Unmasking the city hall facade a study of its visuality in images 1

UNMASKING THE CITY HALL FACADE: A STUDY OF ITS VISUALITY IN IMAGES LEE LING WEI B.A.(ARCHITECTURE) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (ARCHITECTURE) DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2012 ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to examine the changes in the visuality, or the culturally mediated visual perception of the City Hall façade, as symptomatic of larger social and political practices. This is achieved by tracing the genealogy of the City Hall façade as an image, or as a vehicle for the propagation of ideas that serve the interest of those in power. In particular, the myriad visualities of the façade in images are studied as a series of masks, or devices of deception used to construct illusory visions that are beneficial to the state. This is achieved by utilizing the iconological approach, which studies the formal properties of images as symptoms of the cultural landscape that produced it. In uncovering the symbolic potency of the façade, the image is studied not just as a site of instrument and agency for the state, but also a place of resistance and subversion, where slippages abound, and established meanings can be overturned. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I will like to extend my gratitude to the following persons who have contributed greatly in the writing of this thesis: Lilian, for your enthusiasm and invaluable guidance, Mr Sabapathy, for your insight and kind encouragement, Kenneth, for providing a listening ear in times of need, and my family, for their unconditional support in whatever I do. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Table of Contents ii Summary iv List of Illustrations vi Chapter 1 – UNMASKING: SEEING THE UNSEEN 1 1.1 Seeing Through a Veil 3 1.2 Not What It Seems 16 1.3 A Way of Seeing 19 Chapter 2 – MASQUERADES: DECEPTIVE APPEARANCES 2.1 Signpost 22 23 2.1.1 The Façade as Icon 25 2.1.2 Imagining the Colony 34 2.1.3 A Civilizing Mask 75 2.2 Stageset 82 2.2.1 The Façade Without Body 84 2.2.2 Subsuming the Architectural Body 93 2.2.3 The Mask of Continuity 2.3 Billboard 110 141 2.3.1 The Façade As Image 143 2.3.2 An Ambivalent Mask 152 2.3.3 The Mask of Openness 173 Chapter 3 – MASKING: A REVEALING VEIL 204 Bibliography 208 Appendix A 230 ii Appendix B 232 Appendix C 234 iii SUMMARY The objective of this study is to examine the changes in the visuality, or the culturally mediated visual perception of the City Hall façade, as symptoms of larger social and political practices. This is achieved by tracing the genealogy of the City Hall façade as an image, or a vehicle for the propagation of ideologies by various stakeholders. In particular, the myriad visualities of the façade in images are studied as a series of masks used to construct illusory visions. A survey of the images of the façade is undertaken through its representation on monetary notes (1972,1976,1987), an artistic intervention titled For Singapore (2006) by American contemporary artist Jenny Holzer, and the video 9th August (2008) by local filmmaker Tan Pin Pin. In each of the instance, the City Hall façade takes on a different visuality, which is only made possible in the image. This is achieved by examining the utilization of its visuality by different stakeholders, such as the colonial and postcolonial states, as well as the artists, to construct and disseminate various ideas and impressions of the political and social enterprise in which the image was situated. In the study of the images, the iconological approach, which examines the formal properties of the City Hall façade and its re-presentation in images as symptoms of the social, political and cultural landscape that produced it, is utilized. By adopting an art historical approach that reconciles the formal with the political and social realms, the study departs from existing literature on the City Hall building that documents its architectural style and utilization as a historical setting to events such as the national day parades. In reading the formal properties of the façade and its representations in relation to the social and political landscape, the study offers a comprehensive understanding of the façade’s role. The façade is revealed over the iv length of the study to be not just a passive participant, but an active agent utilized by artists and the colonial and postcolonial states to selectively convey and conceal ideas in line with their own agendas. The images of the façade are thus ideological constructs, utilized by the artists, colonial and postcolonial states as a device of projection and concealment for their own benefits. In particular, the study posits that the various visualities of the City Hall façade are masks used by the colonial and postcolonial states to propagate deceptive visions of progressive governance, historical continuity, and political inclusivity. Significantly, the analysis of the representations of the City Hall façade does not just take into consideration the political motivations of the