And sometimes one wonders if the concepts of existential survival (whether the state survives or perishes) and quality of life (how well the population lives) are needlessly conflated. More seriously, one sometimes gets the feeling that because we often pursue many things as means rather than as ends, we could end up missing the point e.g. how our ministers tend to refer to birth rates as an economic input (people as labour and talent for national economic development) rather than as individuals and families which are good things in their own right.

The lingering suspicion in the back of my mind is that art is often pursued for its own sake, within the league of global cities, including New York City, London, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, rather than as part of some kind of economic development masterplan. Rather than having arts to create wealth and security, these places have plenty of wealth and security as a prerequisite for the arts to flourish.

However, if Dr Ng is correct in his assumptions about cause and effect (the harnessing order of horses and carts), one could argue that, instead of government decree and legitimization, we can be truly confident of the development of the arts scene when UOB ups the prize money considerably, when more parents do consider being a professional artist as a 'proper' career and when we are happy to have a vibrant arts scene because it adds to our quality of life directly rather than it serving as some kind of indispensable bulwark against communists, racial strife, economic collapse, the eruption of Bukit Timah, forty days and nights of rain and flooding and other such disasters that will befall us if the ruling party should catch a cold or something.

The Uselessness of Artistic Pragmatism

Let's not despise material gains. And there is also a need for some soul. You must never ask the government to provide for the needs of the soul. When your tummy is full, then certain people think more than right now. When they go for arts, music, whatever... But I don't think you want the government to provide comfort for your soul. This is very dangerous. After some time, we tell you what to think.

Tan Siok Sun, Goh Keng Swee: A Portrait (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2007), p.174 citing 'Dr Goh's Conference in the Car Park', The Straits Times, 13 December 1974, p.17

At the UOB POY ceremony, we were being told to think of art as being useful. The flipside, of course, is that the endless flexibility of strong government allows the raising of various fields as useful, only to be swiftly abandoned as the economic cycles turn and exogenous shocks hit home (Study law! Don't study law! Engineering good! Wah, too many engineers already. Life sciences good! Why so many of you crowd the courses!?).

Ms Tan's biography of her father-in-law, the august Dr Goh Keng Swee, celebrates of the great man as the ultimate pragmatist. This is also emphasized in Mr Ngiam Tong Dow's recollections which recalls how Dr Goh advocated the building of the Jurong Bird Park because bird seed was cheaper than the feed required for a full zoo. But there are glimpses of a much more humanistic Dr Goh.

After listing the benefits of the Jurong Bird Park, he concluded: 'I am afraid the Bird Park will achieve none of these admirable ends. But it will add to the enjoyment of our citizens, especially our children. At the risk of appearing less than God-fearing, I give this as my final justification.' (p.176)

Read already I oso smile, imagining the smile of Dr Goh's face as he concluded that speech and thinking to myself: 'What a jolly good fellow!' :)

Bird on a Wire

Ms Heng Bee Eng's Be Vigilant in Peace Time (居安��) is an interesting mix of traditional medium (Chinese ink on silk), mixing traditional subjects (birds) with modern items (barbed wire). From an establishment point of view, this is a Good painting because it reflects traditional family values of togetherness, community, home- making under the protective umbrella of the paternal state. The nice thing about art is that a viewer can usually have a different opinion and create ambiguity in the painting's meaning even if the artist does not intend it. The barbed wire appears to provide security to the roosting birds but we do not see the bodies and injuries that may have been inflicted on the residents. The choice of barbed wire to depict security is also an odd one, given how barbed wire is usually taken to be a symbol of oppression, e.g. in the Amnesty International logo, evoking the concentration camp, the gulag, the slaughter in the trenches of the First World War and so on.

Show Me the Money!

Ms Wong Yu Ting's Desire is a self-portrait that captures her desire to win the competition, conveying an honesty that is cheeky and charming rather than brutal and crass; mainly because she gives the distinct impression of being the former sort of person. I asked her what was her inspiration behind this very well-executed work and her reply was that she wanted to work on the concept of desire but was uncertain as to how to depict it; her teacher then suggested that she use herself as the starting point and viola. As far as I can tell, this was a popular piece with the other attendees too because she had so many requests to pose with her painting that she was still there even after coming back from stuffing my face with UOB-provided refreshments.

I forgot to ask Ms Wong what she needed the money for though. Probably a conflation of 'need' and 'want'. ;)

山木，自寇也；��，自煎也。桂�食，故�之；漆�用，故割之。 人皆知有用之用，而莫知无用之用也。

The mountain trees invite their own cutting down; lamp oil invites its own burning up. Cinnamon bark can be eaten; therefore the tree is cut down. Lacquer can be used, therefore the tree is scraped.

All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility. (Lin Yutang translation of the Zhuang Zi)

[Added 2007-07-30: By a quirk of my feedreader, I was just reminded of this excellent post on Liberal Arts for Liberal Arts' Sake; my post echoes the main point made by fabianlua.]