About

The short film the meaning of style 2001 (5 mins) directed by artist and filmmaker Phil Collins will screen on loop in Cinema B on Sundays from 11.00am to 12.00 noon until 12 March 2023.

Turner prize-nominee Phil Collins uses photography and video to comment on the fluidity of popular culture and its ability to transcend language, social status and locality.

the meaning of style is a short, dreamlike film that features a group of young anti-fascist Malay skinheads in Penang. Beginning and ending in an Indian Tamil cinema, the film makes gentle commentary on Malaysia’s British colonial past and highlights the use of culture and style as a form of social rebellion. Among the featured visual motifs are a box of multicoloured butterflies and a fabric skull-and-crossbones emblem, both of which make passing reference to the fleeting nature of youth and the transience of life.