state, but also the artistic intentions of their creators. The images of the City Hall façade thus emerge not just as a site of instrument and agency for the state, but also a space of resistance and subversion where slippages abound and established meanings are overturned. v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Jenny Holzer. For Singapore, light projection on the City Hall façade, Singapore, 2006 Source: http://www.jennyholzer.com/Projections/site/Singapore2006/, accessed on 20 June 2010. Figure 2: The City Hall façade, Singapore. Source: Preservation of Monuments Board. “City Hall”. Available from: http://www.pmb.sg/?page_id=210, accessed on 21 March 2011. Figure 3: Façade of the National Arts Gallery. Source: National Arts Gallery, Singapore. “Winning Design”. Available from: http://www/nationalartgallery.sg/winning.html, accessed on 20 June 2011. Figure 4: Back design, $1 monetary note, bird series, issued in 1976. Source: Sim Chuan Hup (ed.). Singapore Money Book (Singapore: Moneyworld Asia Pte Ltd, 1994), p.28. Figure 5: Back design, $10000 monetary note, ship series, issued in 1989. Source: Sim Chuan Hup (ed.). Singapore Money Book, p.46. Figure 6: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring nationalistic paraphernalia on the City Hall façade, 2008. vi Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 7: Capitoline Temple, 509B.C. Digital reconstruction. Source: Stamper, John W. The Architecture of Roman Temples: The Republic to Middle Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2005), p.7. Figure 8: Viceroy’s House, New Delhi, India. Source: Aman Nath. Dome Over India: Rashtrapati Bhavan (Mumbai: India Book House, c2002), p.52-3. Figure 9: Photograph of Municipal Building overlooking the harbor, c1929-38. Source: National Library Board. Available from: http://snap.nl.sg/details/080000878_0001.html, accessed 15 July 2011. Figure 10: Postcard titled “Municipal Building, Singapore”, c.1934. Source: Cheah Jin Seng. Singapore: 500 Early Postcards (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2006), p.36. Figure 11: Postcard titled “Supreme Court and Municipal Building, Singapore”, c.1939. Source: Photograph no. 20050000003 – 0063, “Supreme Court and Municipal Building, Singapore,” c.1939. National Archives of Singapore. Available from: vii http://www.a2o.com.sg/a2o/public/search/index.html, accessed 17 June 2011. Figure 12: Scene from the national day parade in 1998. Source: NDP ’98: Celebrating 33 Years of Independence: Stories Behind the Story (Singapore: NDP ’98 EXCO, 1998), p.13. Figure 13: Closing scene of the national day parade 1998. Source: Television Corporation of Singapore. National Day Parade 1998, DVD. Figure 14: The City Hall façade as stageset in the National Stadium, 1998. Source: NDP ’98: Celebrating 33 Years of Independence, p.3. Figure 15: Corinthian capitals of the replicated City Hall façade. Source: NDP ’98: Celebrating 33 Years of Independence, p.5. Figure 16: Front design, $500 monetary note, orchid series, issued in 1972. Source: Sim Chuan Hup (ed.). Singapore Money Book, p.24. Figure 17: Back design, $500 monetary note, orchid series, issued in 1972. Source: Sim Chuan Hup (ed.). Singapore Money Book, p.24. Figure 18: Front design, $1 monetary note, bird series, issued in 1976. Source: Sim Chuan Hup (ed.). Singapore Money Book, p.28. viii Figure 19: Front design, $10000 monetary note, ship series, issued in 1989. Source: Sim Chuan Hup (ed.). Singapore Money Book, p.46. Figure 20: Liu Kang. National Day, 1967. Source: Liu Kang. Journeys: Liu Kang and his Art. Singapore: National Art Council and Singapore Art Museum, c2000, p.37. Figure 21: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring ministers descending the steps of the City Hall steps during national day parades. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 22: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring Lee Kuan Yew taking his stand at the saluting desk. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 23: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring Goh Chok Tong taking his stand at the saluting desk. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. ix Figure 24: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring Lee Hsien Loong taking his stand at the saluting desk. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 25: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring Singa the Lion with Miss Mandarin on a float. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 26: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring a float overwhelmed with vegetation. