Aristo Alexios Kazuki: HMMM.....

All my lovely fans,

how are things back in Singapore ??hee hee hee. well i hope that things are running fine with new tutors.So bitching aside. we had a fantastic weekend. we visited 1 palace, 2 museums and to top it off ..... a long awaited and very satisfying BBQ/Shoju Session (i had MEAT... meat is expensive food) with Jae...YEAh!!!!!!! i knw this Blog entry is too long... but what ever. Take your time man... its just not an ORDINARY BLOGspot :-)

On Sat

We visited the Deoksugung near Seoul's city hall and even managed to get there in time to catch the traditional changing of guards ceremony. Actually it reminded me of Istana Open Day in SG. heheheeh.. Hot weather, long queues and crowded with people. most of the buddings within the compound are single storey with the exception of one and being right smack in the middle of town, you cannot avoid but see tall buildings in the background and hahaha EFish was like " i feel like photoshoping the modern buildings out leh . So Ugly ... " and i wanted the photoshop the "unwanted" tourist out so irritating they just voluntarily walk into my pics!!!!!argh.......... hahaha.... just a side track... your guys knw abt the drama serial ? Heros?.....if i had am a hero i want to have PHOTOSHOPING SKILL.... so that i can just crop people out, make everyone look pretty.! adjust brightness etc....whahahaha i am just an aesthete Lar..... i just want things to look Pretty. you Pretty u win.. like architecture. its the first step. i mean if u cannot even make the buildings u design, pretty,desirable, attractive and delightful..... u might not even have beautiful spaces. hmmm ...... the ugliness distracts.whahhahah.....

After visiting the palace, we went to Seoul Museum of Art to catch a SGD16/ 10,000 Won exhibition. its damn EX lar .....Whatever lar !!!!! It is MONET LEh...., what do you expect hahahaha.Emily was like half-hearted. i could not understand understand why? coz Monet in SG is almost impossible! maybe Opera Gallery....... The exhibition included portraits of his family, and some of the famous impressionist garden paintings were really quite awesome at a distance but most of the people were like viewing it 40cm away? huh?duh....... how to appreciate a Monet like this!!!! even though there were ample space to view the paintings at least 4M away. Most people just stared at it like a very detailed Botticelli or Diego Velazquez.Beats me!

And then there are people like emily-"hey i dun understand, What is SHE painting ? cannot see anything one LEh so blur. what it means huh? chey...... " Hmmm no wonder she was half-hearted.but in the end, with the help from us wahahah she managed to enjoy the show and we are now even looking forward to returning in Nov to catch the Van Gogh exhibition in Autumn ... so COOL....

And about the museum? erm i think its has an identity crisis. whahhahahhaa. its like an old facade and a totally new building behind it. the Facade has no relationship to the interior nor does it has any hints of its purpose within. the only hint is the words and Logo of the museum which brings me to think abt what Rem Koolhas mentioned. And then, it looks like a John Pawson from the outside and interiorly ,lack the sophistication of a Yoshio Taniguchi..... anyway what ever lar ..... hahahah but i dun wanna get myself involved a full blown discourse

On Sunday,

Efish, Harvey, Maoling, Jae and me went to Seoul National Museum. According to Jae, its the 6th largest museum in the world!!!!! WHao....AWESOME>>>> well its done by one of the most respected Korean modern architects-Seung H-sang and i think the sheer scale of the building is quite monumental almost forbiding except for the huge atrium. its design inspiration is apparently derived from traditional Korean architecture. However everyone had a hard time extracting that quality out. whahahahah.Fortunately, i attended a lecture in ACAU in july07 and according to a Prof based in University of Seoul, he said the Korean Architect responsible, abstracted the traditional language of articulating the wall, the spaces on each side, between and even on it.Perhaps its about how one interplays and layers the spaces. How one decides to frame and takes advantage of, How one covers and reveal what is beyond and most wonderfully the speculation of such thoughts and its potential. This concept perhaps comes across upon close examination both inside and outside the museum. Maybe there are other concepts involved.

In addition here is also the issue of formal representation.Encountering the central circulation core just made me feel that i am walking into deep canon or valley very similar to Tate but except that Tate feels like a huge room which it actually was. Okie That aside....we just wanted to concentrate on the exhibits ahahhahahha.... its an impressive collection of Asian art, meticulously and exceptionally well curated.... Blown over man!!!!!!!..... actually its dizzying. Image OVERLOAD....image OVERLOAD.... one of the problems with HUGE museums.

we sought of crossed over this topic agan over dinner & shoju in the evening with JAE and about how we should navigate the issues of culture, tradition versus Modernity/Globalization. Although now the hot topic in architecture is Virtual reality, Morphology organic growth, Computer-Aided design and Infotechnology. it just seems so reminiscent of the period nearly 200 years ago when architects and designers reacted to the Industrial revolution and machines.........hahahaha so fun..... Better than the topicality and sustainable BULLSHIT we have to go thru right?. i mean we dun need lecturers to teach us about this right? go pick up a book on SCDA or Kerry Hill and maybe SIA Mag......We dun need strategies on how to deal with climate (which i consider quite generic) what is need is to build up our skills on strategical and critical thinking and be more articulate in the more metaphysical meaning of Time and Space, gravity ....and then............. Efish was like "Eh CO SENG STOP TALKING.... WE NEED TO GET BACK to DORM......CAN?!!! WaH LAO EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk TAlk TAlk talk......"whahahaha... well thats me... i talk too much..........by the way at the end of the dinner each one of us had "kan pei" a bottle of shuju each. whahahahha and High..... HIGH .... HIGHer.....

And come to think of it.... we encounted 2 issues today
1.Between Conservation and Restoration.
2.Between Traditional and Modernization.

Venice Charter and Burra Charter might be of interest to everyone.
Overall its was an engaging and stimulating weekend and i hope that there are more to come by...