Potentiality is the possessing of latent power or capacity capable of coming into being or action. It is an optimism that looks to the future rather than the grimness of the present. With this as an organising theme, The O.P.E.N. looks around the globe at world issues through a different lens.
This year at The O.P.E.N., we celebrate the potentialities of courageous individuals who are change agents and continue to be role models in challenging contexts: From the stunning oeuvre of Newsha Tavakolian, who is single-handedly changing the face of photojournalism in Tehran, to Carla Fernandez, who inspires with her ethics and creative vision connecting fashion design to the roots of Mexico, to Yasser Mroué, protagonist in Rabih Mroué’s Riding On A Cloud. Yasser, with his human tenacity, is the individual victor from the Lebanese civil war. A sniper maimed him but could not destroy his potentialities.
Rabih Mroué connects to Markus&Markus with their radical performance documenting the euthanasia of Margot. 81 years old, who chooses her individual path to the very last moment. Marina Otero taps into her life to create a joyous, outrageous revelation of her first 30 years reassembled. Maverick Olivier Saillard, director of THE Paris Fashion Museum and named by The Independent as fashion’s favourite curator, rounds up ‘documentary performance’ in Models Never Talk. It is an astonishing distilled performance harnessing the potentiality of fashion ‘moments’ with models who have lived these shows. This is the passion of Saillard who has explored fashion in performance with actress Tilda Swinton and continues on his extraordinary journey through fashion history. For potentiality includes the dormant unrealised, before potential, and also what remains after - a reserve energy that will emerge again.
Noorlinah Mohamed conceives this year’s Club Molam at the old Kallang Airport. As The O.P.E.N. did last year, we have concentrated on the potentialities of old forgotten sites in Singapore. She has brought together some of the most amazing young artists from Southeast Asia today - Speak Cryptic, NADA, Senyawa, to name but a few. Collectively, they reimagine the old days of clubbing in Singapore into new visions of the future, beyond ethnicities. Joining this explosive club are Berlin artists Marc Brandenburg, Mark Formanek and Julius von Bismarck. The O.P.E.N. Salon continues with the potentialities of contemporary art practice and archives with fresh insights from Muna Tseng and Vali Mahlouji. Our film curator, Tan Bee Thiam, has put forth an amazing series of O.P.E.N. films, closing with the Golden Bear 2016 winner, Fire At Sea, by Gianfranco Rosi. Migration, often viewed today as humanitarian tragedy, is also the largest potentiality that has created so much of our present, including Singapore.
Finally, we present rocker Perhat Khaliq from Urumai, Xinjiang. the 'Uncrowned King' of "The Voice Of China" who has wowed millions of people around the world. We can look beyond the face of terror with the dignity of an individual face that can once again remind us of the strength and integrity of one human being. "The will is not free to refuse this responsibility; it is not free to ignore the meaningful world into which the face of the Other has introduced it. In the welcoming of the face, the will opens to reason.” In this beautiful statement. philosopher Emmanuel Levinas brings us to the profound potentialities that are in the intercultural encounter with the Other. If the world is to survive, perhaps we need to stop stereotyping and return to the power of the individual.
For the individual exists in each and every one of us. The O.P.E.N. has a tagline this year, “Be Open To The INDIVIDUAL In You!”. It is easy to forget that each one of us has the potentiality to transform into an individual, to be a change agent. Thank you, dear audiences, and everybody who has contributed to bring The O.P.E.N. 2016 into fruition.
– Ong Keng Sen (Festival Director)
(Source: Arts House Limited Programme)