The History Behind The Mask

An invitation to

ENCOUNTERS 33:
Becoming Sontol Al Loyo

An Artist Talk by Rizman Putra

Friday, 3rd November 2006
7pm – 8.30 pm

City Hall, 4th Floor Foyer
(in front of stairwell)
3 Saint Andrew's Road
Singapore 178958

Singapore Biennale 2006 presents an artist talk by Singaporean artist, Rizman Putra, as part of its Encounters series.

In City Hall, a Hall of Fame exists in a tribute to a pop legend Sontol Al Loyo. The retrospective exhibition displays his past achievements, memorabilia, album covers, music videos and press coverage. The self-proclaimed king of pop evolves over the course of his career, dabbling in folk, country pop, rock, metal, new wave and presently, hip hop. Hip hop star Sontol Al Loyo also made a series of publicised performances during the Biennale.

Sontol Al Loyo, a word adapted from the Javanese slang for ‘idiot’ – sontoloyo – is one of Rizman’s investigations on the affects of the media, his reflections on idol-worship and the demise of individuality.

In this session, Rizman will discuss his experiences and methodologies as one who believes that “art should transcend all boundaries and genres”. He will be joined by his peers from the Master of Fine Arts Program at Lasalle-SIA College of the arts in this dialogue.

For more information about Singapore Biennale 2006, please visit www.singaporebiennale.org
*This talk coincides with free admission hours to City Hall on Fridays, 6pm – 9pm.

Si Gelap or Siglap = The Dark One

Some random photo from KYTV's 'Design for Death' 2 years ago, I played the role of a corporate macho jock.

The construction next door is killing me, the market price of the houses around my neighbourhood is rising, and they are exhuming the cemetary, hopefully they are not going to use the land to build new snazzy condominiums. If not it will be pretty sad, how do we deal with rapid changes?

Next year is going to be our fourth year living in this studio/house, and we are so comfortable living in this area, if I were to ever move out from this place, I don't think I can live in other parts of Singapore, the east is a great place to be.

According to a Malay myth, when a Malay chief landed in this area, dark clouds arose and a thunderstorm took place, which led to the chieftain to call the place Siglap, a corruption of the Malay word, gelap which means "darkness that conceals". Records show that a piratical village existed at Siglap in 1845.

Another view is that while Bedok was a barren treeless area, the Siglap area has huge trees which formed a major resting area and hence was viewed as a dark place compared to the open Bedok area. - Wilkipedia

Back to The Drawing Board

Nothing much has happened, been busy hybernating, watching tons of dvds, my favourite indulgence. The list of films:

1. Art School Confidential
2. My Summer of Love
3. Akeelah and The Bee
4. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
5. Lake House (this one is not my choice)
6. Munich
7. Once Upon a Time in Mexico

And of course, Cake Theatre's new irreverent piece, 'Cheek', Lim Kay Siu was awesome, and the whole piece was as mad as ever, though I felt the space was too small, and the speakers were just too close to the audience. At some point, it felt a bit jarring, but nevertheless, enjoyed it very much.

Recently, Esam from Stoned Revivals sent me a link where I could download their songs for free, http://amiestreet.com/stonedrevivals, go download them while you still can.

3 of my favourite Stoned Revivals songs of all time: Goodil, Loose Boogie and Stoned Alleycat. The songs created a kind of benchmarks in my life, my favourite line in Loose Boogie, " Do you want to be alone? In love with your own soul, and the death between your eyes, I wish that they were mine..." / "Are you still my lonely, totalitarian?" Its like where did Esam get those lines?

Where are you soulful days? How do we move on, when we are stuck in our sticky nostalgia.

Goodbye Taipei: Hello SIn City

14:11hrs, Doutor Cafe, Taipei.

We are just killing time at the cafe near the hotel, wating for the transport to the airport. It has been great, the performance ended on a beautiful note, the audience were open to our ideas, and we sold all of our DVDs. Our good friends from the Seoul Fringe Festival came down all the way just to see us, and we had a great reunion dinner or sort. Taipei has made me realised certain things, language is certainly not the barrier when Art becomes the tool of communication. Regardless of race or religion, it transcends almost everything.

