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THE RIDICULOUS AND THE SUBLIME LIM TZAY CHUEN ByHo TzuNyen

If risk accompanies the birth of an interesting work of art,

then Singaporean artist Lim Tzay Chuen is a gambler

addicted to high stakes. And while most works of art risk

success or failure in the critical and financial sense, the

realization or rejection of Lim's conceptual projects is often

determined by a dice-throw.

Even when one of Lim 's projects is brought into being,

for example Alter #70, at the Gwangju Biennale 2002, its

actualization can be problematic and ambivalent. Alter

#70 involved the addition of a "fictitious" floor to the exhi­

bition space of the biennale, by doctoring exhibition maps

in published materials, as well as renaming floors and

altering elevator buttons. As this virtual f loor was "con­

structed" without obvious announcements, many visitors

missed it entirely, lost as it was in the hustle and bustle of

the biennale, only to re-emerge six months later in an arti­

cle by Singaporean art critic Lee Weng Choy in Art

AsiaPacific number 37.

This delayed reve lation brings to light a complex and

uneasy contradiction at the heart of Lim's practice. On the

one hand, Lim is committed to invisibility and silence-as

exemplified by his obstinate refusal to simply announce his

project during the biennale. On the other hand - like many of

the "dematerialized" conceptual art practices of the 1960s

(to which Lim is heir), there is also a paradoxical but vital

re liance on the mass media to ensure that the work "exists"

sufficiently for it to be promoted and spoken about. And

because Lim's projects may in a sense "exist" on ly as

objects of discussion, the distinction between a rea lized and

unrealized project is a fuzzy one.

In one such unrealized project, Alter #7 (1999-2003), Lim

proposed to shift by one meter Salvador Dali's large sculp­

ture Homage to Newton (1985) which stands in the foyer of

the United Overseas Bank in Singapore. When negotiations

fai led, Lim altered the proposal by suggesting that the sculp­

ture be rotated just 10 centimeters to the left. Although this

failed to convince the bank, the failure foreshadows a

process of compression characteris.tic of Lim's practice.

Within a mere 10 centimeters of spatia l dislocation lies a

labyrinthine network of bureaucratic resistance.

Oppos ite and above left . ALTER #1 (UNREALIZED, 1999-2 003) Un ited Overseas Ban k (Singapo re ). Proposal.First proposed in 1999, to shift the sculpture by Salvador Dali , Homage

to Newton , one mete r from it present posi t io n. Re-p roposed in 2003 to rotate it 10 cm to the left. Digital Image © 1999 by Lim Tzay Chuen. Courtesy the artist.

Right . ALTER #10 (2002) From the si te-specific instal lat ion at the 2002 Gwangju Siennale. Courtesy the artist.

FEATURES A.A.P. 49

Trajectory chart

Sniper Rifle used by Singapore Arms Force

British L96A1 PM Caliber> 7.62 x 51 mm NATO (.308 Win) Maximum Effective Range> 900 meters Steyr-Mannlicher SSG-69 Caliber> 7.62 x 51 mm NATO (.308) Maximum Effective Range> 800 meters

In Lim's most recent proposal, Alter #76, developed for This unease most clearly crystallizes in Alter #77, in

the art event "Nuit Blanche" in Paris in October 2004, he which Lim first proposed in 2002 that a single rifle shot be

suggested seeding the clouds over Paris w ith a non-toxic fired into an art ga llery on the campus of Singapore's

quantity of organic pheromones (reputed to possess aphro- National Institute of Education. This was to be executed by

disiac qualities), so as to bring down, quite literally, a rain a trained sniper from a military firing range located one

of love upon the world capita l of romance. Whil e he consci- kilometer away.

entiously proposed collaboration and consultation w ith Not surprisingly, this project remains unrealized. Yet the

meteorologists, health institutions and related agencies, the physica l ease of the act - the sniper merely has to redirect a

French authorities dismissed the project. shot from a bull's-eye on the firing range to the gallery -

This project typifies the contrad ictory polariti es in Lim 's stands in sharp re lief to the disproportionate number of

practice-the near invisibility of dispersed pheromones obstacles stand ing in the way of its materialization. Here an

vis-a-vis the spectacular "geolog ic" scale of rain-making, entire mountain of bureaucratic, lega l and ethical concerns

the business of bureaucratic negotiation vi s-a-vis the roman- is packed into a single bullet. As the unauthorized shooting

tic gesture of rainmaking . At the same time, the sentimental - of bullets in Singapore incurs the death penalty, any attempt

ity of this gesture is itself undermined by an undercurrent of to negotiate this law will necessari ly be Kafkaesque -

unease - for the project is after all an attempt to interrupt the perhaps right ly so, for works of art may not be worth execut-

behavioral patterns of an entire city of people, an attempt to ing if there is even the slightest possibility that someone

erode, aga in quite literally, their presumed sense of agency. could be injured in the process . If we accept this premise,

• ALTER #11 . (UNREALIZED . 2002) Nati ona l In st itute of Education Galle ry (S ingapo re) . Proposa l. Fro m a sniper r ifl e re lease a si ngl e 7 .62mm bullet into the ga ll e ry wi nd ow. Digital Image © 2002 by Lim Tzay Chuen. Courtesy the artist.

50 A.A.P FEATURES

-Point A (firing point I Live firing area) thought; Point B (Glass window of the Art Gallery) into; Point C the wall the Art Gallery.

Sniper's Position

Line of sight

400m 500m 600m 700m 800m 900m 1000m

Illustrating: Scale: Highest point of flight from 300 Due to length of the line of flight meters to 1,000 meters in 100-meter increments. Bullet drop for each succeeding 100 meters.

in proportion to the trajectory's height, Scale is not represented

however, many works of art wil l have to be forbidden, for the

ways in which life can be endangered by art are many.

Firing this bullet will inevitably set off a tremor of unease

on the campus, for no assurances of the sn iper's profession­

alism wi ll be able to quel l the fear haunting anyone in the

vicinity. This underlying terror and the concern for self-preser­

vation brings to mind notions of the sublime prevalent in 18th

century discourses on aesthetics. Yet for Lim, this sense of

the grandiose is consistently expressed through minutiae - a

bu llet hole, a 10 centimeter shift of a sculpture, an invisible

floor. At the same time, his QUEST FOR THE SUBLIME IS PLAGUED BY HIS ALMOST QUIXOTIC ATTRACTION TO PROJECTS THAT SEEM ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO REALIZE and thus the aspiration towards the sublime

seems haunted by the absurdity lurking beneath. As Thomas

Whateley, a student of Edmund Burke's concept of the sub­

lime, declared in Observations on Modern Gardening (London,

1770), " .. vast efforts in little objects are but ridiculous."

Lim has managed to pu ll off a few interesting capers in

the past few years. Here I have written mostly about the

unrealized projects because on the one hand, there is no

easy ' differentiation between the two categories in Lim's

oeuvre, whi le on the other hand, this highlights the high

stakes of Lim's wagers. Although his project for the 51 st

Venice Biennale remains under wraps, he wi ll again most

likely walk the tightrope between the realizable and the

impossible, the spectacular and the invisible, the sublime

and the rid icu lous. END

Singapore Pavilion: Ca ll e della Tana. Castello (A rsenale). Organizer: Nat ional Arts Council and National Heri tage Board. Co-organizer: Arte Communications.

HO TZU NYEN is a Singapore-based artist, f i lmmaker and writer. He has recently exhibited at the 26th Sao Paulo Bienna le. Currently a research scholar at the National University of Singapore, he writes frequently on art and cinema .

FEATURES A .A .P. 51