Cake Theatrical Productions' Simon Says

National campaigns—who hasn’t heard or been affected by these? A new group show at the National Library re-examines their most ubiquitous element. Actually, it’s not so much new as it is expanded. An earlier version of Campaign City: Life In Posters was exhibited at Evil Empire back in 2010. Enjoyable as that show was, I had some misgivings about how the artists responded to the idea of campaigns—but this version works much better. A collaboration by the NLB and Salon Projects (with Alan Oei and Cheong Kah Kit spearheading), Campaign City features 50 contributors from different backgrounds (artists, graphic designers, students, poets, theatre peeps) creating their own posters. The new setting (and set-up) offers what its previous small version couldn’t: space to play around with, giving the show a much-needed added dimension and a bit more context.

Ng Yi-Sheng's Speak Odd English Movement

You also have quirky ones like Ng Yi-Sheng’s rebuttal of the Speak Good English campaign with one about speaking “odd English” quoting snippets from Singapore literature; Rizman Putra’s absurd appropriation of the anti-smoking campaign copy (“Mind If I Dance?” “Yes I mind”); and Zhao Renhui’s deadpan Cat Love Society (basically urging you to “Love Cats”). (Oh, and speaking of animals, you’ve got a bunch of pandas, too, which are Singapore’s newest tourism mascots, of course.)

Rizman Putra's The Dancing Man

The original national campaigns revolve around shaping the idea of a Singapore narrative—and it’s interesting to note that many of the works don’t challenge that. Perhaps it’s the nature of the campaign poster format, or certain limitations of a show in a very public setting (race and religion are no-nos), or even the artists’ disposition towards the idea of national campaigns, but whatever it is, you aren’t bound to find many works of a more overt critical nature. Oei, himself, observed that there was “very little conversation with censorship” in the works—although, at the same time, he cited how some previous viewers had found certain works to be “shocking”.

Justin Lee's Two Is Enough I won’t think of a work like Justin Lee’s or Tan Peiling’s to be “shocking”, but I liked their twists. The former’s piece, a family portrait with two kids’ heads covered by coloured paper toy balls, doesn’t really work as a campaign poster (and if I remember correctly, it’s from a previous series). But with a title like Two Is Enough and an artist’s note about dreaming to be the “first Singapore-born athlete to win a truly Singapore medal in (a) future Olympics”, no surprises about what it’s about. Tan, meanwhile, juxtaposes a campaign to “Act Responsibly, Speak Wisely” with the suggestion of CCTVs all around HDB blocks. But what do artists think about the very idea of campaigns?

Brian Gothong Tan's Last Night I Dreamt Of An Elephant On A Bee In A Lion You get a glimpse in three works. Brian Gothong Tan lets imagery do the talking in Last Night I Dreamt Of An Elephant On A Bee In A Lion, where, like a babushka doll, campaign mascots emerge from one another, with, ahem, a lightning flashing overhead. Cake Theatrial Productions’ simple text-based Simon Says poster comments on instructional aspects of campaigns that tell you to do this or that. A game perhaps, but some, like Stop At Two having pretty serious consequences. Finally, Elizabeth Lim’s cartoon illustration of a young girl looks at the oral health campaign she grew up with (brush or be caned!). In the continuous run of the words “I will not forget to bring my toothbrush” that dominate the work (on a blackboard-but-also-perhaps-pavement) you see not only a cheeky take on the specific kind of punishment errant students get, but also the idea of campaigns as self-replicating, numbing, and, as we imagine the little girl writing the words again and again, with the power to permeate consciousness. It's power internalised.

Elizabeth Lim's Untitled (Campaign City: Life In Posters runs until July 7 at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, 11th floor, National Library Building. Free admission.)