The Singapore Writers Festival 2018 just wrapped. It was a wonderful 10-day feast of significant ideas and powerful writing. I was honoured to have been invited to deliver a lecture on the social impact on the nascent technology known as blockchain, and its underlying philosophy of democratizing and socializing value of all kinds. I gave examples of innovative blockchain projects that try to do good things— such as giving one billion refugees their own digital identity; freeing money to uplift poor communities; stewarding one's own carbon footprint and managing one's reputation (social credit or "digital word of mouth"). I also cautioned about this particular technology's ability to commodify and exploit many aspects of the human being, to rigidly insist on crowdsourced "truth", to erode personal privacy and eliminate the basic "human right to be forgotten". Viewed through the lens of blockchain, the ancient Nguni Bantu proverb "I am who I am because of who we all are" suddenly seems to become less wisdom and more a dire prophecy.
(Photo by Shing Tay) #tech4humanity Quirky, fantastical yet somehow familiar, "Forage, Voyage" is a piece of wall art that begs the question of what it means to be on life's journey. Whose is the disembodied arm that rows this ark, chock-full of stuff? Are they necessities or impedimenta? No one appears to occupy the swing hanging from the tree. What about the crew dotted on the vessel, who all seemingly have important tasks but no arms to perform with? Why are there potted plants on board? Why is the ship's anchor devoid of heft, no more than a drawing? So what does the artist think this world is? What does she think it should be? Who, where, and most importantly why is all this? Curlicues of meaning and more questions are evoked as we behold this philosophical showpiece. -Aaron
LittWorld 2018, the triennial world conference of Christian publishing, has just wrapped up in Singapore. Friends and delegates from the book industries of 52 countries were in attendance. I am deeply honoured to have been invited to compose a poem with the conference theme "The Word Made Fresh". Thanks to all for the warm response as it was read aloud for the very first time at the closing reception last night. AMDG. + + + + + + The poem “The Word Made Fresh” by Aaron Lee (Singapore) was composed as a "twin cinema", a poetic form newly invented in Singapore. The visual layout of this poem is that of an open book, and the twelve-line text may be read in two columns as well as across. The words and phrases in this poem pay tribute to the beloved pastoral theologian Eugene Peterson, who embodied the conviction that all Scripture is a conversation. Peterson was promoted to glory on 22 October 2018. Here is a video recording of my address and reading the poem (left column-then-right). #MAILittWorld #LittWorld2018 #eugenepeterson #SGLit #laniakeaculture "The only cultural goods that ultimately matter are the ones that love creates". - Andy Crouch, CULTURE MAKING
Yesterday was a red-letter day for jazz maestro Louis Soliano and dance choreographer Low Mei Yoke who were awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's highest honour in the arts; and five artists - playwright Faith Ng, visual artist Hilmi Johandi, sound designer Lim Ting Li, dancer and choreographer Mohamad Sufri Juwahir, and conductor and music director Zulkifli Mohamed Amin who received the Young Artist Award. President of the Republic Halimah Yacob and Minister Grace Fu presented the honours at the Istana. Glenda Chong put us at all ease and steered the proceedings with flying colours. I was glad to enjoy the warm fellowship in the arts community. The National Arts Council deserves kudos for its great work. (Aaron's Facebook post, 24 Oct 2018) Big thanks to Evergreen Secondary School and its terrific team of educators for hosting the Ethos Books team at its Poetry Day. Christine Chia, Hao Guang, Theophi Kwek and I each facilitated poetry appreciation workshops for different groups of 14 and 15 year olds. For my "Lines Spark Code" workshop, I engaged the students in understanding how the study of Singapore-made poems helps us see the universal in the specific, the familiar in the foreign, and vice versa. I gave a little reading at the end of poems by Heng Siok Tian, Simon Tay and yours truly.
Special thanks to Kah Gay and team for inviting us to partner with Ethos in its year-round schools programme! (Photos by Evergreen Secondary School staff) #SGLit #linessparkcode #laniakeaculture Aaron was asked to mentor a team of #missionhacksters at Indigitous this year. This same weekend, groups of writers, media professionals, coders, designers, digital strategists, project managers, and anyone with a passion for creating met in 30+ countries for 48 hours. The teams brainstormed and started to design creative solutions to one of three defined social problems: ending violence against children, helping sex workers leave the trade for good and supporting people with addictions.
It was a pleasure to hang out with Team Squadra and eavesdrop on their conversations. I hope the questions and advice that I offered was helpful. They did great! More about the INDIGITOUS movement: https://indigitous.sg Namiko is well into her second year as artist-in-residence at HCSA Community Services in Geylang. HCSA is a charitable organization with Institute of Public Character (IPC) status and is a member of National Council of Social Service. It was started in 1996 as a halfway house for recovering drug addicts and ex-offenders. Today, its work has expanded to include ex-offenders, teenage girls undergoing duress and single parents. Its mission to empower these vulnerable populations is achieved through two programmes: HCSA HIGHPOINT and HCSA DAYSPRING.
At the annual fundraiser, Namiko's new abstract painting raised an amount in the high four figures, 100% of which goes to HCSA. This is the third painting that Namiko has donated to this charity. About the painting: Our Origins are Stardust" is a 2018 abstract work painted by Singapore artist Namiko Chan Takahashi. Although she is preeminent as a contemporary portraitist, Namiko occasionally produces abstracts. This painting is inspired by Psalm 139 in the Holy Bible which speaks intimately of the human being as "fearfully and wonderfully made". It is a startling and artful Christian interpretation of cosmogony and anthropogeny. |
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