Thursday, May 11, 2017 – 10:02
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Zhang Yimou for more Hollywood-China collaborations
Zhang Yimou says the disappointing US performance of the biggest budget China-US coproduction to date, The Great Wall, may have been down to a weak story, but he hopes other filmmakers won’t be put off from attempting such ambitious Hollywood-Chinese collaboration.
“The actors are all very good; (star) Matt Damon and everyone was splendid,” said the acclaimed director on Tuesday.
“Probably the story is a bit weak, or the timing of it wasn’t right, or we didn’t do a very good job in making the film. There could be many reasons.”
Zhang spoke amid preparations for the Beijing opening of the stage play 2047 Apologue, which he described as a “conceptual performance” linking Chinese traditional culture with an imagined future of how humans will interact with technology.
Producers of The Great Wall had hoped the movie with a US$150 million (S$250 million) production budget could buck the trend of China-US coproductions failing to make a splash in both markets, at a time when movie makers wrestle with how to appeal to Chinese and Western audiences at the same time.
The script for the 3-D adventure fantasy that has Damon and Chinese warriors fighting monsters with China’s iconic Great Wall as protection took Hollywood seven years to develop. Zhang added elements of Chinese culture and his opulent visual style, seen in the romantic kung fu drama House of Flying Daggers and the 2008 Beijing Olympics ceremonies.
The Great Wall has pulled in a disappointing US$45 million in the US since its February release, though it has earned US$332 million globally. In China, where it was released in December, it made US$171 million, making it the eighth-highest earner in the country last year.
The movie was made by Legendary East, the Chinese arm of Legendary Entertainment, a Hollywood studio now owned by Chinese real estate and theatre chain developer Wanda Group. Other companies behind the movie include the State-owned China Film Group Corp; Le Vision Pictures, a private film company affiliated with Chinese tech firm LeEco; and Hollywood’s Universal Pictures.
Zhang says that The Great Wall marked a milestone in the collaboration of Chinese and Hollywood producers.
“As the Chinese saying goes: ‘all beginnings are hard.’ I feel that this beginning is valuable. I hope that there will be more co-operation like this, that people won’t stop just because the result wasn’t so good,” Zhang says.
Pressed on whether he would attempt a Chinese-Hollywood coproduction again, the director says: “It doesn’t have to be me. I hope more people will collaborate like this.”
Zhang’s new, much smaller-scale endeavour aims to start a conversation about the relationship between people and technology, and where this relationship is heading.
He called 2047 Apologue a “conceptual performance, because it’s not a show or a story”. Instead, he has hired Chinese folk art performers and companies from Europe and the US to supply technology such as drones and robotic arms for the hourlong show that is broken into several “fragments”. It will be performed at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing over June 16-18, and then tour several Chinese cities.
“Humankind has been so smart in developing technology that kills; the Americans are especially strong in that, right?” says Zhang. “When technology has become weapons that help us to kill, what is the relationship between it and us? Will it be used on you one day?”
He says his inspiration for the theme could have come from wanting his children to spend less time on computers, something he never did as a child.
One of the performers, Peking Opera star Qiu Jirong, says that people are increasingly depending on technology, such as using their phones rather than a bank card to make payments, and 2047 Apologue “is telling you that this is a threat, too”.
He says his eight-minute dance performance involves a menacing laser that is out to kill him. “I want to escape, but can’t,” says Qiu. “When you think about it, humans made these things, and have released them.
“I think these things are people’s desires, and people are doomed in their desires.”
Thursday, May 11, 2017 – 10:01
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Joseon Korean treasures you normally see in K-dramas are now at Asian Civilisations Museum
K-drama fans and historical buffs alike will be delighted to learn that Asian Civilisations Museum has recently launched an exhibition called Joseon Korea: Court Treasures and City Life.
Through 150 artefacts and national treasures, the exhibits give a deeper insight of life during that dynamic era, and how it has helped to shape Korea and the Korean culture many know and love today.
