On Places — Becoming Spaces
Dr Margaret Tan & Dr Jeremy Fernando
Moderated by Ms Yanyun Chen
Wed 22 March | 7.30pm | NUS Museum | Free admission with registration
Henri Lefebvre teaches us that space is not a given: it is, instead, the manner in which one interacts with, relates to, a place that generates this momentary thing called ‘space’. Thus, space is brought forth through one’s act, craft, tekhnē; where something, perhaps even something new — in all its potentiality — is introduced into the world, alongside all its possible consequences.
It is in this spirit that the students in the Singapore as “Model” City? senior seminar embark on their intervention projects; where they attempted to respond to a place, open a relation — thus, always already a question — with it, whilst keeping in mind that any response entails being responsible; not just to the people who might have been there, not just to the place, but to the very space that is created.
In this panel, Margaret Tan will reflect on the questions behind the quest of the seminar: in particular, the diacritical marks which haunt its title. After which, Jeremy Fernando will attempt to meditate on the notion of interventions, on the relationship between the one who intervenes and the site of the intervention. They will conclude by presenting various interventions that have been made by their students over the various semesters.
