Logging In 記錄·登入 @ Nando’s LOT 123

Eight young artists register semantic interpretations of the domain, where visitors are guided upstairs a fast food restaurant via stickers, into a gallery space with three metal constructs. De Ming Wei’s enlarged ideograms probably looked better on a computer screen, as other less successful visual expressions include documentations of people traversing within Singapore MRT stations, and a bizarre container of test tubes with a dangling 10 ringgit note inside. Strong emotional attachments either make or break an artwork, Krystie Ng’s hand-sewn “Love and Hurt” series having displayed both sides of the spectrum, albeit the exhibited ones here are less alluring. 

Yau Sir Meng continues to take apart her favourite topic – the Malaysian education system – as an endurance performance, the repetitive write-and-erase actions turning personal reflections into a nihilistic act. An opposing approach is Chua Hui Ming’s ‘Fun’, two tables with iron powder and varying sizes of magnets, that encourage the audience to move their hands and create abstract expressionist pictures of their own, not unlike in a science museum. Energy levels are polarised when squatting down to watch Lam Shun Hui’s ‘丫’, a remarkably subtle and enchanting video. Nondescript street scenes are juxtaposed with tree branches, the panorama revealing visual symmetries that hint at subconscious notions about natural beauty. 

Digital icons are stuck below artwork labels and printed at the bottom of catalogue pages, these tiny interventions by Huan Jia Jin inciting one’s curiosity. The subtly imposing and even subversive intent to guide and encourage discourse, follows a similar set up of how social media platforms are advertised on websites. Presenting icons on a horizontal printed strip, however, prevents one from clicking to find out more, thus transforming the icon from an information link to an imagined statement. Going with the perception that contemporary art is always open to interpretation, the artist’s offer to trigger conversation is an irresistible one, although the walkie talkies on hand are unneeded contrivances. Time to log into Facebook for more information about the exhibition.