MOP 2008 - Exhibitions

Starbound
Portraits & Film Sets Photos
3 July - 26 July, SG Private Banking Gallery

Starbound displays black-and-white photographs of French photographer Marcel Thomas, exploring behind-the-scene shots of international stars such as Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn and Marlon Brando, from highly-acclaimed classical films such as Le Bal des Maudits (1958), Trapèze (1956), and Casque d’Or (1952). This exhibition is organised and presented by Alliance Francaise de Singapour.

MOPAsia 2008 also offers public programmes which include artist talks, workshops as well as film screenings. MOPAsia is organised by Phish Communications with the support of venue partners: The Cathay, Singapore Art Museum, Post-Museum, Night & Day Gallery and 2902 Gallery. The exhibitions in the festival have been made possible with the support of the French Embassy, Baume et Mercier, BNP Paribas, Martell, Mini and HP.

Mon to Sun, 11am – 7pm daily
Sat, 11pm - 5pm; closed on Sun

HanoiHaiku
20 June - 2 July, 2902 Gallery

This series by Sherman Ong, a photographer and filmmaker is presented like a visual Haiku. Intentionally left untitled, the juxtaposition of images produces their own narratives, temporal connections, and is open to many interpretations infused with the personal experiences of individual viewers. Similar to the Japanese Haiku, they are observations in its purest form, distilled into a simple gesture, a moment of reflection, a point in a continuum, touching on the beauty of imperfection, in delicate, quiet, nuanced moments. Shown as a complete series for the first time in Singapore, these works were made in Hanoi, Vietnam during Sherman’s residency with the Goethe Institut Hanoi. Selected works from this series has been shown at PhotoQuai Musee du Quai Branly Paris, Angkor Photo Festival, the Singapore Art Show and WM Gallery, Amsterdam. This series will be exhibited in a solo show in Tokyo and the Jakarta Biennale later this year.

Mon to Sun, 12 – 7pm daily

Method
15 – 29 June, Post-Museum

Singaporean Sean Lee will also present his new series, Method, at PostMuseum. Comprising of 20 colour photographs, this series looks into the life of transsexuals or the ‘lady boy’. Sean’s work is often a product of recreated fancy, he decided this time to become the subject of his work and to enter this world as the ‘lady boy’, Shauna. Method documents Shauna's journey of discovery through her experiences in and around the world of transsexuals. The pictures depict Shauna in both public and private moments of fear or despondency, even vanity
or disinterest, where through it all she remains alone and silent. At times surreal and other-worldly, the images are also harshly realistic. The series powerfully assimilates actual and constructed reality through the personage of Shauna - at both times a person and a concept, yet always genuine. Sean’s construction of the scenes is reminiscent of the mise-en-scène of the cinematic process where he directs the scenes to reveal a story within a single frame.

Tues to Thurs 5 -10pm
Fri 5pm -11pm
Sat to Sun 12 -11pm

Out of Focus
26 June - 9 July Night & Day Gallery

An annual component of the Festival is Out of Focus, an exhibition aimed at presenting new photography talent in Singapore. Each year, the Festival exhibits emerging Singapore-based photographers. Out of Focus 2008 presents the works of four emerging photographers: Geoffrey Pakiam, Gozde Zehnder, Ng Sze Kiat and Chen Shi Han. It is curated by Objectifs - Centre for Photography and Filmmaking, a visual arts centre in Singapore. Geoffrey Pakiam in Surveillance takes a critical look into our Orwellian landscape, where nothing escapes scrutiny. But yet, the pervasiveness of reality television and tabloid fodder in today's media landscape makes us question the line between curious voyeurism and state sanctioned security - the blur between cinema/photography and real life. Gozde Zehnder, a Turkish filmmaker and photographer based in Singapore, on the other hand, wears whimsical glasses to look at her surroundings. For her, images, both moving and still, are a way of exploration and reconciliation with foreign environments. She chooses to create her art with the 'traditional' medium of transparencies, film and Super 8 film, emphasizing an innocence and purity that is void of digital manipulation. Ng Sze Kiat's images, reminiscent of film noir, speak of a yearning. A photographer/filmmaker, his photos become static versions of cinematic scenes, as viewers are left to wonder - what happens before and after the still. Finally, Chen Shi Han plays with the simple idea of toys coming to life at night. In the glare of a table light, we begin to believe that a world war is taking place around a table-top and book - the power of imagination simply the basis of all images.

Mon to Fri, 12 – 10pm daily
Sat, 1 - 10pm

The Magic of Cinema
A Magnum Photos Exhibition
14 June - 20 July, Cathay Gallery

An exhibition of classic black & white and colour photographs by renowned Magnum photographers documenting the world of cinema from Hollywood, Europe to Asia. Among the photographers whose works are part of the exhibition are Robert Capa, Werner Bischof, Philippe Halsman, Eve Arnold, Marc Riboud, René Burri, Eliot Erwitt. Anchoring the exhibition are photographs of leading ladies of the silver screen from the golden age of cinema such as Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren along with behind-the-scenes photos of seminal films such as The Misfits, The Birds, Superman.

Mon to Sat 12noon - 8pm
closed on Sundays & Public Holidays

Alain Fleischer/Time Exposures
21 June - 3 Aug, Singapore Art Museum

A major show at this year’s Month of Photography Asia (MOPAsia) is an exhibition of over 60 photographs by France’s leading contemporary photographer, filmmaker and writer, Alain Fleischer at the Singapore Art Museum. The exhibition titled Alain Fleischer: Time Exposures features his photography dealing with the theme of photography and cinema in which he explores the notions of time and movement. An important feature of the exhibition is the work titled Ecran Sensible (Sensitive Screen), which was specially created in Singapore during a Master Class workshop with students from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Lasalle College of the Arts. Ecran Sensible is a work which brings together analogue and digital photography and film technologies to produce a photographic print derived from moving images. Photographs in the exhibition span Alain Flesicher’s artistic career from the 1970s to the present. The exhibition opens on June 21 to the public.