scream

I SS U E
OCT0 22020

EditorialNoteThis October issue Screen Zine goes full scream in celebrating
100 years of horror with arguably the first horror film ever made –The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

[EDITORIAL TEAM]

Nina Ernst
Associate Director, Programmes
Jerome Chee
Programmer, Moving Image and Emerging Media
Rachel Wong
Officer, Public Programmes[CONTRIBUTORS]

Hanae Gomez
Djohan Hanapi
Vivien Koh
Lekker Architects (Joshua Comaroff & Ong Ker-Shing)
Allison M. LowMoon Malek
Modiszy
Sarah-Tabea Sammel

Since striking visual terror upon filmgoers in 1920 with adiabolical mix of murder, mayhem and cautionary consequencesof fake news, the film has solidified its legacy across a full century
and beyond – from the gothic pallor of Tim Burton to the surrealist
dreamscapes of David Lynch, there is always a little Caligari in every
horror film found.
And in this issue, we dive deeper into the visual and academic
legacy of this prolific Expressionist icon through the lenses ofarchitects, writers, and artists. Joshua Comaroff and Ong Ker-Shingof LEKKER ARCHITECTS tap into their vast, otherworldly knowledgeof creepy buildings in tracing the expressionist architectural legacyof Caligari. An unholy quartet of Singapore illustrators – DjohanHanapi, Allison M. Low, Moon Malek and Modiszy – will attempt
to transmute the Compendium Of Somnambulism (featured in theoriginal film) from screen to page, reimagining the film as local
historical folklore. How would murderous sleepwalking look throughcultural kaleidoscope of wayang kulit, Chinese opera, and more?
Read on!
Also, an experimental graphic essay collab between film scholar /filmmaker Sarah-Tabea Sammel and artist Hanae Gomez see theduo uncover the minutiae iconography of Caligari hidden within thecultural shades Escher, Harry Potter and… Red Hot Chili Peppers?
See you on the Otherside!

More About...
HANAE GOMEZ works mainly with illustration, animation and collage,
and anywhere these intersect. Artmaking to her is a means to pierce through adull world with dauntless, unfounded cheer.

SARAH-TABEA SAMMEL is a filmmaker, film scholar, writer,
artist and educator and pursues projects through practice-as-researchacross video, photography and writing. She is the founder of a Singaporebased production house as social enterprise with an inclusive capacity building
program using the power of story.

In the year 1703, a mystic by
the name of Dr. Caligari, together
with a somnambulist called Cesare,used to frequent the fairgrounds ...

Bila Bunyi Bersatu. Kau Milikku.
Djohan... and for months he kept
town after town in a state ofpanic by a series of murders,
all of them perpetrated insimilar circumstances ...

Midnight Supper
Moon Malek

... for he caused a somnambulist,whom he had entirely
subjected to his will,
to carry out his fantastic plans.

Sumpah Dukun Kaligari
ModiszyBy means of a puppet figure,modeled in the exact likenessof Cesare, which he laid in thechest when Cesare was away,
Dr. Caligari was able to allay
any suspicion which might fallon the somnambulist.

Dr. Caligari’s Monster
AllisonMORE ABOUT
ALLISON M. LOW
Dr. Caligari’s Monster

Inspired by the performative aspect of Chinese opera, Dr Caligari’s manipulation of Cesare(the somnambulist) is represented as a wide-eyed monster.
Guided unconsciously by Cesare’s glaring eyes - the strange creature is puppeteered byphantom limbs which belong to an unseen influence - the hypnotist - the manipulator Dr. Caligari himself.
The red string of fate connects all hands that bear culpability while the imprisoned mind of
Cesare remains innocent, slumbering peacefully inside the belly of the beast.

Allison M. Low is an artist based in Singapore. She works primarily as an image-maker,
fascinated by the human condition. Since 2010, her works have been showcased in galleries
such as Taksu Gallery (Sg, KL), Robin Gibson Gallery (NSW), Air space Projects (NSW) and KeepContemporary (Santa Fe, NM) among others.
allisonmlow

DJOHAN

Bila Bunyi Bersatu. Kau Milikku.
(When Sounds Collide. You’re Mine.)

