One
of the most ambitious Singapore films to have been screened this year at the
27th Singapore International Film Festival, artist Min-Wei Ting’s I’m Coming Up is an uninterrupted visual
journey through Singapore’s most representative structure: the HDB Flat.
A ubiquitous
feature of the Singaporean landscape, more than 80 per cent of our population
dwells in these state-developed blocks. Yet beyond its function and history, an
actual physical entity remains that is surrounded and obscured by socio-economic
and political narratives.
Whilst
there have been various films about life in these buildings—Eric Khoo’s 12 Storeys and Lei Yuan Bin’s 03-Flats come to mind—these inevitably
focus on personal stories and state accounts, where the high-rise serves as a backdrop
and is never given space to articulate itself.
I’m Coming Up explores the public
high-rise as an entity in its own right and looks to capture its unknown self,
a space of being that is difficult to grasp. Director Ting is interested in the
high-rise as a body unto itself—to be seen, heard, and felt.
The film traverses an endless corridor, the arterial and vernacular feature of public housing architecture in Singapore, to contemplate its lines, colors, and surfaces. The duration of the film corresponds exactly to the actual time required to ascend a 21-storey public housing complex on foot, a protracted gesture that delivers an experience of psychological and physical space in real-time.
The film traverses an endless corridor, the arterial and vernacular feature of public housing architecture in Singapore, to contemplate its lines, colors, and surfaces. The duration of the film corresponds exactly to the actual time required to ascend a 21-storey public housing complex on foot, a protracted gesture that delivers an experience of psychological and physical space in real-time.
Taking
some time out to chat with us, Min-Wei Ting elaborates on how he approached the
uniqueness of this project, and some stories behind the scenes.
What
is your main discipline as an artist? While this project is obviously your
exploration of the filmic medium, what kind of projects do you most frequently work
on?
The
focus of my practice is the moving image. I tend to avoid saying that I'm a
'filmmaker' because that then places my work within the realm of cinema and
exposes it to certain expectations. Besides I didn't study film, I studied with
people who worked with film but also painters, sculptors, installation and
performance artists. That being said, my work does tend to end up in the
theatre but only within specific contexts like festivals and exhibitions. I
don't currently work in any other medium but that doesn't mean I won't on
another occasion. On the other hand, I think there's plenty to explore with
film that has nothing to do with conventional notions of what cinema is. An
example is Toh Hun Ping's works in this year's SGIFF under the program, ‘Covets of an Outsider: Showcase of Works by
Toh Hun Ping (2004-2009)’.
What
subject matters interest you the most?
That's
hard to say. I'm interested in politics, history, culture—pretty broad topics—and
within those there are specific subjects I'm drawn to. But not every interest
lends itself to becoming a project.
Could
you explain a bit more about focusing on the high-rise as a body itself, to be
observed separately from the human and social aspects of it. Apart from it
being a good architectural study, what do you see in these repetitive
corridors, stairs, and walls?
I've
always been interested in architecture so the design of this particular complex
in Jurong drew me in the moment I stepped into it. There isn't another public
housing block like it in Singapore. I'm almost certain of it. Very quickly, I
knew what I wanted to do - to traverse the entire building from bottom to top -
a response that was very particular to its design. I couldn't have done this
anywhere else. So I wasn't interested in telling the history of the building
nor the stories of its inhabitants in the film, I wanted simply to consider its
form and what it represents, which leads us to the other part of your question.
The
repetition of building features - the corridors, stairs, walls - almost
everything in the building, presents a space that's very uniform, orderly and
monotonous. The relentless journey through this immense block of flats drives
home that feeling. I see the public high-rise as a metaphor for life in
Singapore - it's rather homogeneous and conformist with little room for
deviation. I know that sounds like an oversimplification but just think about
the limits that are placed on how people think and behave here.
One might say, "How else would you build an apartment block? Of course everything will be the same." And that's true but what I'm speaking about is not just sameness but the vastness of this sameness. I don't think it's farfetched to transpose this reading of public housing onto Singapore as a whole if you consider that the overwhelming majority of this country's population, more than 80%, resides in blocks not too dissimilar to the one in the film.
One might say, "How else would you build an apartment block? Of course everything will be the same." And that's true but what I'm speaking about is not just sameness but the vastness of this sameness. I don't think it's farfetched to transpose this reading of public housing onto Singapore as a whole if you consider that the overwhelming majority of this country's population, more than 80%, resides in blocks not too dissimilar to the one in the film.
Speaking
of the other Singaporean films that have featured the HDB flat, which ones did
you have in mind when you mentioned them? In particular, have you watched 03-Flats? It too is a study of the flat,
albeit from a different angle.
I
watched 03-Flats earlier this year
at The Projector. Then of course there’s 12
Storeys, but that was almost 20 years ago so I hardly have any memory of
that. I also thought of some photographic projects. I can't remember the
photographer but I think he or she photographed residents standing right
outside their homes. And now there's a Japanese couple here who have been
photographing the interior of flats—furniture, decorations, personal
possessions—without the occupants.
The
thread that winds through these works is the human dimension - if it's not the
residents themselves that are featured, it's the traces and touches they leave.
This has the effect of personalizing these otherwise utilitarian and sterile
buildings. Now we see parents, children, belongings, habits and routines, and
one starts to invest emotions and feelings into these spaces.
With I’m Coming Up, I wanted to reflect on what these spaces mean without the human element. Admittedly, I don't do that completely in the film because you see people's belongings here and there in the corridors but for the most part, the film is devoid of people.
With I’m Coming Up, I wanted to reflect on what these spaces mean without the human element. Admittedly, I don't do that completely in the film because you see people's belongings here and there in the corridors but for the most part, the film is devoid of people.
How
did your cameraman achieve this feat of walking up the HDB flat with a steady
cam, and shooting everything in one take?
The
truth is that we didn't do it in one take. When we began planning the shoot, I
wanted to do it in one take and the Steadicam operator was quite confident he
could do it as well. But after a few site visits, I think he realized it was
going to be near impossible for him to do that. It would have required enormous
amounts of concentration and stamina. So we discussed it and settled on doing
several floors at a time then merging all the shots in post. Even then, the
shoot was still very demanding on him because we were aiming to end at sunrise
so the breaks were short - the entire ascent was timed. It was basically stop,
wipe off the sweat, have some water, go.