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 27: Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring replicas of HDB flats on a float. Source: 9th August, dir. Tan Pin Pin, available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZ7A4M_TXY; accessed on 27th October 2011. Figure 28: Lee Kuan Yew addressing the crowd from the City Hall steps with Yusof Ishak on the left in 1959. x Source: “The Big Moment... scene in City Hall as Inche Yusof takes the oath”, in The Straits Times, 4 December 1959, p.9. Figure 29: Graduates taking photographs with the City Hall façade as stageset. Source: Author’s own collection. Figure 30: Wedding photographs taken with the City Hall façade as a backdrop. Source: Author’s own collection. Figure 31: The Singapore Art Museum. Source: “Singapore Art Museum,” available from: http://www.timeoutsingapore.com/art/venues/major-spaces/singaporeart-museum, accessed 20 November 2011. Figure 32: The Reichstag, before refurbishment. Source: Norman Foster. Rebuilding the Reichstag (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000), p.36. Figure 33: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, Germany, 1976-95. Source: Christo, and Jeanne-Claude. Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 19711995 (Koln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH, 1996), p.426. Figure 34: The Reichstag, after refurbishment. xi Source: “The Reichstag, Bundestag building.” Available from: http://best-places.net/?p=1080, accessed 8 November 2011. Figure 35: A rendering of the National Art Gallery showcasing the street concept. Source: National Arts Gallery, Singapore. “Winning Design”. Available from: http://www/nationalartgallery.sg/winning.html, accessed on 20 June 2011. xii CHAPTER 1 Unmasking: Seeing the Unseen 1.1 Seeing Through a Veil Figure 1 Jenny Holzer. For Singapore, light projection on the City Hall façade, Singapore, 2006. 3 Against the enveloping darkness, the City Hall façade stood silently, unlit. Two symmetric columns of illuminated words floated on the façade of the building. Moving in tandem with each other, the texts traced a slow trajectory from the plinth to the frieze of the façade. Bold and uniform in its typeface, the texts declared: DECENCY IS MUCH WAS DECIDED A RELATIVE THING BEFORE YOU WERE BORN DEPENDENCE CAN BE A MEAL TICKET DESCRIPTION IS MORE VALUABLE THAN METAPHOR MURDER HAS ITS SEXUAL SIDE MYTHS CAN MAKE REALITY MORE INTELLIGIBLE1 Titled For Singapore, the projection of illuminated text onto the City Hall façade was part of contemporary American artist Jenny Holzer’s Truisms series, a collection of political statements revolving around the themes of war, peace, sex and death (Figure 1). Taking place over a three-hour interval, the work inaugurated the opening of the first Singapore Biennale in 2006. Commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), the work utilized the façade of the City Hall building as a canvas for artistic intervention.2 In doing so, the illuminated texts effected a change in the visuality – or the culturally mediated visual perception – of the façade. Located in the colonial district of Singapore, the façade of the City Hall building stands facing the Padang, a flat, wide green field that endows it with unobstructed visual access (Figure 2). At the symmetric center of the façade is a wide flight of steps 1 The statements of For Singapore are referenced from an unreleased video documentation of the event, provided by Jenny Holzer Studio. Subsequent statements quoted in the study are referenced from the same source. 2 The National Arts Council is a Statutory Board set up by the state to spearhead the development of the arts in Singapore. National Arts Council. “About Us,” available from: http://www.nac.gov.sg/abo/abo01.asp, accessed on 5 November 2011. 4 that leads to a podium. From there, eighteen regularly spaced colossal Corinthian columns, the most distinctive feature of the façade, rise several storeys high. Running across the entirety of the facade, the columns are fully articulated by a wall that is set back some distance behind. The columns frame a series of stripped classical windows neatly aligned on the wall behind, accentuating the strict classical geometry of the design. Completing the composition of the façade is a pediment that complements the steps of the building symmetrically, behind which rises a flagstaff. Neoclassical in style, the City Hall was commissioned by the British colonial government of Singapore in 1926.3 Then known as the “Municipal Building,” the building was situated at the heart of the colonial town, where administrative matters of the government were carried out.4 Its institutional function meant that access to the interior of the building was restricted to a select few, such as the governor, commissioners, and administrative staff. The majority of the colonised population had never stepped foot into the building before.5 For them, the sole function of the building resided in the visibility of the façade. For the façade took on the role of a setting to imperial ceremonies such as the King’s Birthday and Coronation Day.6 In its capacity as a backdrop to these events, the façade registered as a visual motif, one that took on a heightened symbolism as the seat of both the governor and the British monarch. 