KENT CHAN

TO THE EASTWARDS (THE LINES DIVIDE)

(Single channel video, duration: 15’50, digital prints, dimensions variable 2014)

Commissioned for Busan Biennale 2014, To the Eastward (The Lines Divide) is a filmed theatrical piece about the founding of Singapore set in the city-state’s few remaining forests. A narrative imagined from the written documents and correspondences between Raffles, his superior and his various associates. It puts into focus the legacies of the men most involved in the founding – Raffles, William Farquhar and Tungku Long.

The forests prominently form the backdrop for the film, its mystery and complexity parallels the very nature of history. It is a site that held the fascination of both Raffles and Farquhar.

A conflation of history with art history, the work examines not just the role of the English, but that of the Dutch in Singapore’s founding.

Video excerpt: https://vimeo.com/286668597