MOON MALEK
Midnight Supper

For this interpretation, Cesare is portrayed by a well-known asian legend a banshee which isalso known as Pontianak. I feel both of them possesses the same characteristics of madness
and insanity.
Inspired by a old school Indonesian film called Sundelbolong (Pontianak). There was a scene
where she was eating satay and her back was actually hollow and you can see her guts
spilling from behind.
So in the artwork, the story goes like this: After she (Cesare) went on a killing spree, shedecided to have her “supper” only to realise her guts were spilling from the back.

Muneera Malek also known as Moon Malek is an illustrator, graphic designer and an art
director at a local agency, Studio 155. Majority of her artworks are fuelled by her fascinationof pop culture. Faile art, D’ana of COVL and CJ Hendry, Walt Disney just to name a few, play
an important role an are largely responsible in moulding her love for illustrations and mixed
media.
moon_malek

MODISZY

Sumpah Dukun Kaligari(The Curse of Dukun Kaligari)

Shadows and spirits intersect in a theatrical ritual - Dr. Caligari is reborn in wayang kulit thetraditional Indonesian shadow puppet theatre.

Djohan Hanapi is a full-time illustrator running Knuckles & Notch, a Risograph publishing andprint studio, based in Singapore. He has always been fascinated and obsessed with analogue
printing since he was a child.

Even during his earlier days, he was always trying to break the creative norm. As he dives infurther into the creative industry, his passion for analogue printing pushed him to experiment
the infinite possibilities of Risograph and thus give birth to whacky, mind-blowing andsometimes controversial artworks.
djohahn

A reimagining of “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” set during the heights of the craze of the ‘Orang
Minyak’ (Oily Man), in 1957. The village elders uncovered the mystery behind the exploits ofthe notorious ‘Orang Minyak’ that have been terrorising their kampongs. The Dukun (Shaman)
Kaligari had cursed the man and subjected to him to his will. Forcing him to carry out his
nefarious plans.
modiszy.art

ARCHI-HORROR

Interview with Joshua Comaroff &Ong Ker-Shing (Lekker Architects)
1. Quick-fire introductions – compare yourself to an iconic horror film
character/director.
For Josh, most likely it’s Jack Torrance, Jack Nicholson’s character fromThe Shining. he often feels like buildings are driving him slowly nuts. Also,
Stanley Kubrick was the most architectonic of directors; in our design
practice we steal things from him all the time.
Shing wishes she was Eleven from Stranger Things.
Otherwise, we tend to relate to horror flicks that are urban and seedy, like
Jacob’s Ladder, and David Fincher’s Se7en.

2. So your book ‘Horror In Architecture’ – give us a quick lowdown on it!
How did it start?
It started as a bunch of conversations that we had while driving to work.
We were watching a lot of Walking Dead at the time. But we both likehorror films—and monster films—and we started noticing that many ofthe buildings that we love most have a somewhat “monstrous” (or scary)qualities… at least, they are not normal. At the same time, we felt that using
monsters as metaphors was a great way to talk about buildings. We would
always talk about “Frankenstein’s monster buildings,” or “mis-proportioned
creature buildings.”

3. What do you think is the chill factor behind buildings/sets/structures?
Is it the form triggering buried terrors or troubling histories plaguingthe space?

Reflections At Keppel Bay – by architect Daniel Libeskind

Photo by @thistlemorse

Definitely, human notions of what is creepy are highly sensitive—at least,
human cultures have very clearly defined expectations of what is normal.
This is true in aesthetics as much as it is in behaviour. Very often the senseof claustrophobia, or of disorientation, or having something looming overyour shoulder is a very chilling feeling.

