For Jeremy Hiah and Lina Adam,

and all brothers and sisters of the revolution.

Copyright © 2007 Lee Wen, Singapore

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without prior permission from the publisher, except by a
reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Published by Lee Wen in conjunction with

“Freedom of daydreams, Mothers of imagination”,
solo exhibition by Lee Wen
at Your Mother Gallery,
11 September to 11 November 2007

Photographs by Lee Wen,

with the special assistance of Chua Chye Teck.
Design by Lee Wen,
with special assistance of Ken Yeo

ISBN 978-981-05-9112-0

With the support of

Your Mother Gallery,

91A Hindoo Road, Little India,
Singapore 209126
Tel/Fax: (+65) 97877874 / (+65) 63963310
Email: yourmothergallery@gmail.com
Website: www.geocities.com/yourmothergallery/
Invocation

Did you come so far

Just to buy that car?
Or was it just a game of golf
You were looking for?
There was so much more
In your dreams before
When you were young, green and full of steam
Whistling and singing your sweet idyllic songs
While happily working along on that factory floor
Oh virtuous virgin in spirit and innocence
Now if not later you won’t recall the words
To those quixotic songs you sung
But the melody still sits
On the tip of a once so fresh now bitter-soured tongue
Hey why do our hearts still cry?
Oh why are our weary souls still yearning?
No don’t want to keep on compromising
Don’t you know there’s a battle still raging?
While the fat cats sits on the mansion on the hill
They are still scheming for more games and greed for to kill
So ever ready to send you on the killing fields
So they can lick that shame stained gain
Be proud oh chosen one
Not to mindlessly help them steal the sacred act and close their deals
Don’t touch that blood and dirt on their hands
Bite your lips and make your stand
For yours is the freedom to daydream
Oh mothers of imagination
Be my consort be my guide
Steer us clear from our fears
Trauma this life have brought us aplenty
Your manifold forms to dispel our varied distressing ordeals
Oh mothers of imagination
You are one though your manifestations are limitless
To attend our human multiplicity
In nature we hold our inner splendor
In reality we created a world of destruction and conflict
Oh mothers of imagination
With your brilliance and benevolence
Return us to our fateful deliverance
That which in harmony for affection of learning and wisdom
That which is equilibrium in composure
That which is bliss
Ecstasy
Rapturous in freedom of daydreams once and forever
The Republic of
Daydreams

Lee Wen
 When was it first Yin San or Cloud Mountain was able to
escape the Void and enter into the Republic of Daydreams, he can’t
remember. Despite many a stimulating successes evil is ever adamant
at every step of the progression. And if anyone so much as doubted they
would be returned to the Void. It was rumored amongst those who had
similarly found their way in that there was a limit to the number of times
they were allowed a re-entry by their own individual processes and for
those who had been returned by way of self-doubt or compromising to
the ways of the Void too many times beyond that limit they would have
to find a new process or means of re-entry into the Republic. Otherwise
the processes they had practiced would merely be the remainders, good
for the passage to a simulacrum of the Republic of Daydreams and
worse than that a simulacrum of the Void or even the simulacrum of the
simulacrum itself.
Most of those who found their way in were called arthists and
many thought it was their privilege however the truth was the idea of
privilege was a delusion and that there were more who were citizens
in the Republic than just arthists. Boeys or Not Yet was one who knew
well this and even used this as one of his processes by announcing
“Everyone is an arthist” and became famous for that. In countless talks
and interviews to the media, which was part of his process, he spoke of


it and he was well regarded for this. Sometimes sounding like a wise
enlightened man of mystical dimensions and there are those who claim
he’s a fake because he played it too well that he seem like a trickster
charlatan especially with his funny hat on all the time and the way he
makes in clumsy means by way of something called performance art.
But that was his knack, which only showed how each one of us had our
own means of entry into the Republic. And then there would be many
who tried to follow suit and copied his processes even to the point of the
way he dressed as if such processes could be replicated.
There are those who not only think that their presence in the
Republic and evasion from the Void were that of being an arthist of
privilege but were also so arrogant as not to accept their fellow citizens
of daydreams whose practices were processes and means which were at
the same time seemingly useful directly for the expansion and upkeep
of the Void and not what one would normally call an arthistic process.
This did not cause them their dismissal or expulsion from the Republic
for arrogance is quite common amongst those who arrived through
processes as arthists, which entitle them as such so we normally call
them arthists. For it is the extension of the exaggerated ego, which
is mostly useful for the arthists who need this somewhat egotism to
overcome their being rejected for being indulgence in processes not
usually seen as supportive of the auspices within the Void. There was
also a persistent confusion for there are overlaps between the Void and
the Republic of Daydreams in trans-activity and some like to see it as
actually one and the same but there are gaps which catches all of us and
that its nature had been evolving all the time, dying and regenerating
itself through a process of historical and cultural revolution.
But not all arthists have such self-seeking needs for impulses
like that does limit one in the end if not bring one to the end. Whereas
those who go by other selfless processes not even caring for those of the
so called arthists may go about the Republic of Daydreams out of the


