ART INSIGHTS: ART THAT REMEMBERS

Once read a quote by Edmund Burke on the sentiments of tragedy which says, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." A prominent event that echo this very ethos is that of the holocaust. Centuries has passed and we are often caught in the threat of forgetting. But forget we shall not as there's just too much pain to be forgotten, and with the efforts of many to make sure we remember, through art, books, memorial museums and even the internet, we do remember and must remember.

Likened to these many efforts, this pivotal body of work by Oscar Munoz on 'The Disappeared' project, we see art playing its role in questioning the very essence of our humanity with relation to non-action with a different horror. "In the 1970's, those considered threats to their country were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by their own military, especially in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The tragedy arises to the sad fact that the cause of their disappearance was never known. They merely disappeared. Art in this work is seen to fight the amnesia of forgetting what was once known as horror in the lives of many who had been taken at birth from those who opposed the government and adopted into military families in Latin America." - North Dakota Museum of Art.











Munoz would paint the portraits of these disappeared lives unto a cemented pavement and as time progresses, air would dry up the water and these portraits would disappear. Simple, yet powerful. Do take a look at the video below too and may we be challenged to never forget regardless. In the context of our nation of Malaysia, do wish that there was something like this done with our May 1969 event. Much to reconcile, much to remember.

Second Phase of the Project : POSTING ARTIST WORKSHOPS INFO AT STELLA MARIS

Finally! We are ready to promote the Artist Workshops to the students of Stella Maris High School! There are a total of 4 Artist Workshops to be conducted from July to September in conjunction with this project. All the basic information about the workshops were gathered from the artists (Chuah Chong Yong, Amanda Heng, Au Sow Yee, Chan Yoong Chia & Teoh Ming Wah) and transfered to A3 size posters. Tay Sy and Chang Hwang brought all the posters and posted them on the notice boards at the atrium right next to the school canteen last Friday (20th of June 2008). The chosen location of the atrium is very strategic as it is where students often gather and hang out outside of their classrooms. We hope the colourful design of the posters will attract students' attention and create interest for them to sign up for the workshops, where they will get a rare opportunity to interact closely with practicing contemporary artists.

| ARTIST WORKSHOP 1 - Chuah Chong Yong |





| ARTIST WORKSHOP 2 - Amanda Heng |






| ARTIST WORKSHOP 3 - Au Sow Yee |





| ARTIST WORKSHOP 4 - Chan Yoong Chia & Teoh Ming Wah |

Second Phase of the Project : MEETING in JUNE

Our project is definitely requiring more of our time as we progress towards the dates for this exciting event. As all of us who are in the organizing team have a day time job from Monday to Sunday, the only possibility to meet up for a discussion is in the evening. Normally we would meet up for 3-4 hours. But for the last meeting, we broke the record. We had a really long meeting at Sau Bin's warm and cozy house in Cheras from 8pm-4am on Friday June 13th 2008. Even though our brains were pretty much fried when the clock pointed to 1am, we managed to drank some strong mocha, courtesy of Sau Bin, which kept most of us alert through out the rest of the discussion. Nevertheless, the outcome for the meeting was extremely productive. Many issues and matters were discussed in depth and taken care of at the end of the day.

As we enter into the second phase of the project, things are really picking up. Looking at our projected timeline which involves the completion of a long list of tasks, we realized that we need more brains and hands to assist us in managing the project. So we invited an additional member into our team, Phuan Thai Meng, who is also a member from RAP. At this stage of the project, we have moved from less of curating the show to more of producing and promoting the event. New responsibilities were delegated among the 7 of us :

Production Managers : Chai Chang Hwang & Wong Tay Sy
Financial Manager : Wong Tay Sy
Public Relations Manager : Yap Sau Bin
Exhibition & Technical Managers : Chong Kim Chiew & Phuan Thai Meng
Publicity & Design Managers : Foo Wei Meng & Candice Ng

ART INSIGHTS: ONCE UPON A SCHOOL

Following our week's stint of introducing to you various art insights, today we'd like to bring to you an eye-opening dream of Dave Eggers, (TED Prize winner 2008) which has much relevance to CAIS in both purpose and call.

