Industrial Unrest (20 March 1962) / 2021 / High-definition digital video / 16:9 aspect ratio, colour, sound / 20 minutes
In this two-channel video work, two youths read from an edited transcript of a 1962 debate on industrial unrest in Singapore’s Legislative Assembly. One youth reads the words of S.T. Bani of the left-wing party Barisan Sosialis, who spoke sympathetically about the trade unions and workers who have been striking. The other youth reads the words of the PAP’s S. Rajaratnam, then Minister for Culture who argued that not only were the Barisan Sosialis Communists, but that they put the disruption of society over the interests of the people in order to serve a revolutionary cause.
The choice of employing youths in this work distances the work from performative re-enactment, instead allowing the rhetoric to take centre stage.
This work is part of the Public Assembly series – an ongoing research project that examines the public assemblies and protests in Singapore from 1950s – 1980s. The project aims to investigate the history, performative function of public assemblies and what the mass assembly of bodies in public signifies to our understanding of power and freedom. It also attempts to explore how statements are regulated and circulated.
GREEN ZENG 