3 “New Municipal Building”, in The Straits Times, 30 April 1929, p.10 Ibid. 5 The only instance that an ordinary citizen of the colony had cause to enter the building was to pay his/her taxes. On these occasions, access was gained through the back entrance of the Municipal Building, as the counter for tax payment was set up at the back of the building. Otherwise, the ordinary citizen of the colony had no reason to enter the building. “New Municipal Building”, in The Straits Times, 30 April 1929, p.10 6 “Celebration of King’s Birthday”, in The Straits Times, 4 June 1931, p.12; “Proclamation parade in Singapore today”, in The Straits Times, 22 January 1936, p.12. 4 5 Figure 2 The City Hall façade, Singapore. 6 Crucially, it is the ceremonial function of the City Hall façade as a visual motif that has persisted to this day, in spite of changes in the programmatic use of the building, and the passing of different political administrations. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942-45, the building operated as the administrative headquarters of the Japanese.7 After the nation attained independence in 1965, there was no attempt to construct new, monumental edifices to commemorate the sovereign state. The City Hall inherited its function as the administrative headquarters of the country. However, in 1987, it was annexed by the Supreme Court to accommodate the Academy of Law.8 The building was vacated in 2005, and an architectural competition was held in 2007, to solicit entries for its refurbishment into the National Art Gallery (NAG) by 2014 (Figure 3).9 Due to the continued institutional function of City Hall in postcolonial times, it doors have remained closed to the public. The only exception occurred in 2006.10 Following the announcement of the building’s transformation into the NAG, the building hosted the Singapore Biennale. Its interiors were made accessible to the public for the first time throughout the duration of the biennale, marking City Hall’s transition from a state to public institution. The façade is thus the building’s primary public interface until now, due to its history as a state institution. While the building has undergone several changes in use, it is the function of the façade as a setting to major political events that has endured. In 1959, the façade served as a backdrop to the country’s proclamation of self-governance.11 7 Gretchen Liu. In Granite and Chunam: the National Monuments of Singapore, (Singapore: Landmark Books and Preservation of Monuments Board, c1996), p.63. 8 Ibid. 9 National Art Gallery. “About the Gallery”. Available from: http://nationalartgallery.sg/about-the-gallery/, accessed on 20 May 2011. 10 Ben Slater (ed.). Belief: Singapore Biennale 2006, 4th September to 12th November 2006 (Singapore: Singapore Biennale Secretariat, 2007), p.1. 11 Samuel, Dhoraisingam S. Singapore’s Heritage: Through Places of Historical Interest (Singapore: Elixir Consultancy Service, c1991), p.128. 7 Figure 3 Façade of the National Arts Gallery. 8 Three years later, in 1966, it witnessed Singapore’s first national day parade.12 Today, the façade still functions as the setting of the national day parades that take place at the Padang. During these events, the façade registers as a frontal plane, with no suggestion of an architectural body. The façade subsumes the building to register as a single visual motif. Significantly, during the conception of the building’s architecture, the visuality of the façade as a ceremonial setting emerged as the most debated element of the design process.13 The classical monumentality of the façade was conceived for the eyes of the observer. It was, and still remains, an object-to-be-seen. However, despite its importance, the visuality of the façade has been repeatedly mediated. Writing on the mediation of visual perception, Mieke Bal posits that: Visual culture works towards a social theory of visuality, focusing on questions of what is made visible, who sees what, how seeing, knowing and power are interrelated.14 Visual culture is a study of the practices of seeing, or “what is made visible, who sees what, how seeing, knowing and power are interrelated.” It deems the act of seeing as a mediated process that is informed by the knowledge and interests of the viewers, as well as the intentions and desires of the producers of visual objects. Visuality, or the culture of perception, is the socialization of sight. It is both the social construction of the visual field, and the visual construction of the social field. And it is the latter that the study is chiefly concerned with. The visuality of the City Hall façade, transformed by the projection of Holzer’s For Singapore, thus constructs a visual object that is a reflection of larger cultural and 12 Ibid. “Municipal Building. Report of the Special Committee”, in The Straits Times, 29 July 1924, p.11. 14 Mieke Bal. “Visual Essentialism and the Object of Visual Culture,” in Journal of Visual Culture Vol. 2:1 (2003), p.24. 