And of course, shopping, Xi Man Ting is a fantastic place for shopping, the sneakers are cheaper than in Singapore, and I am still thinking about that old skool Vans I wanted to buy which didn't have my size. (dang!) But I got other things instead, indie film dvds which is my other scope of interest. I can't resist buying cheap dvds. Need to stock up my selection for the rainy days ahead.

Well, travelling is fantastic, but going back is always a hassle, because you know you have to face reality and of course the haze, the air here is fresh, your armpit doesn't get sticky. Food is affordable, and the street food are sinful, the fruits are on steroids, Bubble Tea cafes are abundant, women with bad perm and gawdy knee length socks are plenty.

Jay Chow is god here, they blast his songs at least every 10 metres in Xi Man Ting or we call it Simon King, the kids are into Hip Hop Ghetto Fabulous (special thanks to Sue/loo for the term). There are more scooters than human. Taipei is not so much of China a little bit of Seoul but with a slight Japanese sensibility.

Well, to end this fantastic voyage, let us say it loud, Wa Ming Pan, XIa Ming Pan, I need some real love, got to find some real love...

Preset and Prequel

A quick self-portrait 20 minutes before the performance.

We are coming to end of the show, the last of 4 performances, the opening night was pretty alright, we had a good mixture of audience. Most of them did not know what to expect, the fact that they were told it was a demonstration. But nevertheless, today was madness, 2 shows, a matinee and the evening piece. Surprisingly, we had a great turn-out for the matinee and a full 90% full in the evening.

As I came out on stage, I could feel the body heat, but its a total experience being intimate with the audience, it is just something about the space that I can't really describe. For the first time in my life, I have to do 6 solo pieces at one go, every performance is a blood rush to the head. Like sprinting with Ben Johnson.

So let us celebrate the last day of performance with a Xie Xie ni Men!

Night Train

Viv and WW in the train also known as MRT, on our way to Shiling Night Market.

Hot Star Giant Chicken Chop

Hot Star giant chicken chop, no. 1 in Taipei, it is the size of my face.

Night Crawlers

Vivian and WW negotiating price with a cab driver near Shiling night market.

The Hills are Alive!

The GrumpyemotionalMalayBoy aka Zul's working station.

The Work Processor

Ka5's working station by the side of the stage.

Digital Noise in Guling St.

Dirty Noise and glitches, Ka5 adjusting the Digital Performer scene.

In the Theatre

Vivian working out some last minute changes to the Game Boy scene, while the rest were doing some tech run, and I was given a well-deserved break.

Arts Live Poster

The Arts Live poster outside the building, as you can see they have used our image for their publicity, this event is part of Taipei Arts Festival, and there are other art events happening around town in which we don't have the time to catch. (dang!)

Exterior of Guling Theatre

The exterior of Guling Theatre, a mini version of Singpore's Substation, I just love the run down feel of the building, half dilapidated. If this is in Singapore, the URA will definitely turn it into a museum or something.

The First Hotel

9:48am, First Hotel, Taipei.
I have the whole morning to myself, my call time is at 1pm, the rest of them are getting ready. Maybe I should go for a shoulder rub that cost about $10 for 20 minutes near the theatre, or maybe I should just check out the shops around the hotel. In terms of the currency rate, there is not much of a difference actually between Taiwan and Singapore, maybe the street food is cheaper.

I have been seeing a lot of kids (looking like Poly kids) in Guling area, perhaps I have to check out the city area, where I can find Taiwanese Hip Hop kids. But in the cab last night, I saw a mega huge hip hop shop, that sells everything hip hop, got to check out that place. I need to find Jay Chow's shrine and leave some personal note.

Its the opening of 'Not For Exhibition Purposes' tonight, its like our little science project to think of it, merging sciene, art and technology. I have been pumping in loads of isotonic drink after every rehearsal, I sweat a lot actually for my pores are huge. Hopefully. will get the chance to go tonight market tonight.

Leisure and work/ Work and leisure is equal to 'nice'.

The Second Day in Guling St.

Day 2:
Full-on rehearsal from 10am - 10pm with a worskshop sliced in between, the piece is coming to shape, and we are all doing it at our own pace. I need to workout when I get back, looking at the condition of my body, after the last 2 weeks with the writing of thesis/editing of videos, I look like a momo taro san.