We do think that all of us carry very basic fears from our childhoods—
and these are mapped into kinds of spaces. The French writer Gaston
Bachelard wrote a book about this, called The Poetics of Space; which
is not so much about poetry but about nostalgia and fear. He talks aboutbasements and attics and dark spaces. Most of us in Singapore don’t havebasements. Josh remembers being terrified of spaces like this, growing up.
He still is, frankly.

4. So what do you think makes Dr. Caligari particularly spooky for
its time?
It’s still spooky, we think. Maybe it’s the way that the Expressionist
movement brought everything—the sets, the costumes, the typography,
and the concepts—together. They’re all spooky in the same way, which
is modern but also gothic. The sense of the town as a kind of madhouse
writ large, as an inescapable machine for the production of insanity, justradiates. Of course, we really appreciate the discord in the architecture:
those oblique, clashing angles and narrow alleys… it makes so emotive thesense of entrapment by a ruthless and predatory power. Particularly scary
if we understand that this was the cultural atmosphere in which Nazism
was emerging.

5. What would you say is the architectural parallel to Caligari
in Singapore?
No question: it’s Daniel Libeskind’s Reflections (near Harbourfront). It’s
like techno-caligari. The geometry is similar, and it looks like some sortof contorted hand reaching up into the sky. We call it Addams Family atthe Beach.
If we want to compare something to Caligari’s creation of a total
environment and thematic for scariness, then it’s Haw Par Villa all theway. Not the same aesthetic, but it was imagined as a 3D horror show in
its own right.

6. A24 drops you 5 mill to create your own Archi-horror film. Who stars in
it, who designs it, who directs it? Why?
Only 5 million???? Man, it’s going to have to be the Blair Witch Project (ormaybe shot on iPhone). We’ve always wanted to make a zombie movie
set in one of Singapore’s shopping centres. Many of the great American
zombie moves (like the ones by Romero) were set in malls—the mindlesszombies who just wanted to devoir endlessly were used as a critique ofconsumption culture in the US. Seems like it would fit our own situation.
It could be directed by Apichatpong, or by Amanda Nell Eu from Malaysia.
We think they’d kill it.

7. Care to doodle the sneakpeak poster of this dream archi-horror film ofyours? (kinda like the Selby)
For the poster sketch we asked our daughter Mila (11) to do it:LEKKER ARCHITECTS
Joshua Comaroff is an architect, landscape architect, and academic
geographer. Ong Ker-Shing is an architect and landscape architect.
Together, they are the founders of Lekker Design, an experimental
design office in Singapore and the USA, and also the authors of ‘Horror
in Architecture (2013) Their work combines professional practice withanalysis of built environments in Asia and Africa.

ONG
KER-SHINGJOSHUACOMAROFF

Shing spent much of her childhood inSingapore and the UK. For university, sheleft for Harvard, and completed threedegrees: a B.A. in Fine Arts, as well as
Masters in Architecture and LandscapeArchitecture (the latter two with distinction).

Josh was raised in Chicago, and studied

Shing relocated to Shanghai as aWheelwright Fellow in 2002 to research theArt Deco housing of the French Concession.
Excited by small-scale innovations occurringin socialized interiors, she documented
residents’ living spaces and personal
histories. She worked with Josh to produce
a catalogue of photographs, drawings, andinterviews. Shing founded Lekker Design in
2002, and Lekker Architects in 2015. She isa registered architect in Singapore.

literature, linguistics, and creative writing atAmherst College before joining the Masterof Architecture and Master of LandscapeArchitecture programs at Harvard
University Graduate School of Design. He
has worked for and studied under Rem
Koolhaas, Rafael Moneo, Rodolfo Machado
and Jorge Silvetti, Preston Scott Cohen, Luis
Rojo de Castro, and David Adjaye.
In 2009, Josh completed a PhD in culturalgeography, writing on the subject of haunted
landscapes and state power in Singapore.
He has published writing in the fields ofarchitecture, urbanism, and politics, witha focus in Asia. Josh is interested in theintersection of art and architecture, and in
multi-disciplinary design practice

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