Below are some of the treasures that you will be displayed at the exhibition which you may find familiar:
Painted screens featuring the Sun, Moon and Five Peaks
Painted folding screens like the one in the picture above were used in the Joseon court. Screens with this theme, which is a symbol of royal authority in Joseon Korea, were placed behind the throne or royal portrait of a king.
The moon and sun symbolised the forces of yin and yang respectively, while the five peaks signify the five elements of earth, fire, water, wood, and metal. The evergreen pine trees connote the wish for the longevity of the dynastic lineage as well as the king’s regime.
Where you may have seen this: A folding screen above as seen in the 2012 historical Korean drama, Moon Embracing the Sun. The symbols have also been used in the design of the 10,000 South Korean won note.
Portraits of yangban officials
Painted portraits of yangban officials, who were part of the traditional ruling class during the Joseon Dynasty.
Where you may have seen this: Fans of historical Korean dramas like Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010), would be familiar with these outfits won by the scholarly aristocrats of the era.
Queen’s ceremonial robe:
A reproduction of a ceremonial robe worn by Queens of Joseon dynasty will also be on display at the exhibition. The robe was worn during official ceremonies and important events such as her own wedding.
There are nine rows of pheasant birds, which symbolise marital bliss.
Where you may have seen this: The queen in Six Flying Dragons (2015) wearing a similar robe.
Joseon Korea: Court Treasures and City Life is on from April 22 to July 23, 2017 at the Asian Civilisations Museum.
Admission: $10 for Singaporeans and PRs, free for children and seniors; $15 for tourists (concessions available); Ticket includes entry to permanent galleries.
Joseon Korean Treasures at Asian Civilisation Museum
Thursday, May 11, 2017 – 13:28
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Bangkok's new city library is a cool place to hang out
The new city library located in Bangkok’s old quarters offers visitors and book lovers a quiet and cool place to chill out and savour a wide selection of literature.
Thursday, May 11, 2017 – 09:45
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Commentary: A revolution in urban mobility
SINGAPORE: Disruptive technologies are redefining urban mobility. New options such as on-demand buses, autonomous pods and aerial taxis are set to transform the way we travel in the future. What kind of transport landscape can we look forward to, come 2030?
In our vision, transport options will be need-responsive. Recommended routes and travel modes can be pushed to your smart-phone ahead of time, anticipating your travel through your online calendar and travel pattern.
Think of it as your virtual transport butler – who will proactively arrange for an autonomous pod to ferry you from your doorstep to the MRT station at your usual time every morning, or for an on-demand bus service to bring you from your office to an external meeting.
You will board and alight without having to tap in and out. You just need your travel card or smart-phone with travel app somewhere on your person. You will pay for these transport expenses via a single monthly bill, like how you settle your credit card payments
Since 2016, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have put driverless vehicles like this minibus to the test. (Photo: Mediacorp)
How will this pave the way for a car-lite Singapore? To be sure, car-lite does not mean no cars. Rather, it embodies our aspiration to make public, shared and active transport so convenient, accessible and comfortable, that it becomes the choice mode of mobility for our daily commute.
DRIVERS OF CHANGE
To have some idea of what the future of mobility could entail, we looked at key driving forces behind disruption in the transport sector. First, there are rapid advancements in and proliferation of big data, robotics and artificial intelligence. Real-time analysis of big data from diverse sources can yield valuable insights into commuter behaviour and travel patterns for instance, enabling the design of more effective transport policies and better use of resources. Second, commuter expectations are changing, in part brought about by advances in mobile technology. The demand for just-in-time, demand-responsive transport has grown, in tandem with growth in public expectations for higher service levels.
At the same time, we cannot forget Singapore’s constraints in land and manpower. There is limited scope for further expansion of the road network. What little land we have should be prioritised for other needs like homes, community spaces, parks and employment. Hence the pressing need to encourage greater use of public, shared and active transportation. We are also not finding it easy to recruit drivers, whether for buses or trucks.
