See You: Early Video Installation of Southeast Asia runs at National Gallery Singapore from now till Sep 17.