10
Void, completely ignoring the existence of art or the arthists let alone
being known as one. And this is one thing Yin San or Cloud Mountain
have been trying at best in his processes and capacities to incorporate
and inculcate but not yet found success in, for he believes it is one
major necessary step towards bringing the Republic into a new level
of pursuit which would put the transformation in its original intended
direction once again. For Yin San or Cloud Mountain is not like that of
what Boeys or Not Yet spoke of “Everyone is an arthist” but instead
of that “Everybody is a revolutionary”. Those whose practices are not
what normally would be called that of the arthist can be as equally
capable of bringing about changes for the transformation, or what may
be referred to as that of the revolution. And it is more important for Yin
San or Cloud Mountain to see that everybody as revolutionaries than
as arthists.

*
The work and practice has to be motivated by questioning.
Making processes of daydreams is a thought process seeking a
language to put forward questions of our individual living condition
with response to history as well as to current changes. Yet much of
what is being done today is actually rubbish made for entertainment
and for the profit of speculators or the game of one-upmanship in
the Void. Of course it is not wrong if we aim to entertain and make a
living in order to continue with the work of trans-activating between
the Void and the Republic but that should not be the sole motivation,
which would then kill the spirit of our genuine intention. I have my
doubts about the current situation of the trans-activation of daydreams
based on tested traditions that is why I need to explore alternative
processes to overcome them.

11
 The Art Competition was one of the ways those in the
Void was always trying to show their sympathy for those of us who
gained entry into the Republic of Daydreams. It was also a way to gain
complicity of those in negation of the Void and almost revolting by
way of seemingly self-imposed poverty and their exceptional economic
attitudes amongst the arthists who inhabit the Republic of Daydreams.
These ways will hopefully affect those who are slacking in faith,
conviction and commitment to the mothers of imagination and hence
are occupying a shaky existence between the Void and maintaining
their enduring stand in the Republic to be enticed back into the Void.
Such arthists would sit on their laurels after winning the awards offered
or acceptance by the Void, repeating in already irrelevant and by now
mendacious processes only to gain and maintain riches from the Void
but losing their continuing effectiveness in the Republic.
There had been a growing interest within the Void in what
the arthists were now doing as over time in history new forms and
processes were developing in the Republic beyond the comprehension
of the Void. Mostly those in the Void indulge in activities of pointless
entertainment of popularity and functional pragmatic consumption.
With their recent changed status as powerful and wealthy authorities
of the Void they would want to be seen as sophisticated and cultured
within the Void if not beyond it.
The beach at Sentosa was reputed to be most special on the
autumnal night where the full moon would make the sand on the beach
sparkle and shine exceptionally. Arthists used to congregate there
drinking wine and creating spontaneous works of daydreams. This
attracted the wealthy of the Void to also hold wine drinking parties
often accompanied by a shopping spree of the inspired production by
the arthists. Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull had rightly observed that
the Art Competition was a culmination symptomatic of the possessive
megalomaniac nature of those in the Void to overcome their anal

12
retentive and accumulative neuroses in order to recollect themselves. It
was also an act indicative of a pompous consumption disorder to show
their authority and supremacy.
The Mayor took advantage of the phenomenal success of
the spontaneous full moon festival on Sentosa beach to inaugurate an
Art Competition and also offered a grand prize more than the record
amount paid for any work yet sold before at the shopping spree, which
accompanied the full moon festival on Sentosa. What was interesting in
the first inaugural competition was how Yin San or Cloud Mountain had
responded to the call to submit his work for the competition. Yin San or
Cloud Mountain was at the time reputedly one of the most consummate
arthists who could paint in any medium and wrote poetry in all possible
manner, and his work was easily seen as worthy of respect to those
who clung on to traditions as well as those who only accepted the
experimental or even fashionable. Thus he was one most likely and
favored to win if there ever was a competition. The competition was
to be held in the central main section of the beach and arthists were
invited to pitch their works there for the judges to view them. It was
open the whole night and arthists were allowed to submit their works
up to an hour before sunrise. Two hours before sunrise most arthists
in attendance had already submitted except for Yin San and this upset
the Mayor as he had many dignitaries and special guests and would
feel embarrassed by Yin San’s shunning the competition because of his
reputation.
Neither the festival nor the competition was of any concern
to him. Yin San or Cloud Mountain was enjoying himself with his few
trusted ones from the Republic of Daydreams as if the festival and
competition was not even happening. He was one of the first arthists
who had congregated there in the beginning. In fact many had said
that it was he who initially invited just a few friends to the first full
moon party on Sentosa beach many years ago before it grew to become

