Siren: New Media Art – Presented by Osage Art Foundation
and Supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council
4 April - 4 May 2008
Osage Singapore
Old School
11B Mount Sophia #01-12
Singapore

New Media Art: a genre that intersects media technologies (video & sound techniques) with contemporary art and dance into creative art spaces

Siren: New Media Art – Presented by Osage Art Foundation and Supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Osage Art Foundation is proud to present Siren, a Greek prophesy using New Media Art, in Osage Singapore Art Galley. The original production was cast in Hong Kong, second in Shenzhen (China), and the third adaptation in Singapore.

The Siren is a legendary songstress, an enchantress of the underworld and the monster of Greek sea sagas. Countless have fallen for the Siren’s seductive lullaby; from Da Vinci to Kafka, from Adorno to Horkheimer. The Siren remains one of the most compelling metaphors of the dangers of the sea and the destructive power of desire.

Siren (and its alluring songs) seeks to bring to life a complex web of motifs associated with water and death. Siren identifies the act of “re-appropriation” as a site of artistic discourse. With a focus on new media and technology, the artists of Siren find their poetic expressions in sound art, video art, installation, interactivity, as well as the performing body.

The project is built around Hong Kong artist Mr. Christopher Lau and composer Mr. Samson Young's video and sound installation, Gong-Tormented Sea. The multi-disciplinary duo's sombre re-presentation of W. B. Yeats' middle period epic poem Byzantium provides the thematic focus for Siren: (i) water, (ii) reflection, and (iii) the ontology of the living and breathing body.

In its original depiction during October 2007, Siren is staged as a part of October Contemporary: Again, a month-long celebration of contemporary discourse on art and culture presented by eight of Hong Kong’s leading independent art organizations and institutions under an umbrella theme. At the same time, with Siren, the New Media Arts program of the Foundation was launched. Siren in Hong Kong included performances by dancers based in Hong Kong and the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong to special-composed music.

Crediting the high standard of the exhibition and the resounding response in Hong Kong, the Shenzhen Fine Art Institute invited the Osage Art Foundation to mount Siren in Shenzhen during 31 January to 1 March 2008. The exhibition opened successfully with the attendance by officials from the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, curators of various museums, artists and the general public.

In the Singapore production of Siren, additional music written specifically for the occasion is performed and interpreted by vocalist Ms. Priscilla Leung, harp soloist Ms. Katryna Tan, Ms. Audi Goh on oboe and Ms. Natasha Junyan Liu on cello. Dancers Mr. Daniel K and Ms. Neo Hong Chin takes the sea forms with their own creativity and improvisations to bring about a unique ‘live’ performance of Siren in Singapore amidst an audience size of 80 arts afficiados.

About Osage Art Foundation

The Osage Art Foundation is an international not-for-profit philanthropic organization devoted to building creative communities and promoting cultural cooperation. The Foundation fund-raising efforts support a range of programs that both help young people to better understand and appreciate art and to help improve relations between people of different cultures. The Foundation hopes to provide an opportunity for artists to find breakthroughs from habitual modes of thinking and challenge the boundaries of their imagination and art practice.

For more information, please log on to: www.osagegallery.com

Text Edited by Ai San Yip. Information and Photos Courtesy of Osage Art Foundation and Osage Singapore. All Rights Reserved.