singapore biennale 2011: simon fujiwara

'welcome to hotel munber' 2010
image © designboom

british artist simon fujiwara's fictional narratives are not simply read from a book, they are experienced.
combining fragments of personal and family history with re-interpretations of historical contexts and an underpinning
of homo eroticism. taking on the physicality and detail of archeological like studies that have been completely
fabricated and presented as performances, illustrated lectures and highly detailed mixed media installations.

'welcome to hotel munber' is a recreation of the bar in his parents' hotel in spain during the 1970's franco
dictatorship, except re-written as his father suppresses his homoerotic fantasies and sublimates his new feelings
architecturally into the environment of the room. presented in the 2011 singapore art biennale as a story recounted
in performances both of himself and of the installation.



image © designboom

porn magazines placed, partly hidden on the top shelf, along with a score of phallic objects hanging
from the walls including suggestive castanets and sausages. intersecting commentary, micro-narratives
of historical conjecture along with fictional erotic stories framed and set in the open add layers to fujiwara's
work that one could spend hours dissecting and discussing the implied meanings of.



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom


image © designboom



image © designboom



video © designboom

the exaggerated fantasy that fujiwara portrays brings a social critique not only of the history of a nation
but also of identity itself as a socially constructed idea. the video above is a segment from his presentation
explaining his process to develop the story, the conflicts that drove it underground for a period of three years,
and the opening scene to his erotic novel.

born in london, UK 1982, fujiwara lives and works in berlin.

--
the third edition of the singapore biennale (SB2011) opened its doors to the public
on march 13th and will run until may 15th, 2011.  designboom visited the shows
led by artistic director matthew ngui and curators russell storer and trevor smith.
the SB2011 open house program is organized by the singapore art museum (SAM)
of the national heritage board and supported by the national arts council, singapore.
63 artists from 30 countries are presenting 161 works across four exhibition venues
– SAM and SAM at 8Q, the national museum of singapore, old kallang airport and marina bay.