13
14
such a popular practice. The Mayor sent one of his clerks to specially
invite Yin San to submit his work. By then Yin San already smashed
and inebriated had already made many works of exception and anyone
of them could be worthy of an award if not the Grand Prize. When
the clerk announced the Mayor’s special invitation he rose in silence
and followed him empty handed. His friends followed him thinking
he will make a spontaneous submission. As he approached the official
competition compound he felt his stomach acting up and aching. Without
even a salutation to the Mayor he proceeded to the shore in full view of
all who gathered and took center stage. He felt a need to answer the call
of nature and loosening his sarong he squatted down to discharge his
bowels a nice pile of shit. He cleaned himself with some leaves lying
around and as he dressed he announced: “Writing and drawing shit on
moon-lit sand, for the rich, to get rich, that’s not art.”
Yin San’s act turned out to be a historical milestone, which
many had tried to interpret and theorize his act as spontaneous theater
or performance art to this day. Bringing attention to the debate and to
what De Dubei or Virtuous Poison Cup had said that art today should
no longer question “what is beautiful?” but rather, “what is art to be?”
Some even saw it as the kind of radical gesture, which was at the most
essential point of fission and fusion of trans-activity between that of
the Void and the Republic of Daydreams necessary for the continued
success of the revolution. In his drunken state at that point of execution,
Yin San or Cloud Mountain did not even consciously knew in exactitude
if it was art or not but a spontaneous bodily response in disgust how
the natural processes of the Republic was being hijacked by the Void.
In order to avoid punishment by the authorities of the Void, he had to
admit that it was a serious submission of performance art to the Art
Competition as there were no restrictions stipulated. It was a field day
of scandalous news for the media arousing condemnation and also led
to a twelve-year prohibition of performance art and other spontaneous

15
theater within the Void. Even today after the proscription was lifted a
licensing process of policing was enforced which had crippled many for
a natural and unaffected production of daydreams.

Whether you hang a painting on the wall or when you

perform an action, what matters more is its relevance to the ability
of the process to trans-activate between the Republic and the Void.
It may be different due to the time frame and the nature of the
presentation. After all, painting is a performance done with paint on
a surface then hung on a wall for some time to be viewed. What is
important is what are we doing as in terms of this thing called art?
The need to shift our attitudes may be responding to as what De Dubei
or Virtuous Poison Cup suggest that we also question, “What is art
to be?” And not only “what is beautiful?” hence at the same time
questioning the value of art itself. Is art still necessary? What is it
good for in our day and age? I have not found all the answers to these
questions yet but my work is also to use it as my thinking process and
hope people can help me or I would think we are working together
on this through further dialogues and discussions. In terms of making
a live presentation as part of the creative process one feels totally
absorbed in it both physically as well as spiritually while also being
conscious of looking and being looked at. But it is like a moment we
look for to make it “right” and then the work is “done” and hence
a kind of catharsis perhaps or overcoming some opposed threshold
which we bring forth though that does not always happens or if it does
its not always the same in terms of intensity or success. That is the risk
we take to get to the edge in order to trans-activate the processes.

16
 During the twelve years of proscription Yin San traveled
widely and almost abandoned his own gift and aptitude of painting
and other object making processes. The proscription was blamed on
his act at the inaugural Art Competition and his paintings and object
works were shunned, accumulated and filled his humble tiny dwelling
to the brim, as no one wanted them even when they were of exceptional
and unique quality. Mostly the authorities used its media machinery in
the Void to spread rumors about his inauthenticity and dishonesty and
made a joke about his previously admired experimental nature of his
paintings and object works as only of equal worth to the droppings he
had discharged during the inaugural Art Competition. Even his circle of
fellow practitioners who made works of a similar inclination were also
desecrated and censured. Many had to abandon them and seek other
processes in order to overcome the concerted official censure.
He pulled the accumulated disgraced works out of his home
on the field outside the Farrer Swimming Pool one day and invited all
his friends for a barbecue. Singing his poems he gave each one painting
or object work of daydreams a last chance to be seen by his friends
and burnt them one by one. Many friends were moved to tears but for
Yin San or Cloud Mountain it was a new beginning. After this he was
seldom seen in any one place for long in the Void giving rise to the
suspicion he had given up or was living in exile.
After the burning of his paintings and object works of
daydreams was the beginning of his new processes of daydreams in
performance art. In fact it was at this time that he decided he was now
an artoot and no more an arthist. He did not believe in art but would
be seen as doing it still as that was how he could still trans-activate
between the Void and the Republic of Daydreams in a process more
or less like performance art or seen as such. However what Yin San
or Cloud Mountain did was something yet unnamed. He left his tiny