There were a couple of NS kids staying in the same hotel as ours, so its like, geez I thought I could get away, but no, the best part of this trip is the fantastic wireless networking system. They even have wireless in the theatre, nice and double nice. The show will open tomorrow, we are going for a full run this evening.

Working with a small group is just ideal, everyone knows what to do, the vibes are good, and everyone has the same vision somehow or another. This wil be the first time I will be doing a full 40mins piece all by myself on stage, with lights, sound and video. No way to hide, its the body vs the audience.

From Taipei with lots of lovin...

KYTV workshop at Guling Theatre

The workshop participants which made up of students and dancers.

Bruce Lee concoction

A long day ahead, I bought this Bruce Lee energy drink, and I had bruises in my throat. It tasted like Bruce Lee's sweat.

Taipei: The Dressing Room

The Dressing Room, actually I heard it all wrong, it used to be a Police Station not a Railway Station. I just realised, there's a cell right at the end of the building, and its freaking gloomy.

Taipei: Morning View

View from outside our hotel, helluva busy road.

Taipei: Day One

This Pink PUKI pig greeted me at the airport, how nice...

Guiling Avant-garde Theatre, remind me so much of Tiny Alice in Tokyo, the place where I performed 4 years ago.

Taipei is a fusion of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul and Hiroshima, when I reached CKS airport, Leo one of the helpers waited for me with my name printed on a paper. As this is a small budget festival, they did not really allocate a budget for this one person who was carrying 19.5kg of luggage so we had to take the bus to the town centre, that took us about an hour. There together with the rush crowd, we then took the train, also known as MRT. That took me a total of 2 hours from the airport to the theatre, a journey that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Jet Star Asia was a budget flight, from the boarding pass to the the stewardess's make-up and of course, you have to pay for your meal, and I had an $8 turkey sandWITCH which tasted like a witch.(bloody hell) I just love the theatre that used to be a railway station, old and you can just feel the energy of the space.

Early day tomorrow, so will post more photos up, free internet access in the hotel room. Yahoo!

METAL SONTOL: Bagged and Bearded

If you are into Metal, Oreos and Glue, this piece of video performance is for you. Love and Metal.

Mata Koyak (Torn Eyes) by KYTV

Back in the year 2002, where it all started, at OniStudio, behind a Karaoke Pub near Armenian Street we had only 8 audience, the World Cup Final was on. The props were all made of junk, exploring on the idea of vertigo. The money we made was spent on chicken curry and french loaves at Kopi Tiam. Those were the days la...

To Taipei with Love

Well, right after assesment on Monday, I'm off to Taiwan with KYTV for a presentation, a dissection of past works to be presented in a small theatre space.

'NOT FOR EXHIBITION PURPOSE'

演出時間 DATE ： 2006/10/20(Fri) - 10/21(Sat) 19:30
10/21(Sat) – 10/22(Sun) 14:30
演出地點 VENUE ： 牯嶺街小劇場 Guling St. Avant-garde Theatre
入場門票 TICKET： 150元

The Kids Who WTF by Force Vomit

A video that I found in my archives, this is another rare gem, the old factory formerly known as The Pete. The Space where Tiramisu, Force Vomit and Moods used to share. This video was made with completely no budget at all.

A Rare Manic Jango Documentary

A very rare documentary video of Manic Jango, back in the days of being wild. Special thanks to Amin, Germaine and Ryan. Until now I am still not sure why I was the subject of their documentary, but thank god, they passed with flying colours.

The Re-Birth of Spandex

Circa 2001, Hock Hiap Leong Coffeeshop, 'Bye Bye Albert', organised by The Artists Village

5 years ago, I introduced Manic Jango to the world, and I became known as the Purple Spandex Guy, and I still remember vividly, some of the description:

In 2001, while serving in the army, fresh upon graduation from art college, (trained in painting) I created a personal character based on the doodles and rants from my sketchbook on the idea of a superhero, called Manic Jango . At that point in time, the sudden change in lifestyle, created an impact to which it reached a point of depression. In order to overcome the sorrow, I embodied another form of self as a way of self-healing. The maiden performance was executed in an event organized by The Artist Village; in the performance, I arrived in the space which was an old coffee shop wearing a gaudy suit and retro pants carrying a briefcase, like a fictional businessman with jazz music as a backdrop. Afterward, I began a demonstration on how to make a good 3-in-one coffee from a sachet that was labeled as ‘Majestical Stimulant’, where the audience was given a pack each to be brought home for keeps. Then, the scene turned into a short cabaret act of stripping of the outer skin of clothes to reveal another layer, where the inner layer revealed a purple leotard.