Once Upon A School is a community initiative by Dave Eggers, determined to bring about positive change and communal support to public schools through programs catered specifically for each school's individual needs. The strength of this initiative is not in the programs itself but rather in the very act of a community coming together and working towards contributing back into the lives of its students. What started off as an after school tutoring program (826 Valencia) with professionals in the field contributing personal hours into tutoring students soon became a well received and appraised phenomenon. Quoting from the site, "The students come to 826 because it’s fun, it’s warm, it’s full of people who care — but who don’t HAVE to care. That is, the average students knows his teacher has to help with his schoolwork, and he knows his parents have to help. But there’s something very new and transformative about meeting a member of the community — a professional journalist, a radio disc jockey, a graduate student, an advertising copywriter, a software developer, a retired lawyer — and have that person give them 2-3 hours of undivided attention. Almost without exception, student achievement and understanding leaps when they are given this concentrated one-on-one attention. Teachers and parents love the help, and the students get to ask a hundred questions until they truly understand a concept."

Take a look at this talk by Dave Eggers, challenging the public to personally and creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to do likewise.





We are truly excited with this movement that has started as CAIS Project with Stella Maris seeks to be a reflection of a similar cause. By initiating an alternative space that brings artist (click to view artist's list) who are professionals in their fields to come in closer contact with the students of a particular community and engage deeply with them, we hope to grant an opportunity for students to be exposed to contemporary art through the experiential learning of close interaction with artists.The significance of CAIS is valued in the method in which the next generation is reached, informed and educated about the importance of contemporary art.

In addition to this interaction, the project also introduces an exhibition unlike any other. By installing site specific works of local and foreign contemporary artist works at Stella Maris, the project sets an atmosphere and experience unlike that of a traditional gallery, but rather, a location where students get to ‘coexist ‘ with the artworks daily, allowing them to simply engage with the artworks on a regular basis in a familiar environment.

Do take some time with us as we journey to discover more and more of this community art's project's potential, one of which we truly believe has much calling for. At the meantime, do take a browse at this awesome community platform just mentioned above and find more insights on the direction we're heading. As we journey, it becomes more and more evident of how much a band of brothers we are across nations. Multiple ideas, similar cause.

Have a good read!

First Phase of the Project : PROJECT TIMELINE

The presentation for the CAIS Project video trailer went really well yesterday at Stella Maris High School. Based on our observation, everyone especially the students enjoyed watching the video very much. It was definitely a good starting point in launching the project, and definitely worth all the efforts that we had put in to make it happen.








Right now, our task is to gradually move towards the second phase of this project, which involves running the workshops, the production and the promotional aspects for the event. In order to better organize our tasks and keep track of the deadlines, a project timeline was drafted and printed out for easy perusal and reference. Somehow, it does look less daunting and more manageable when we put everything down on a piece of paper, albeit rather a huge one with the long list of tasks involved to run this project.

CAIS PROJECT VIDEO TRAILER!

Here's presenting to you, the long awaited official CAIS Project video trailer! To all Stella Maris students and staff involved, we thank you sincerely for your willing participation. We encourage you to leave us a note on your thoughts at the widget on the right of this blog, it would be great to hear from all of you. If you'd like to link us up, do feel free to do so too.

So without further a due, have a nice watch and we look forward with anticipation as the dates grow nearer to the final exhibition.

First Phase of the Project : MAKING CAIS PROJECT VIDEO TRAILER

On May 20th 2008, we made a trip to Stella Maris High School in the early morning. The purpose of this visit was to shoot a short CAIS Project video trailer at the school featuring some students and staffs based on a pre-determined story board. The finished video is to be presented to the students on the 9th of June 2008 during the morning assembly with the intention of promoting CAIS Project and its blog to the students. It will also be posted in this blog and in youtube.

It was a blast making the video with the students and staffs at the school! Questions that are relevant to the content of this art event (mostly related to the art works that will be exhibited in the project) were asked randomly to the interviewees. Some of the responses were funny and unexpected, some serious and conventional. For those who have yet to watch it, please check it out!

Khoo Eng Yow, who was the videographer and producer, did an amazing job with the video. We are very grateful and appreciate his collaborative effort in making the trailer the way that we have envisioned it. Much sincere thanks.

Spoiler Alert: The puppet character, code name "Miss Cun" was a fairly big hit with the interviewees. It's definitely not that common to have an undercover agent to penetrate into the school and investigate a secret project with a scope like this. There were a total of 17 suspects being discovered initially, but ONE person was successfully identified in the end. A Form One student by the name of...hmmm...maybe it's best for you to find out by watching the video.

Side Note: On the same day that we were shooting the video, the students at the school were having a fund raising campaign at the atrium. They were selling candies to raise funds for the victims of the cyclone in Myanmar. Paper cranes were also hung in the atrium as a manifestation of their blessings to the victims.