17
dwelling and moved to stay and live surreptitiously on the cremation
grounds in Redada where he met another of his mothers of imagination
for the first time which he had never seen or heard of before when
he was most prolific in making paintings and objects of daydreams.
Yin San or Cloud Mountain had a strong urge to inhabit the cremation
ground in Redada as he felt himself a desire and need to have to die
somewhat in order to live anew.
To help him overcome his urge to practice his surrendered
gift and former aptitude in making paintings and objects of daydreams
he began to write instead. The act of writing was a new habit, which
he had difficulty with. He copied his favorite books by hand when he
did not know what to write and made notes on all his thoughts and
questions in seeking new discoveries and new processes of daydreams.
Yin San or Cloud Mountain became interested in the roots of rituals and
theater and what was sometimes seen as the indefinable performance
art practice. He sometimes used the notes to repeat them as answers
to interviews and questions from the media of the Void about his
processes. Especially after he was awarded the LCC medal of honor as
usually they often asked the same questions repeatedly, as it seems they
lack the facility for history and memory in the Void.

Ritual or repetition is a dirty word for some; even within

the Republic of Daydreams when it is unquestioningly performed as
“prescriptive motions” it is not functioning, as it should. If one goes
by the definition of ritual it usually comes with many derogatory
adjectives and insinuations such as “prescribed patterns”, “inflexible,
stylized repetition”, “rigid formality” etc. it should be noted that
rituals are meant to function in a way, which is more alive than dead
responding to the Void and up keeping the principles of daydreams.

18
19
I suspect somewhere along we seek to enter into what Dun Er or
Storage Ear had described as the “liminal”, that neutral state
between the pre-conceived, already defined and before entering
anew back into the Void that is pushed forward by our present action
and I believe this is where the essential state of “questioning” and
being alive lies with our work or our actions and rituals while trans-
activating between the Void and the Republic of Daydreams.

He could not sleep the first few nights after moving to the
cremation grounds of Redada. The sudden withdrawal from the making
of paintings and objects of daydreams left him with too much unspent
energies within him, as his new practice of writing did not dissipate
them. Then one night his tiredness overtook him and he went to sleep
just before midnight and met her. He felt her coming across the sky like
overcast shadow and suddenly lay over his body. Her face was covered
with black long silky hair and he could feel her breath on his cheeks. She
felt weightless yet he could not move when he tried. He felt an unusual
serenity and knew that she is one of the incarnations of the mothers of
imagination he had never met before. Yet there was fear in him and so he
shuffled with all his might that made both of them tumble off the bed to
the floor. When he got up she had disappeared. In his tiredness he went
back on his bed wondering if it was just a dream and was soon sound
asleep. On waking, Yin San or Cloud Mountain dismissed it as a dream
or a nightmare as sometimes when one moves to a new habitat, the
changed environment may trigger one’s perception that results in them.
The next night she appeared again in the same way. This time
Yin San or Cloud Mountain was not with fear as he came to understand
that she was Tian Ker or Sky Song, the mother of imagination who was
the guide to processes of daydreams that involved an element of time,

20
materials and environment, and usually a presence of the progenitors
during the processes. Within the Void it would appear as ritual, dance,
theater, performance art and usually referred to in the lowest common
insignificant descriptive name of performing arts. Performance art was the
closest term to describe what Yin San or Cloud Mountain used as processes
when trans-activating between the Republic of Daydreams and the Void.
On the cremation grounds at Redada, Yin San or Cloud
Mountain came into acquaintance with various other dwellers that
practice processes of the Republic of Daydreams of whom Tian Ker
or Sky Song was also a mother of imagination to. Many had found
the cremation grounds of Redada a serene space of inspiration
to develop their processes away from the hustle of increasing
population in the Void. In less than two years and half they were
also evicted from the cremation grounds of Redada as the powers
of the Void had been watching and was getting signals that it was a
fast breeding ground for the Republic of Daydreams who were able
to live without contributing much to the economy or paying taxes to
the Void. They gave the excuse that the site would be redeveloped
into a new station for the subway trains that was diverted in the
direction running under and across the cremation grounds of Redada.
By the time of the eviction from the cremation grounds at
Redada many of those who dwelled and worked there had gained some
reputation and were in fraternity with each other. However the eviction
and ensuing dispersal caused many fractures and tensions amongst
them as they scrambled for alternative locations for continuing their
processes in the Void. The news of the notorious incident of Yin San
or Cloud Mountain’s performance at the Art Competition and the
following imposed proscription had had by now spread far and wide
which aroused the curiosity of various organizers and presenters of
performance art to seek him out.
Yin San or Cloud Mountain accepted these invitations with

