Bukit Brown Index #132: Triptych of the Unseen
But, If the city is the world which man created, it is the world in which he is henceforth condemned to live […]
Robert Park (as cited in Harvey, 2012)
In 2011, the Land Transport Authority announced plans to construct an
8-lane highway cutting through Bukit Brown Cemetery. The plan was to exhume 5,000 tombs and remove a large part of the nature in Bukit Brown. The highway project led to a sudden explosion of public fervour in questioning the need for redevelopment in Singapore, and strong public interests in preserving the heritage of Bukit Brown.
Triptych of the Unseen is an installation and a performance in three parts. With the help of the cardboard goggles, the audience will join the spectral spectators in watching a performance by three characters (Ghost, Activist and Bureaucrat).
Triptych of the Unseen is a story about Bukit Brown. It is a story that details the consequences of a place which stands on the ‘fault lines’ of urban restructuring.
It is a story about the struggle for space in the city which reveals the three characters’ moral contradictions and their entanglement with each other. They (We) are trapped within this ‘unseen’ tragicomedy where spectators and performers ‘are condemned’ to watch and perform this act endlessly. (Un)knowingly, they become victims to the priorities embedded in the grammar of the city.
This is a story of one city (Singapore) but may very well be playing in many cities too.
Triptych of the Unseen is open for free viewing from Wed-Sun, 12-8pm The Substation Theatre until 23rd September.
It is a part of the Deathsong exhibition curated by The Substation. For more information, please see https://citieschange.sg/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1658094927652257/
http://www.substation.org/
Deathsong is an elegy for our landscape. The city is a ceaseless grid of lines, roads, and arteries for the virtuous circulation of labour and goods. Concrete and sand extend the city as horizontal grids with no space for nature, or even the dead. Four artists present alternative visions for place; they are not only songs for death and despair, but also songs of resistance, songs of hope.Featuring: Raymond Goh, Hayati Mokhtar, Post-Museum, and Min-Wei Ting
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There are Substation events on the 1st (5pm – 12am), 8th Sept (4.30 – 6pm) and 15th Sept (5pm -12am)which would be held in our installation.
We encourage you to come to these events as they are about heritage discourse in Singapore.
However, you would not be able to experience and watch our full performance during these events. You will need to come back another time.
The performance will be unavailable during these times:
Singapore Heritage Society is holding their ‘Time is Up?’ panel from 4.30 to 6.30.So the theatre/exhibition will be open from 1 – 3pm, then closed for the event till 6.30.
Setting up for SAD – closed all daySaturday 15 September
SAD event – closed all daySunday 16 September
Singapore Heritage Society AGM – closed all day.Saturday 22 September
Closed from 12 – 4pm due to Ai Lin’s ‘Deliberative Forum’
- if you really need to bring people to see the work. Check with Tien – to see if we can work around with Substation. (It is about sharing the space).
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Triptych of the Unseen
CAST
Ghost
Bernice Lee
Bureaucrat
Jereh Leung
Activist
Chloe Chotrani
Audience
Akeelah
Christopher Chee
Chong Hong
Chu Hao Pei
Gene D’Castro
Candy Diez
Faiz
Andre Goh
Gwen Guo
Yvonne Ho
Kee Ya Ting
Pak-Juan Koe
Johnny Lam
Angeline Lee
Jason Lee
Sabrina Lee
Maggie Lek
Leow Si Min
Liu Wen Chao
Maisarah
Min Hyung
CY Ong
Yen Phang
Bianca Polak
Pui Cuifen
Sammie
Samantha Segar
See Kian Wee
Soe Min Than
Guyrence Tan
Tan Hang Chong
Li-Anne Tan
Ted Tan
Valerie-Ann Tan
Johnson Tang
Tay Shiying
Renee Ting
Juria Toramae
Yang Ge
Denise Yap
Amanda Yeo
Elena Yeo
Raymond Yeo
Yingxuan
Yoon Li
Victor Yue
Narrator
Richard Chua
CREW
Director
Post-Museum
Choreography
Bernice Lee in collaboration with Jereh Leung and Chloe Chotrani
Costume and Makeup
Veron Lau
Soundscape
Lai Yu Tong
VR APP
Lim Shengen
Set Painters
Marla Bendini
Chu Hao Peh
Foo Hui wen
Isabell Hansen
Lai Yu Tong
Lousia Ruth Nonis
Eugene Tan
Artist Assistant
Foo Huiwen
Opera Furniture
Singapore Sin Yen Lin Hokkien Wayang
Driver
Chua Ngak Theng
Additional Videography
Chew Keng Kiat
Additional Photography
See Kian Wee
Special thanks to Alan Oei and The Substation Team, and Ah Heng.