13 9 social processes at work. Significantly, For Singapore was not the only instance in which the visuality of the façade has been mediated. Instead, it is part of an ongoing process that has been taking place since the inception of the nation in 1965 (Appendix A). Featured on the back design of the $1 and $10000 monetary notes issued by the state in 1976 and 1987 respectively, the City Hall façade is depicted in scenes from the national day parades (Figures 4&5). Titled “National Day Parade”, and “National Day Parade 1987,” the visuality of the façade was subtly altered over the years through the stylistics of illustration. On the other hand, 9th August, a seven-minute video by local filmmaker Tan Pin Pin, documents the changes in the visuality of the façade as a setting to the national day parades. Commissioned by the National Museum of Singapore in 2008, the video is collated from footages of the parades over a forty-year period spanning 1966 to 2006 (Figure 6). The façade is featured decked out in nationalistic paraphernalia such as banners and flags over the years. More importantly, the video traces the use of the façade as a visual motif in the parade over three generations of People’s Action Party (PAP) leaders from Lee Kuan Yew to Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong. In these instances, the City Hall façade takes on a multiplicity of appearances that project different visual impressions. This is, however, only possible in the visual field, or specifically, in the image. Offering mediated versions of reality, the image is what facilitates visuality as a culturally constructed way of seeing the world. It follows then that: 10 Figure 4 Back design, $1 monetary note, bird series, issued in 1976. Figure 5 Back design, $10000 monetary note, ship series, issued in 1989. 11 Figure 6 Tan Pin Pin, 9th August, featuring nationalistic paraphernalia on the City Hall façade, 2008. 12 Images show us a world but not the world itself. Images are not the things shown but are representations thereof: re-presentations.15 In his definition of the image, Richard Leppert posits that it does not present “the world itself,” or naked reality. Instead, images are “re-presentations” of reality. They depict a world that is mediated by historical, cultural and social processes. As a component of the visual field, it is the image that enables the façade to be continuously re-presented, and to undergo the numerous transformations in its visuality. Commenting on the nature of architectural images, Beatriz Colomina forwards: “…[images] do not simply refer to a preexisting object, they produce the object; they literally construct their object.”16 The images of the City Hall façade are thus re-presentations of the architectural object in reality. The different visualities of the façade propagated in the images constitute a form of architectural production on their own, one that is just as important as the built object. Expanding on Leppert’s definition of the image as a cultural artefact, W.J.T. Mitchell forwards that: …images are now regarded as the sort of sign that presents a deceptive appearance of naturalness and transparence concealing an opaque, distorting, arbitrary mechanism of representation, a process of ideological mystification.17 Similarly for Mitchell, the image is a product of cultural and social practices. However, he posits that the image hides the marks of its own construction, “concealing an opaque, distorting, arbitrary mechanism of representation.” The image pretends to present a transparent window on reality, when it actually offers a mediated 15 Richard Leppert. Art and the Committed Eye: The Cultural Functions of Imagery (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996), p.3. 16 Beatriz Colomina. Privacy and Publicity: Mass Media as Modern Architecture (Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1994), p.271. 17 W.J.T. Mitchell. “What is an Image?” in New Literary History Vol. 15, No. 3 (Spring,1984), p.504. 13 version of the world. Concealed behind the veneer of naturalness is the “process of ideological mystification.” Ideas that serve the interest of those in power are rendered invisible by masquerading the artificiality of the image as natural. The image, to Mitchell, is an ideological construct. Similarly, Colomina forwards that “…when…built architectural piece enters the twodimensional space of the printed page it returns to the realm of ideas.”18 For Colomina, the architectural image is not only a vehicle for the expression and propagation of architectural concepts and ideals. In its return to the printed page, the architectural image also serves as a reflection of, or a commentary on, the cultural and social conditions of its production.19 On the other hand, Mitchell sees the image as both instrument and agency.20 Following Mitchell, I argue that embedded within the images of the City Hall façade are ideas that serve the interest of its various stakeholders. Thus, in addition to architectural concepts, the different visualities of the City Hall façade also embody political and social ideas. As an image, the City Hall façade experiences not just an expansion of its visuality, but also its symbolic dimensions. 18 Beatriz Colomina. Privacy and Publicity. p.114. ibid, p.128. 20 W.J.T. Mitchell. What Do Pictures Want?: The Loves and Lives of Images (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c2005) p.351. 