21
reservations but was curious to find out how by way of performance art
the processes of trans-activating between the Republic of Daydreams
and the Void were being enacted by others in the far corners of the Void.
Though Yin San or Cloud Mountain found excitement at the idea of
travel he was more concerned about his ability to carry out his processes
of daydreams in strange lands with strange people who spoke different
languages and have different histories. Not only there were also new
friends and associates of the Republic of Daydreams but also Yin San
or Cloud Mountain discovered many other mothers of imagination he
had never heard of before. But not all of them were responsive to his
practice for perhaps they were there to help those of a different climate
and temperament.
He encountered a greater range of different forms and degree
of collusions between the Void and the Republic of Daydreams for it
usually require more resources to bring the many practitioners from
further a field than those from the neighboring sectors. The complexities
and convolutions brought on more corruption and arrogance of
privilege amongst the arthists and they begin to work in self-interest
and competition amongst themselves rather than in co-operation. There
was also complacency brought about by a lack of reflection by arthists
over time where they merely repeated tested processes formulated to
address the already past state of affairs but not responding to the recent
changes. Yin San or Cloud Mountain’s disgust and disappointments
with the current situation for the effective trans-activation between the
Republic of Daydreams and the Void grew and became diverted to more
and more the behavior of the fellow arthists which made him all the
more the need to differentiate from them and thus calling himself an
artoot instead.

*
We are losing the essence of our trans-activation processes

22
23
of the Republic of Daydreams. So-called arthists are more selfishly
addicted to the idea of amassing financial and political powers from
the Void and forgetting the genuine joy of sharing and community
work of the Republic. At the same time the commercial powers in the
Void are dishing out popular mass cultures of mindless entertainments,
appropriating ideas from the Republic of Daydreams and using them
to stupefy the audiences with endless hypnotic games and programs
of seductions. Can we still believe the arthists when we know this is
happening today? What remains is just residue of what it used to be,
only wastes, corruption, pollution and the consistent repression of
those who persists to differ. I am apprehensive of how we as arthists
also contribute to the destruction of the intentions of our actual work
in our enthusiasm to create processes of trans-activation. We need
to be more careful not only in what we say but also how we say it
before its too late. Perhaps we need to differentiate from those who
are lost without a clear consciousness. Perhaps we should stop calling
ourselves arthists. Yes a new role needs a new name in order to raise
the questions anew.

Yin San or Cloud Mountain one day announced: “I don’t

believe in art, but I do it.” He called himself an “artoot” instead to
differentiate himself from other arthists as a response to all the
confusion of recent times and the profusion and burgeon of arthists
in conspiracy with the Void, which Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull
spoke about. For now that there was an acceptance within the Void for
the various once frowned upon processes many arthists had lost their
genuine relationship with the mothers of imagination working within
the policing enforced by the Void. Many saw the dangers that the
Republic of Daydreams faced and the impending loss of sovereignty to

24
that of the Void and agreed with Yin San to calling themselves artoots as
a way of showing solidarity in the continuing processes of daydreams
for the revolution.
By the time Yin San or Cloud Mountain was conferred the
LCC medal of honor and hence properly rehabilitated into the Void, his
disgust and disappointments was almost so extreme he was on the verge
of giving up any hope for the processes of the Republic of Daydreams
ability to still trans-activate for the sake of the revolution. For to him
the degeneration had meant the need to ask various searching questions
and to desist in the process until all the problems are resolved. With the
recent state of the Republic of Daydreams and its dialectical relationship
with the Void where many who attempt to grasp and gauge the speed of
recent massive changes have pronounced the death or end where even
all mothers of imagination would not be able to resurrect at this stage.
The present situation is considered by them who proclaim the end or
our state of death to be continued only in simulation or surrogate form
of what it used to be or some would even claim the ultimate fate of
daydreams of which Yin San or Cloud Mountain would strongly profess
to defer. It occurred to some that when he was conferred the LCC medal
of honor that it would mean the death of the arthist in Yin San or Cloud
Mountain and he would be exorcised for good into the Void while only
in simulation remain one within the Republic.
As there were many speculations why Yin San or Cloud
Mountain was given this LCC medal of honor, which in the first
place there was no clarity what LCC actually stood for or how one
was selected for sanction. The official version was that it stands for
Legendary Cultural Conveyer but some said it meant Lowest Common
Culture with reference to what Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull had
expounded in his theorizing. In actuality no one knows for sure as it had
often been referred to simply as the LCC medal of honor but they were
all in suspicion that once bestowed one would actually be subjected

25
to the control of manipulators and perpetuators of the Void. However
the medal does have its advantages especially when negotiating the
bureaucracy of the Void, which even now Yin San or Cloud Mountain
have to intermittently enter by necessity for the sake of acquiring
resources lacking for the sake of the revolution. But it is Yin San or
Cloud Mountain who admitted it himself that the one primary rationale
for him to accept the medal was to make his aging mother happy. For
after all she was Yin San or Cloud Mountain’s first of the many mothers
of imagination that had given him the initial stimulation and motivation
to enter into the Republic although she had never once was in agreement
to his decision to quit an apparently promising career in the Void.
But demands of working for the revolution especially during
the prohibition period would not allow Yin San or Cloud Mountain
to sort the actualities in details and as from his own perspective not
all revolutionaries are conscious of their own roles not to say those of
their fellow citizens of the Republic. Such was his mother who had the
intuitive nature of incarnating herself as a unique mother of imagination
as she entranced Yin San or Cloud Mountain with her natural ability to
tell tales of vividness based on her real tragic experiences from her life.
Which in reality was half as spirited as her lively storytelling. And as Yin
San or Cloud Mountain’s financial situation had become worse over the
years in the Void as is common for a sincere practitioner of daydreams
to the point of being cold-shouldered although he gained respect with
his work in the Republic. He only wanted her to feel with pride as she
saw it as an honorable award so that she in her old age would not be
spent worrying for having a simpleton son lacking in respectable status
within the Void which did not worry Yin San or Cloud Mountain as
much as her growing disappointment in him over the years.

*
Besides making my mother happy one could only hope

26
27
for a voice that would be heard more clearly especially from those
in the Void in order to make things happen. But alas! What kinds of
revelations would I rather not be shown in those who should be more
sympathetic to the struggle? I have always believed and persevered
in what I do. At the end of the day, we must be responsible for our
actions. How difficult can it be to continue the play with the processes
when the codes of functional consumption in the cycles of the Void will
only be yet trivialized into fashionable trends and sterile simulacra?
And who needs the arthists today when most are in conspiracy with
the Void and instead of working towards higher possibilities find it
more profitable to send negative vibes about death and destruction of
the cause for the Republic of Daydreams?

With the lifting of the twelve years of proscription and Yin

San or Cloud Mountain being conferred the LCC medal of honor soon
after, there was a widespread suspicion that it was the death of the
arthist in Yin San or Cloud Mountain and he had been seduced to return
to the Void. Little do they know that he had already embarked on being
an artoot instead which was another level of practice he had discovered
in the Republic of Daydreams. For some felt that even the Republic
had already ended and dismantled itself after its acquiescence into the
Void especially with the inauguration of the Great To Be Alive Biennale
which superseded the Art Competition as a celebration of the many
new processes of daydreams conventionalized and appropriated, some
say hijacked by auspices of the Void which even included performance
art. But in order to rehabilitate performance art without being confused
by the other kinds of extreme and often deemed as disgusting and
obscene acts or subversive dangers by the Void, the new name of “live
art” was invented. One could still partake in acts involved with nudity,

28
bloodletting, bodily wastes or the transgression of other social taboos
but in a more constrained or acceptable form of “live art”, officially
sanctioned by the Void.
Hence the Great To Be Alive Biennale, which superseded
the Art Competition also now accepted performance art but are being
repackaged as “live art”, a more acceptable and domesticated form for
the mass consumption of the Void. Perhaps it was all the speculation
that art is dead or near its end as proposed by Bau Li Lard or Father
Strong Pull that such a new name was invented just before Yin San or
Cloud Mountain was being conferred the LCC medal and the subsequent
inauguration of the Great To Be Alive Biennale thereafter. It was a clear
attempt to emphasize the living-ness or aliveness rather than a dead or
dying practice through such names. The situation put him in a rut and
whatever Yin San or Cloud Mountain did was unsatisfactory to himself
as well as to a harsh suspicious audience that he faced. It was also the
confusion of our time of the beginning of the decline which made many
efforts hardly now effective for the trans-activating between the Republic
of Daydreams and the Void although the collectors and speculators of
the Void were snapping them up mindlessly and escalating their prices
further with little relevance to their actual worth.
In his dejection Yin San or Cloud Mountain turned to the bottle
in extremity. Barely a day past without his total abandon to alcoholic
drunkenness and many were of deep concern for him. It was not doubt
he had but perhaps an overwhelming desolation filled with confusion,
which perplexed him to a point of frustration. One day he passed out in
his bed and lay there for 3 days or more he could not be sure. During
his state of unconsciousness all the mothers of imagination he had come
across visited him. They were a comfort to his perplexed state of mind
and being and probably kept him alive as he found himself lying in a
pool of his own vomit and shit when he woke. He realized the need for
reconciliation of his contradictory dilemma and this would have to be

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based on his historical act during the inaugural Art Competition. He
decided to package his shit in tin cans and sell them at the prize beyond
any work sold to date in the Void and to submit it as a new work for the
Great To Be Alive Biennale.
He had produced with careful planning a limited edition of
24 and will premiere it as part of a presentation at a conference on
international multi-trans-activity at the Art Station. The Art Station was
becoming a trendy meeting space for arthists where many conferences
were held discussing and presenting the current questions about the
trans-activation between the Republic of Daydreams and the Void by
way of processes normally known as art. Although Yin San or Cloud
Mountain had gained a status of higher regard since being conferred
the LCC medal it was still not easy to find venues sympathetic to
the presentations of sincere processes of trans-activity between the
Republic of Daydreams and the Void. The Art Station was one of the few
places in the Void where he could find ready acceptance for his work.
Despite its popularity, the Art Station faced financial difficulties with
accumulated debts from year after many years of not being able to be
financially sound, that is showing profitable returns in presenting works
which were pertinent processes of trans-activity between the Republic
of Daydreams and the Void. There was a decision to hold a fund raising
exhibition during the annual conference held in conjunction with the
Great To Be Alive Biennale. Half of the proceeds from the sale of works
during the exhibition would be donated to the Art Station.
Yin San or Cloud Mountain submitted his 24 tin cans and
exhibited them neatly in a pyramid pile on a pristine white pedestal.
All the cans were neatly labeled “The Artist’s Shit” with details such
as its date of production and its weight of 30 grams each, and the
announcement, “freshly preserved, produced and tinned”, which he
signed and numbered personally. Many crowded round to make jokes
about it but some went into serious discussions about their significance

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as bringing the question of art to a different level. Just when they were
about to speculate if anyone would be convinced about the validity
of such a work to be submitted, word began to spread amongst them
like wild fire that the millionaire philanthropist, Mr. Soho had bought
the whole lot at the record price. The interest in the conference was
immediately diverted to the sole discussion of Yin San or Cloud
Mountain’s submission and its hasty sale.
There were all kinds of stories that circulated about how it
happened. It was said that Mr. Soho was the most typical of conspicuous
consumers who needed the exercise to show his supremacy and
recollect his anxious, anal driven self-image through offering to buy
the most expensive work. He had just arrived in a hurry from another art
auction and was anxious to purchase the most expensive work before
anyone else at the Art Station exhibition. Just when he was instructing
his personal assistant to make the purchase he received an urgent call on
his mobile phone. His broker was calling him for instructions regarding
his shares at the stock market, which was going through some jittery
fluctuations as he arrived at the Art Station.
“Just buy the most expensive work,” he instructed to his
assistant while being distracted on his mobile phone.
“But that’s just some artist’s shit,” his assistant replied.
“Ya, any shit will do as long as it’s the most expensive,” he
retorted while distracted by his broker on the phone.
Later when Mr. Soho found out he had actually bought 24
tin cans of Yin San or Cloud Mountain’s work, “The Artist’s Shit”,
he was initially embarrassed and angry but in order to save face, he
began to defend the work. Everybody was surprised to hear Mr. Soho
the well-known philanthropist who only collected conservatively and
mostly of the highest priced watercolors and scroll paintings and at
the most the odd abstract oil paintings had now become an outspoken
defender of such complex works of trans-activity between the Republic

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of Daydreams and the Void. But as Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull
has propounded, such proclamations was more than that of a simple act
of self-preservation but bespoke of intricate signs of our complex social
intimations and sublimated motivations.
Although Mr. Soho had defended the work with all the jargon
he knew of the ideas of Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull, he secretly
felt he had made a mistake in actuality. However he consistently used
and quoted the ideas of Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull and even
studied them more in order to defend the work and hence his own
action of purchasing it. Anyone who questioned him for buying the
most expensive shit would receive an earful from him on the ideas of
Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull. Over time Mr. Soho even convinced
himself entirely into becoming a firm believer and one of the most
updated followers and staunch believer of the ideas of Bau Li Lard or
Father Strong Pull, which he tried to also impart to his family and his
descendents. Mr. Soho gradually became quite reverential of Yin San
or Cloud Mountain and his work that he even enlarged his collection
of which “The Artist’s Shit” became the most vital piece of them all.
However Yin San or Cloud Mountain’s production was not that prolific
after “The Artist’s Shit” and he also soon passed away of a rare illness
at quite a young age.
Not all of Mr. Soho’s family and descendents were similarly
devout for they were too indulgent with the ways in the Void and only
dismissed ideas of Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull as superstitious
nonsense. Over time it was also difficult to sustain newly acquired
family traditions and it was only one great grandson, Ah Tai who was
the most ardent follower of ideas of Bau Li Lard or Father Strong Pull
or other family traditions during the time of the continued decline. The
descendents of Mr. Soho were still in possession of the 24 tin cans of
“The Artist’s Shit” and other works by Yin San or Cloud Mountain’s.
However over time and especially after the passing of Mr. Soho the

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family’s faith in the teachings as propounded by Bau Li Lard or Father
Strong Pull waned and became corrupted with the decline. Yin San
or Cloud Mountain’s works lost the status of pride and reverence
within the family and would have been sold at some auction if not for
Ah Tai’s insistence on keeping them. Most of the other works were
gradually sold at auctions and “The Artist’s Shit” was the only one
Ah Tai could salvage but it was relegated from its honorable place of
display, to be stored in a black cardboard box in an obscure corner of
the basement storeroom.

There seems to be repetition within the context of rituals.

To me that repetition within rituals references our being in time and
becomes in itself an image or metaphor of or for time within eternity.
Such as in nature we see the sun or stars rising and setting everyday
or the planets revolving around the sun and in the waves on the beach.
In most ancient traditions there is a tendency to create human rituals
based on the observation of nature. When we refer to repetition within
a historical context a different discourse ensues.
Perhaps it becomes numbing and hence an anesthetic
function or rather dysfunction occurs due to overkill of repetition
when done to the point of losing its original creation of meaning
which is not my intention nor I believe what motivates us towards
ritual and repetition in rituals. That is why we need to recreate them
and via making works of daydreams with the consciousness of the
need to make it novel and that our current production of daydreams
remains relevant and contemporaneous. Yes every repetition makes
difference that is why a production of process in daydreams can never
in actuality be repeated however the essence of it can only acquire
authenticity if it is done with this consciousness.

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 *

There were signs that the final days of the Great Decay was
nigh due to a continued decline and the corruption of the preservation of
sincere practices of trans-activity between the Republic of Daydreams
and the Void. Natural climate was disrupted to unusual behaviors
of extremity. Animals and flora were disappearing to the point of
extinction. Great floods caused by freak hurricanes and excessive rains
were followed by great periods of drought and famine. Monstrous
pests and self-destructive weeds evolved due to unnatural practices of
technological advances in violation of the ways and grew to consume
the crops in the fields. It had become a constant battle where crops were
lost from the attack of monstrous pests and weeds or for the lack of
proper irrigation, extremities of climate and the land was exhausted of
all its fertility.
Mr. Soho’s family and descendents were fortunate to have a
large storage in the basement. In anticipation of the depletion of food
supplies due to the decline, dried preserved foods or tinned canned food
were being kept in the basement storeroom. While rummaging through
for canned food, during the great drought, his great grandson Ah Tai
found the all but forgotten 24 tin cans of Yin San or Cloud Mountain’s
“The Artist’s Shit” in its black cardboard box. Inside the box was also
a scrolled up certificate explaining the work and acknowledging its
authenticity of “The Artist’s Shit” as a process work of trans-activity
between the Republic of Daydreams and the Void. When Ah Tai held
those tin cans in his hands he immediately knew what he needed to do.
He brought them out to the fields where grains were growing
before the great drought. On each plot he opened a tin can and sprinkled
out what was inside spreading out as evenly over the plot as he could.
The rain immediately fell as he opened and sprinkled out the last can.

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The land soon was all shining again with crops and fields of grains
in splendid glory. There were many speculations about how this could
happen. Some said that Yin San or Cloud Mountain did not put his
shit in the tin cans but something special that he had discovered in his
travels. Others conjectured that it was the vegetarian diet he was on
during the time he produced that work and the years of fermentation
in the tin cans that transformed them into fertilizers of exceptional
potency. What reasons in actuality no one really knows. For Ah Tai, it
was quintessential point of fission and fusion of trans-activity between
the Republic of Daydreams and the Void and a completion to full cycle
had transpired as predicted in the writings of Bau Li Lard or Father
Strong Pull.

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 Lee Wen’s performances and installations often
expose and question the ideologies and value systems of individuals
as well as social structures. His work attempts to combine Southeast
Asian contexts with international currents in contemporary art.
Lee emphasizes versatility in strategizing and establishing visual
language, meaning and message through live performance work. He
is also interested in developing new possibilities of performativity and
interactivity in art. His early practice was associated with the Artists
Village, an alternative art group in Singapore and later forged a more
individuated artistic career.
Lee has been represented at the Busan Biennale (2004),
the 3rd Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane (1999), the Sexta Bienal de La
Habana, (1997), the Kwang Ju Biennial (1995), the 4th Asian Art Show,
Fukuoka (1994) Sea Art Festival, Busan Biennale (S.Korea, 2004),
National Review of Live Art (Scotland, 2004 & 2005).
Born in Singapore, Lee now lives and works extensively
on a global circuit and based between Singapore and Tokyo. Lee’s
enthusiasm as an artist goes beyond his solo work and continues to be
active and involved with the new generation in spawning possibilities
of collaborations, networks and dialogical discourses. In 2003 Lee
initiated, “The Future of Imagination”, an international performance
art event encompassing forum, documentation and presentation of
performance art in Singapore. Since 1999 Lee has also worked with
Black Market International an utopian performance art “group”
comprising artists from various countries and cultural backgrounds.
Lee was awarded the “Cultural Medallion”, Singapore’s cultural
award for artistic excellence in 2005.

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