Bringing Life to Creativity, The Five Serves as a Backdrop for a Variety of Visuals

It is often said that creativity is in the eye of the creator. Sometimes, all it takes for an artist to craft their next work of art is to have a space that encourages them to explore the boundaries of their skills and transform their visions into true masterpieces.

At The Five, the defined lines and mix of architecture present throughout the property has served as a backdrop for two distinctly different types of art: one, a video that is inspired by movie director Wong Kar Wai, while the other is an LED spectacle which invites the viewer to become immersed in a show of lights, colours, and textures.

For videography enthusiasts, the goal of shooting a video at The Five is not merely to showcase its various interiors, but to also evoke feelings and thoughts. This particular video, shot in the style of Wong Kar Wai, captures the ruminations and inner dialogue of a young girl that is dealing with a love lost and then found once more. As she wanders through the halls and establishments at The Five, she goes through various emotions; joy at the experience of eating dessert, and then sadness as she smokes her stress away. Wong Kar Wai is known for his use of vibrant colour and variations of black and white shots, and in this video these different colour palettes provoke a feeling of melancholia in the viewer, further emphasised by the muted music and the words being spoken about the ups and downs of love. It is a short film that inspires one to watch it again and again, and to revel in the moment; it also serves to show that the people we meet in an everyday setting are not merely people, but people with thoughts, feelings, and troubles of their own.

By contrast, the artwork of Arnaud Blondel, displayed on the wide screen at Block E, captures the eye from the minute it is viewed and in its own way promises a self-contemplation session thanks to the myriad of swirling colours and images within the works of art.

Hailing from France but living in Malaysia, Arnaud’s passion is in making video art. With his work at The Five, Arnaud drew from various inspirations to create thought-provoking pieces that serve to stimulate the mind in real-time. His first video takes a cue from the distinct brick flooring at The Five, incorporating elements of this floor material with images of food and drink to celebrate the various offerings available at this venue.

For his second video, Arnaud turned to the cosmos, creating lines, patterns, shapes, and swirls that are never-ending and never the same, thus enticing the viewer to sit for a while and soak in the dynamic nature of the cosmos. In his next piece, Arnaud visualises a robot face, which was derived from his music festival experiences; he has always found the giant screens at these festivals, which showcase the musicians and giant faces a bit mind-boggling and decided to capture this feeling in his piece.

In his fourth piece, Arnaud pays tribute to Nam June Paik, a pioneer in video art and in using televisions as part of an art piece. The Korean-American artist was known for arranging various versions of TVs and playing VHS tapes via old VHS players; with his work, Arnaud took this part of Nam June Paik’s vision, and added his own touch, with each screen displaying different videos and different colours. The overall effect for the viewer is a sense of chaos streamlined due to the arrangement of the different TVs.

Arnaud’s fifth video focuses on a floating dancer, with the goal of having the viewer get a sense of what zero gravity feels like. To do this, he shot the video in true slow motion, recording 1,000 images per second. During the recording of this video, Arnaud asked his talents to jump on a trampoline and dance, but he never captured the moments that their feet hit the trampoline or the floor; he curated the shots to only be of when they are in mid-air, which gives his audience this illusion that they are moving in zero gravity. By creating these immersive pieces of video art, Arnaud has provided a space at The Five for contemplation and observation.

These two artists and their work showcase the fact that The Five goes beyond merely being a place to meet or a venue to eat; creativity can start anywhere, but at this location it seems to seep into the soul from the very walls, staircases, and halls, prompting the artist to begin his vision and to realise it in the real world.