19 14 1.2 Making Visible Significantly, the City Hall façade was not just reproduced as an image. It may be argued that this face was conceived as an image right from the beginning of its inception. The design of the façade took into consideration neither space, approach, or tactility. Instead, the chief objective guiding its design was the exudation of monumentality through its scale and materiality, as well as the use of neo-classical architectural elements in order to express its institutional function as the administrative headquarters of the British colonial government in Singapore. With a total disregard for spatial approach, the façade was designed as a visual motif, or an image that conveyed the identity of the building. Writing about façades, Le Corbusier consciously uses the term “surface” as a substitute when referring to the front elevation of a building.21 The term “surface,” which implies the absence of depth, suggests that the façade is conceived as image rather than as space. The surface, in Le Corbusier’s conception, is used to “clothe” the “mass”, or the architectural body.22 For Le Corbusier, clothing is an expression of identity, or the reflection of one’s inner self, for the surface is “divided up according to the directing and generating lines of the mass; and this gives the mass its individuality.”23 To take Le Corbusier’s analogy further, the various permutations in the façade’s visuality are akin to the different appearances that one takes on with a change of clothes. To clothe is to dress. And the act of dressing also implies that of undressing, and re-dressing. The various permutations in the City Hall façade’s visuality can thus be seen as acts of dressing, undressing, and re-dressing, or symbolic expressions of the building’s changing identity over time. 21 Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture (London: Architectural Press, 1946), pp.36-42. ibid, p.37. 23 ibid, p.36. 22 16 By comparison, Colomina posits the façade as artificial exteriority: “The outside is only the “cover” of the book, it is clothing, it is mask.”24 For Colomina, clothes are akin to masks. Serving to hinder identification, they are a form of protection for the inner self.25 In Colomina’s conception, the façade seeks to conceal and veil through the act of projection. The mask is superficial, and revels in taking on a multiplicity of appearances. Significantly, although the City Hall façade is commonly perceived to be cladded in stone, it was actually constructed out of reinforced concrete.26 Conceived primarily as an image, the façade assumes an element of artificiality. It is used by the British to project an impression of monumentality to the colonised. Taken literally, the façade as image re-presents reinforced concrete as stone cladding, naturalising its own artifice. By masquerading reinforced concrete as stone cladding, the City Hall façade is a mask.27 Seen in this light, the multiplicity of visualities taken up by the City Hall façade in visual images can be construed as a series of masquerades. What, then, do the various masks donned on by the City Hall façade seek to project? 24 Beatriz Colomina. Privacy and Publicity. p.32. Italics are mine. ibid, p.273. Colomina posits here that fashion “…is a language that does not convey the feelings but acts as a form of protection – a mask.” 26 Gretchen Liu. In Granite and Chunam: The National Monuments of Singapore (Singapore: Landmarks Books and Preservation of Monuments Board, c1996), p.63. 27 In Masquerades and Identities: Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Marginality (London: Routledge, 2001), p.2, Efrat Tsselon points out the differences between the terms mask, disguise, and masquerade. However, he also forwards that the distinctions are tenuous, as each also shares the attributes of the other.Thus, he suggests eschewing the distinctions between mask, masquerade and disguise which collapse upon detailed examination, which is the approach that the study is taking. 25 17 1.3 A Way of Seeing The objective of this study is to examine the various guises of the façade, to uncover the symbolic potency embodied in its numerous visualities through its representation in images. This is achieved by tracing the genealogy of the City Hall façade as an image from its inception by the British colonials to the present day; from the conception of its design to its utilisation on monetary notes, in For Singapore, and 9th August. It also takes into account the latest transformation of the City Hall façade in its refurbishment into the National Art Gallery. In examining the symbolism behind the visuality of the City Hall façade in images, an iconological approach, or the study of artistic motifs as reflections of the ideological landscape that produced it, is adopted.28 Conceived by Erwin Panofsky, iconology delves beyond the formal properties and subject matter of images to diagnose the cultural and social implications behind the modes of representation. As Bal posits: …visuality encompasses the social life of things and the social construction of visibility, its analyses are