Yves Klein’s, Le Peintre de l’Espace se Jette Dans le Vide (Leap into the Void) 1960 was created at the time when the first cosmonaut left the gravitational pull of the earth; the photograph’s iconicity then and today results in part from its conceptual representation of a radical shift in how our world was perceived.

Exploring conceptual and political notions of gravity – with Klein’s Leap into the Void 1960 as a key anchor to the ways the art works might be read – MAAP in 2004 presented and produced GRAVITY in Singapore across seven major art venues committed to the new media art of the region:

The Singapore Art Museum | The Substation | The Earl Lu Gallery | The Art Gallery | National Institute of Education | Nanjang Academy of Fine Arts Gallery | p-10 | The Esplanade – where an 80 metre transit tunnel was wired for artists’ audio creations.

Each element of MAAP’s large-scale 2004 media art festival considered the advent of the Information Age as the next great leap in our global perception and psyche.

Klein, who was deeply influenced by Eastern philosophies predominantly through his passion of Judo, is often credited as the father of conceptual art; his work signals the change from ‘object based’ to ‘system based’ art making. The exhibition GRAVITY sought to consider the explorations of artists working through the conceptual weight of their expression and the paradox of weightless digital code.

Festival Focus Week saw over 23 artists and curators from the region converge upon Singapore from 27 – 31 October, 2004.

Zhang Ga’s online project Peoples Portrait was projected out into real space through video walls around the world, including the Reuters video wall in Times Square NYC, screens of the Singapore Central Business District, and in Brisbane on to the video walls of the QUT Creative Industries Precinct. Large scale uploads to, and projections from, the project also took place in Linz and Rotterdam.

Tsunamii.net also conjured The Zero Gravity Party, a live broadband event connecting The Singapore Art Museum and Brisbane’s QUT Creative Industries Precinct on Friday 29 October through www.zero-gravity.tv.

The festival’s First Stage ran from 1 – 21 October 2004, and the Second Stage (full exhibition) from 27 October – 28 November 2004. Curated by Kim Machan, GRAVITY included works by:

Yves Klein (France) | Candy Factory (Japan) | YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (Seoul) | Shu Lea Cheang (New York) | Marcus Lyall (Melbourne) | Ji-Hoon Byun (Seoul) | Kim Kichul (Seoul/Seattle) | Tsunamii.net (Singapore) | Paul Lincoln (Singapore) | Tim Plaisted (Brisbane) | Paul Bai (Brisbane) | Tan Teck Weng (Perth) | Xing Dan Wen (Beijing).

The festival also included a two-day conference hosted by Nanyang Technological University featuring a key note by Trebor Sholz, which brought together academics, artists, curators and critics for critical discussion of the exhibition’s works and themes, and of media art activity and aesthetics in the region more broadly.

Read more about MAAP in Singapore 2004: GRAVITY on RealTime Arts:

* Festival Overview>> (http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue63/7598)
* GRAVITY, Singapore Art Museum (5 Articles) 1 2 3 4 5 (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8505) (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8507)
(http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8506)
(http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8504)
(http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8503)
* Katawán, Satti, The Art Gallery, National Institute of Education, Singapore>> (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8499)
* I thought I knew but I was wrong: New Video Art from Australia, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, (http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue64/8496)
* Gravities of Sound Audio Tunnel, The Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, Singapore >> (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8502)
* Symposium: GRAVITY, The Glass Hall, Singapore Art Museum>> (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8508)
* SCAN, Asia Art Archive, The Substation, MAAP in Singapore>> (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8498)
* -+-(negative plus negative), LASALLE-SIA College of the (http://www.realtimearts.net/feature/search/8500)