A VISION FOR FUTURE MOBILITY
We can achieve a car-lite Singapore as we deliver a transport system that is defined by high quality public transport, more choices for personalised shared transport and the seamless integration of these services into a single platform that will be able to anticipate and arrange our transport needs.
Trains will remain the backbone of our transport system, offering unparalleled connectivity, as we expand our rail network at an unprecedented pace of about one kilometre every month. By 2030, eight in 10 households will have an MRT station within a 10-minute walk. Our trains will be smarter, equipped with condition monitoring tools and advanced analytics to monitor and predict the health of the rail network, akin to the sophistication we find today in airplanes. This will enable us to fix faults before they occur.
An artist’s impression of the platform of the upcoming Keppel MRT station on the Circle Line. (Photo: LTA)
Empty public buses during off-peak hours and in more remote locations would become a thing of the past. With real-time capabilities and autonomous technology, they can be deployed according to live commuter demand and routed dynamically based on where commuters are waiting, instead of plying fixed routes and fixed schedules as they do today.
Journeys on our roads (mostly for public and shared transport, and the occasional private car trip) will be smoother. Leveraging Global Navigation Satellite System technology in our upcoming next-generation ERP system, which will give us aggregated, real-time and comprehensive data on all road traffic in Singapore, we are re-developing our traffic lights management system to make it much more intelligent and capable of better optimising traffic flows. Real-time, targeted traffic updates will be pushed to vehicles’ on-board ERP units, recommending alternative routes that are less congested and which optimise road usage.
With enhanced vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications enabled by this next-generation ERP system, vehicles will be more aware of their surroundings, improving road safety.
MORE CHOICES FOR PERSONALISED SHARED TRANSPORT
Commuters will be able to book autonomous pods to travel in comfort from their doorstep to the MRT station. This will dramatically improve first- and last-mile travel, in particular for vulnerable groups of commuters such as the elderly, families with very young children and people with disabilities.
At the same time, walking and cycling will be a breeze, with a 700 km-long island-wide cycling path network in place and as we continue to expand our covered walkways linking homes and offices to transport nodes.
A dedicated cycling lane on Tanah Merah Coast Road. (Photo: Elizabeth Neo)
Equally exciting, with the rapid advances in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) technology, urban mobility will no longer be about surface transport. You can hop onto a passenger drone, or hail a flying taxi. These aerial vehicles will ply dedicated aerial corridors, with different altitudes designated for different routes.
Drones will also deliver parcels to households and offices quickly and efficiently, while heavier goods will be transported via autonomous truck platoons. Utility vehicles performing functions such as road-sweeping and watering of roadside greenery will also be autonomous, further reducing reliance on labour.
With such a plethora of mobility modes, the paradigm for urban mobility will evolve into procurement of services, away from today’s mindset of owning your own transport assets such as a car. There will be less inclination to do so and be restricted to one mode of transport, when instead, you can choose from a wide range of options which are convenient and ideal for different travel needs.
FORGING AHEAD WITH DEVELOPING AN EXCITING FUTURE FOR MOBILITY
We will work with partners from the public and private sectors, local universities and research institutions to implement our vision for future mobility. In the process, we will develop and transform our industries to take advantage of economic opportunities, elevate the skills and capabilities of our workforce, and create new and better jobs. For instance, bus and truck drivers can be up-skilled to become fleet managers overseeing the deployment of fleets of autonomous vehicles and earn a better wage.
Concept of a future town centre in Singapore with autonomous Vehicles at night. (Source: Ministry of Transport)
Our future towns will feature even more lush, open spaces that can be enjoyed safely by pedestrians, rather than a landscape blighted by roads, car parks and cars. For those who still insist on driving, we will provide roads, but underground, as far as possible.