inherently social, political and ethical, as they are aesthetic literary, discursive and visual.29 Visuality, which encompasses “the social life of things and the social construction of visibility,” requires an analysis that straddles both the social and aesthetical realms. And iconology takes both into account by studying the superficial forms of visual images as symptoms of its social and political conditions of inception. Iconology deems the image as a cultural construct, and takes into account social and political histories in the interpretation of an artwork by using multiple textual sources from different disciplines as frames of references.30 It also takes into account issues of 28 Erwin Panofsky. Meaning in the Visual Arts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), pp.26-54. The following write-up on iconology is referenced from this source. 29 Mieke Bal. “Visual Essentialism and the Object of Visual Culture,” p.24. 30 While Panofsky emphasizes the use of literary sources to decipher the themes and concepts expressed by objects and events depicted in images, multiple textual sources from different disciplines are used as frames of references 19 intentionality from the artist to the patron, in order to reveal the image as a product of social and cultural practices. In the study of images of the façade, particular attention is paid to the utilisation of its visuality by different stakeholders, such as colonial and postcolonial states, local and internationally based contemporary artists, as well as private individuals to construct and disseminate various ideas and impressions of the social and political enterprise in which the image is situated. By adopting an art historical approach that reconciles the formal with the political and social realms, the study departs from existing literature on the City Hall building that documents its architectural style and utilisation as a historical setting to events such as the national day parades. In reading the formal properties of the façade and its representations in relation to the social and political landscape, the study offers a comprehensive understanding of the façade’s shifting roles. In addition, Panofsky has forwarded that images also contain within them “disguised symbolism,” as opposed to open or obvious symbolism. By “disguising symbols under the cloak of real things,” doctrinal or other messages were hidden in the guise of ordinary objects.31 Thus, manifested in the visual forms of an image, beyond what is visible on the surface, is a latent layer of meaning. As Mitchell notes: “Visual culture entails a meditation on blindness, the invisible, the unseen, the unseeable, and in the study of the façade as image. This is primarily due to the nature of artworks during the Renaissance, which were often commissioned to depict biblical and theological themes, while the contemporary images examined here are rarely inspired by literary and biblical sources. In Panofsky’s conception, there is a one-to-one iconographic correspondence between a classical text and a visual image. However, in the present-day context, literary sources rarely inspire works of art directly. Instead, multiple textual sources from different disciplines are often the underlying basis behind contemporary works of art. 31 Erwin Panofsky. Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1953), p.141. 20 the overlooked…”32 Images are ideological constructs that masquerade as natural. And it is only through a “meditation on blindness, the invisible, the unseen, the unseeable, and the overlooked,” that the marks of its construction can be made visible, and its manifest meaning discerned. In this respect, the construction of images of the City Hall façade to embody certain meanings also implies that their significance can be undermined and subverted. Leppert has posited that “…each image embodies historically, socially, and culturally specific competing, and contradictory, ways of seeing.”33 By examining the invisible and the unseen, slippages in the images of the City Hall façade are uncovered. The façade is revealed over the length of the study to be not just a passive participant, but an active agent utilised by contemporary artists, as well as colonial and postcolonial governments to simultaneously and selectively convey and conceal ideas in line with their own agendas. The image of the façade is not just a site of instrument and agency, but also one of resistance and subversion. In the reading of the images, the viewer also emerges as an active participant in the construction of meaning. With different backgrounds, interests, and desires, each viewer offers a different way of seeing an image. The study thus acknowledges its own interests in the analysis of the images of the façade in reading the myriad changes its visuality as a series of masquerades. By examining the façade as mask, the study strives to make visible certain possibilities of meanings that are all equally valid in their own rights. In this, the image of the façade takes on a different function each time: as a signpost utilized by the colonial state as a demonstration of imperial power 32 33 W.J.T Mitchell. What do Pictures Want?, p.343. Richard Leppert. Art and the Committed Eye, p.7. 