Following that, a placard series showing of text informed the audience who is Manic Jango gradually revealed the person in the purple leotard. The piece ended with the character crossing the road in a public space with the leotard still intact.


As mentioned by Debord, ‘Man’s appropriation of his own nature is at the same time the apprehension of the unfolding of the universe’

Janitorial Graffiti

A beautiful performance piece by TRASE entitled 'Impermanence of Graffiti' from the performance art workshop at LaSalle-SIA College of The Arts last Friday.

Deep Sontol Action

Well, after what happened at the Library on September 27th, Stomp's forum thread regarding the drama got pretty busy with all kinds of entries, insults, encouragements, motivations; however there are comments such as these. And he got my name wrong too! Yay!

Originally Posted by unseen
LOL I believe as a performer Rizman sucks. The only reasons I can think of why Rizman is so supported is
1) He's malay, and he's blindly supported by the malay community. We all know this is typical behaviour, and I'm just voicing it out.
2) They're his friends from various local bands who supports local music. No matter how bad they are.
3) Singaporeans have a rather silly mentality that any "famous people" can't go wrong etc.

I was under the impression that the performances @ the library was supposed to be musical in nature. Approaching from that angle, Rizwan is total rubbish.

If I wanted an artistic rendition of what poseurs are like, I'd just watch Singapore Idol. If I want to feel arty-farty, I wouldn't be in the library. The whole point was, as a musician, taking what Rizwan performed as a musical piece, Rizwan is nothing but a clown.

Human, All too Human

I have imprisoned myself in my room for the last couple of days writing my thesis, and feeling Kerouac at the same time. Suddenly, looking at the outside world, I could see text on trees, road junction, the eyes of the girl working in Cold Storage and the feeling of becoming 'cuckoo' is apparent, sadly.

“It is much more often the case that a person appears to have strength of character because he continually follows his temperament than because he continually follows his principles.”
-Nietzsche in Human, All too Human (I)

Hip Hop: Sounds like a Plan!

Somebody warned me, there is going to be a Hip Hop Invasion soon, if Hip Hop Sontol was controversial, they are more gangsta!

MPs to perform hip hop dance moves at Chingay Parade next February
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 03 October 2006 1650 hrs

SINGAPORE: Members of Parliament from the post-65 generation will be performing hip hop dance moves at the Chingay Parade next year.

The parade will be held along Orchard Road on February 23 and 24.

The 12 post-65 MPs will perform with 300 hip hop dancers at the Chingay Parade.

"The whole process was very enjoyable because the Post-65 MPs, the P-65 team, are very close, so we had a lot of fun doing it. It's more because of the closeness that we have and learning a new dance skills that we're coming forward to also participate in the Chingay," said Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary, Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry.

A few of them are not embarrassed to admit that hip hop is not their cup of tea.

"I have two left feet, I can't dance but I enjoyed myself. I showed my kids what I did, then they went "mum, loosen up a bit!" My kids can dance but I can't," said Jessica Tan, MP, East Coast GRC.

"That's part of the fun - to laugh at yourself, to have a sense of humour about everything and that's what we're trying to do as P-65 MPs, trying to connect with the youth and having fun with them, that's the main thing," said Chris de souza, MP, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.

"All of us are having fun. It's not important whether we perform well, we dance well or whether we look professional on tv or during the parade. Most importantly, we have to connect with the youths of today," said Lam Pin Min, MP, Ang Mo Kio GRC.

Aside from the MPs' performance, the Chingay Parade will feature colourful floats and various activities.

Stretching along Orchard Road from Liat Towers to Orchard Plaza, it's expected to attract some 200,000 people. - CNA /dt


If you can't believe what you read, you can see the moving images, and question, is that a parody, controversy or a conspiracy?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/233752/1/.html

The Scandalous Superheroes

Ideals and idols, which is which? Cheese or Ghee, does it matter? The world's most controversial film of all time....ever in the history of all superhero films.

Killa Killa Killa!

As we are still in the topic of parody, this is the stuff that turns me on, and gives me the drive to create. Special thanks to Pnknq!