We look forward to developing this exciting future for mobility in Singapore and improving the quality of life and the living environment for Singaporeans.
Pang Kin Keong is Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Chairman of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore and the UAS Committee.
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Singapore Pavilion opens at Venice Biennale
VENICE: The Singapore Pavilion at the 57th edition of the Venice Biennale was officially opened by Singapore’s Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu at the Sale d’Armi building at the Arsenale in Venice on Wednesday (May 10).
It is Singapore’s eighth participation since 2001 at the prestigious international contemporary art event.
“We recognise that this is an important platform for our visual artists and their technical specialists to present their works to the global audience. We have been particularly encouraged by the warm reception given to our previous editions,” said Ms Fu in her opening speech.
“Our artists, such as Zulkifle Mahmod, who represented Singapore at the 2007 Venice Biennale, have also used the Biennale to launch their international careers.”
Singapore’s representative this year is pioneering multidisciplinary artist Zai Kuning, with Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge, a culmination of more than 20 years of his research on Malay culture and history in Southeast Asia as part of a broader inquiry on identity.
As the only Singaporean artist exploring the region’s collective history through the pre-Islamic Srivijaya era, Zai’s pavilion work delves deep into a history and heritage of Southeast Asia not commonly found in history books, specially zooming in on the forgotten stories of the orang laut (sea people), and mak yong, a dying pre-Islamic operatic tradition, alongside the narrative of the first Malay king of Srivijaya, Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa.
Zai Kuning with a hand-painted map, part of his installation at the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. (Photo: National Arts Council)
“This is a masterpiece nearly two decades in the making. Zai’s work is based on extensive research into the pre-colonial histories of the Riau Archipelago and its people,” said Ms Fu. “His interactions with the orang laut, sea people of the Riau Archipelago, reveal lesser-known aspects of the region’s cultural heritage … Through his work, the audience is encouraged to reflect on the roots and history of this region.”
Zai, 52, told Channel NewsAsia that he feels he doesn’t just represent Singapore alone here at the Biennale, arguably the most significant international contemporary art stage. He explained that what he is presenting is not just about Singapore history, but rather the history and living cultures across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – the Malay world that the world knows “very little about”.
“I represent the spirit of the Southeast Asian people who have vision. Not only do you have money, you have knowledge, you have craftsmanship, you can make things. And you give them culture,” he said. “And that is what we are. We are not slaves.”
Being part of the Biennale is important, he said, as this work is for the world to know that in Southeast Asia, there is a history that is completely forgotten.
Zai Kuning with his installation Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge, created for the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. (Photo: National Arts Council)
“The whole idea about the work, the transmission of knowledge, is about consciousness. And this consciousness belongs to merchants, craftsman and artists,” he explained. “It’s also to establish certain knowledge about democracy. We stop slavery, for example. We appreciate artists. We appreciate musicians; we appreciate chefs who make good food. That’s culture. It’s about culture. “
Central to the exhibition is the ship – the fifth and largest vessel that Zai has created to date – symbolic of the Srivijaya empire and its influence over the region. At 17m long and 4m high, it is suspended on trusses and is made of rattan, waxed string, books and stone.
Visitors at the Singapore Pavilion told Channel NewsAsia that they were taken by the exhibition’s enormity.
“It’s a very impressive work. Just from the structure, and materials used alone,” said Valerie Colloredo, from France. “It reveals a strength and fragility, and it’s beautiful aesthetically as well.”
Karen Fincham from New Zealand, who was at the Biennale for the first time, agreed. “What really struck me is how huge the piece is, and how it strikes you,” she said.
Zai Kuning performing at the official opening of the Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. (Photo: National Arts Council)
Sotirios Papadopoulos from Greece was also very impressed. “It’s obvious many people worked hard in making this possible. I’m curious how they made it happen. I think it’s one of the most important and best-located pieces in the Arsenale – it has to be here.”
The Singapore Pavilion closes on Nov 26.