21 over Singapore; as a stageset equally utilized to mark political events and personal milestones; and as a billboard to promote and critique the transition of the building from a state to public institution. 22 [...]... Birthday”, in The Straits Times, 4 June 19 31, p .12 ; “Proclamation parade in Singapore today”, in The Straits Times, 22 January 19 36, p .12 4 5 Figure 2 The City Hall façade, Singapore 6 Crucially, it is the ceremonial function of the City Hall façade as a visual motif that has persisted to this day, in spite of changes in the programmatic use of the building, and the passing of different political administrations... backgrounds, interests, and desires, each viewer offers a different way of seeing an image The study thus acknowledges its own interests in the analysis of the images of the façade in reading the myriad changes its visuality as a series of masquerades By examining the façade as mask, the study strives to make visible certain possibilities of meanings that are all equally valid in their own rights In. .. depicted in scenes from the national day parades (Figures 4&5) Titled “National Day Parade”, and “National Day Parade 19 87,” the visuality of the façade was subtly altered over the years through the stylistics of illustration On the other hand, 9th August, a seven-minute video by local filmmaker Tan Pin Pin, documents the changes in the visuality of the façade as a setting to the national day parades Commissioned... p .12 8 7 Figure 3 Façade of the National Arts Gallery 8 Three years later, in 19 66, it witnessed Singapore’s first national day parade .12 Today, the façade still functions as the setting of the national day parades that take place at the Padang During these events, the façade registers as a frontal plane, with no suggestion of an architectural body The façade subsumes the building to register as a single... It also takes into account the latest transformation of the City Hall façade in its refurbishment into the National Art Gallery In examining the symbolism behind the visuality of the City Hall façade in images, an iconological approach, or the study of artistic motifs as reflections of the ideological landscape that produced it, is adopted.28 Conceived by Erwin Panofsky, iconology delves beyond the. .. and social realms, the study departs from existing literature on the City Hall building that documents its architectural style and utilisation as a historical setting to events such as the national day parades In reading the formal properties of the façade and its representations in relation to the social and political landscape, the study offers a comprehensive understanding of the façade’s shifting... 13 9 social processes at work Significantly, For Singapore was not the only instance in which the visuality of the façade has been mediated Instead, it is part of an ongoing process that has been taking place since the inception of the nation in 19 65 (Appendix A) Featured on the back design of the $1 and $10 000 monetary notes issued by the state in 19 76 and 19 87 respectively, the City Hall façade is... administrations During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 19 42-45, the building operated as the administrative headquarters of the Japanese.7 After the nation attained independence in 19 65, there was no attempt to construct new, monumental edifices to commemorate the sovereign state The City Hall inherited its function as the administrative headquarters of the country However, in 19 87, it was annexed... its own artifice By masquerading reinforced concrete as stone cladding, the City Hall façade is a mask.27 Seen in this light, the multiplicity of visualities taken up by the City Hall façade in visual images can be construed as a series of masquerades What, then, do the various masks donned on by the City Hall façade seek to project? 24 Beatriz Colomina Privacy and Publicity p.32 Italics are mine ibid,... series, a collection of political statements revolving around the themes of war, peace, sex and death (Figure 1) Taking place over a three-hour interval, the work inaugurated the opening of the first Singapore Biennale in 2006 Commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), the work utilized the façade of the City Hall building as a canvas for artistic intervention.2 In doing so, the illuminated texts ... also takes into account the latest transformation of the City Hall façade in its refurbishment into the National Art Gallery In examining the symbolism behind the visuality of the City Hall façade... way of seeing an image The study thus acknowledges its own interests in the analysis of the images of the façade in reading the myriad changes its visuality as a series of masquerades By examining... 19 31, p .12 ; “Proclamation parade in Singapore today”, in The Straits Times, 22 January 19 36, p .12 Figure The City Hall façade, Singapore Crucially, it is the ceremonial function of the City Hall