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MULTIPLE IDENTITIES VIA THE GLOBALIZATION OF ART, MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE 127“The decision to emphasize practice and encounter 22 ,more than theory and aesthetics, by (sic) producingstages where audiences can directly meet…Asiancontemporary artists, rather than…debating…pasthistory, seeking Asian identities, or to …“teach” peopleabout Asian culture or contemporary art. I do notmean that the museum is allowed to ignore or forgetthese theoretical and historical discourses, but whencan we start practice if (sic) we are to wait to find theconclusion?” 23With this new focus, FAAM’s programs andexhibitions consequently re-directed and re-articulatedthe collection from one that was merely object-basedto a collection with more archival work, videos andinstallations which made possible more audienceencounters.Jean-Louis Deotte asserts that the museum is a devicein which objects solely inhabit the museum’simagination (this being collected objects that merelyre-tell the imaginations allowed by curators) 24 but notits memory (if we consider the original idea of themuseum as not merely repositories of objects, but thatof memory). However, the practice of encounter andexchange facilitated by FAAM removes the loss ofimagination and possession disallowed by detachedobjects. The museum’s practice of allowing encountersand interactions means that audiences can assume“ownership” of an artwork.2) FAAM CollectionThe collection contains a variety of objects andpractices that tell the histories of societies. In this case,FAAM is one of the few institutions that collectedearly SEA art without the political inflections foundacross the collections of QAG/GOMA and SAM. It is,for instance, refreshing to see works by Filipinoprintmaker Pandy Aviado (Photo 1) alongside thoseexpressing the political angst of Indonesian DadangChristanto. These two works which carry particulartimbres of political and aesthetic edges, suggest avariety of plays and juxtapositions that clever andastute curators can pull together to discuss an array ofconcerns and topics. The collections reflect the globalebbs and flows of cultural exchanges.Several artists whose works are found in the collection,come to mind as ably chronicling not only changes inattitudes towards art across the region, but alsoreflecting the context in which they were produced.This reading of art may seem like a task of simplyreading the visual cues that are presented within awork of art. But sometimes the visual blurs the actualcontext, or becomes reactionary impulses towardsevents or are produced as trends dictated by the times.Art has always been a device, used as a carrier ofthought and imagination; processes of thinking andreflection; a purveyor of the tempers of contexts andsociety; of political upheavals and financial turmoil. Attimes they leave us no choice, as some artists tie theirwork down to one meaning and there is no shaking offthis hardened shell.Tang Da Wu’s “Reconstructed Horn from RhinoDrink” (1989) (Photo 2) and “Plaster Cast of a Tiger’sPenis” (1991) (Photo 3) are connected works in theartist’s practice and oeuvre. Both works exist asdocumentation of performances. “ReconstructedHorn from Rhino Drink” is embodied as a sculpture,but at the same time exists as a study for theperformance, entitled ‘“Tiger Whip” (Photo 4). TangDa Wu is seen as the seminal performance artist in theart circuit of Singapore. Da Wu’s works drawsattention and awareness by his critique of animalsbeing killed for one singular part of their physiognomy.Mostly drawn from myth, these marketed potions arepopular for a variety of healing and virility purposes.But high demand for these products has almost pushedthese animals into extinction. 25 The Rhino drink forexample uses rhinoceros horns, while another potionuses tiger penises. Da Wu’s performances take placewithin an installation, with stark elements. Animalforms are merely white, emptied of other referencesother than their universal shape, and Da Wu moveswithin the installation in similarly stark dress to weavehis way across the installed forms.Nindityo Adipurnomo’s works have always centeredaround the headpieces of Javanese women covering thefaces of men (Photo 5). While this may have trappedhis work into a particular reading, Nindityo’s longtermpractice of woven rattan sculptures had pushedhis work into the realm of iconography. His beautifulsepia photographs extended and re-interpreted hissubject of Javanese women. (Photo 6). While in hisstudio in Japan, the artist collected a set of Japanesenotebooks, creating a diary of his stay. Nindityo’s diaryconsisted of objects and paintings. These were keptinside a closet, which contained this set of notebooks,plus another set of modest portraits of people he cameacross. The two sets of stories created a picture of hisstay in Japan, telling the flow of his days; allowing us avisual entry. The details, such as Japanese paintThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows