Gilles is a multidisciplinary artist and academic whose work based on the idea of “the space between things” aims to establish links and decipher the narratives existing between disciplines, people, occurrences and parts of the world. His visual art practice more specifically deals with the theory of photography and its relation to time and space.
After studying architecture and photography in Marseille, he came to live in Singapore in 1981. His early participation to the local art scene saw him involved in a string of seminal art events, including the first editions of the Festival of Arts Fringe and the 1987 Yin Yang Festival. In the 1990s he travelled extensively across Asia and Europe, a way of living that resulted in over fifty exhibitions, and an extensive body of editorial work published in diverse magazines in Asia and Europe.
With the new century his focus shifted onto academia and research. His book Bintan, Phoenix of the Malay Archipelago (2003) had a profound influence on his artistic process, since then often dealing with history and ethnology in the form of mix-media works. This was followed in 2006 by an MA-FA dealing with the apparition of the photographic idea in the 18th century in relation to the notion of “image” as found in the English garden. He recently completed a research on Jules Itier who did the first daguerreotypes of China, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Viet Nam in 1844-45. Under the name of his alter ego Professor Ma, he is also pursuing a research on the parallels and crossovers between the respective histories of Photography and Quantum Mechanics.
He currently lives in Singapore where he teaches in LASALLE - College of the Arts. His work is part of the LTA Integrated Art Program (Buona Vista Station), the Singapore Art Museum and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris among other collections. He is a recipient of the French cultural award Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
The book Bintan Phoenix of the Malay Archipelago was an important step of my work as artist/historian. During the field research conducted in the early 2000’ with Marc Thalmann, we contacted Pak Atan, head of the Bukit Batu kampong at the foot of Gunung Bintan and keeper of the historical cemetery located there.
This cemetery is allegedly the resting place of characters found in the Sejarah Melayu as part of a narrative relating the founding of Singapore by Sang Nila Utama in the 13th century. They are Wan Seri Beni, the queen of Bintan who crowned Sang Nila Utama king of of the Malay World, along with Wan Pok and Wan Menini, two sisters who witnessed his apparition on Bukit Siguntang in Palembang. There are however another three characters not found in the Sejarah narrative, namely Megat Sri Rame, Wan Serene and Tok Telani.
According to Pak Atan Megat these three characters played an equally important role in a story line that offers a local version of the established narrative, a version rooted in the place where these events are said to have taken place. For the longest time, this narrative had been transmitted orally by a lineage of keepers looking after the cemetery. But with the new millennium, Pak Atan had been instructed by his spiritual guides that it was time for this local version to be recorded in writing to make it available to people outside Bintan. This was the mission I somehow found myself entrusted with. It was completed as a scientific paper published by the journal Archipel of the EFEO.
This residency offers me the opportunity to create an artwork that will complement the scientific part of this mission. I intend to create 21st century portraits of these 13th century characters using AI visualisation. This initial digital material will be reworked and translated as self-standing objects with the wood engraving technique used for signage on Nikoi. These objects will then be placed along the paths of the island, bringing the legendary characters to life in the landscape of contemporary Bintan.
My engagement will be in the form of interaction with the guests in the context of the studio, interaction during which talks I will share my knowledge on Bintan and the Malay world. This will be completed by a one day excursion to the Bintan Bukit Batu cemetery.
As part of his interaction with the guests of Nikoi, Gilles Massot proposes a one-day excursion to the historical cemetery of Bintan Bukit Batu, the topic of the work developed during his residency on Nikoi.
This cemetery is located east of Gunung Bintan, the hill standing at the centre of the island to which it gave its name. It is historically significant because it is allegedly the resting place of characters who played important roles in the Sejarah Melayu narrative pertaining to the founding of Singapore by Sang Nila Utama in the 13th century. During his extensive research to write the book Bintan, Phoenix of the Malay Archipelago, Massot met Pak Atan, the last member of a genealogy of keepers of the cemetery. In the course of numerous conversations, Pak Atam slowly revealed legends that had been kept secret through oral transmission until then in order to preserve them in writing for future generations. Beside these legends, Massot will also share during this day trip his knowledge of Bintan’s rich history that can be interpreted as a too often overlooked role of regional importance.
Ubah Rumah is an art residency and archive inspired by stories of our region.
