Wonder Wrap of Singapore Parks

Wonder Wrap of Singapore Parks

I found the Wonder Wrap at my visit to SB 2008 engaging. This unusual art installation has elements of Singapore parks (which I am rather fond of visiting) integrated into a Singapore Biennale exhibition.

Gary Carsley from Australia took photographs of Singapore’s Little Guilin at Bukit Batok Park and Jurong’s Chinese Garden and rendered selected images in faux wood-grain. These images of Singapore Parks were then transferred onto self-adhesive photographic papers and creatively glued onto IKEA furniture to be used as ‘Wonder Wrap’, his Singapore Biennale 2008 contemporary visual art installation at the Marina Promontory site.

In this process of transferring a piece of nature as represented by Singapore Parks onto everyday furniture, he has introduced a slice of nature into homes. While most individuals are content with using greenery in potted plants or framed photographs of nature for the home, this ‘Wonder Wrap’ has raised home interior décor to another level.

Perhaps I could look through my collection of Singapore park photographs to see if suitable scenes in Singapore parks can be used for the home...

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Snowy Place in Singapore: SB 2008

Photo: Snowy place in Singapore Biennale

Snowy Place in Singapore: SB 2008

One of my favourite visual art exhibit in the Singapore Biennale Containart Pavilion at Marina Promontory along Marina Boulevard, this installation offers visitors a chance to visit a snowy place in Singapore.

This is not one of those snowy places where artificial snow pops out of a machine during Christmas season along Singapore’s Orchard Road. Inside the exhibition pavilion, Hans Op de Beeck from Belgium has created a stunning snowy landscape in the middle of Singapore’s Marina Bay area.

Photo: Shoes outside a snowy place in SB2008.

Entitled ‘Location (6)’, this Singapore Biennale (SB2008) sculptural installation art transports visitors to a snowy world. Visitors must remove their shoes before they get to enter an enclosure shaped like an igloo through a long narrow tunnel. The end of this corridor leads to a glass-encased observatory space that reveals a mesmerizing snowy scene.

This enclosed space fits a family of five seated on cushions. With imitation snow on ground blending into a chalk-white sky, this uber-cool scene of a snowy place is a sight not seen anywhere in Singapore. The contrast between this cool snowy view and the hot afternoon bay view cannot be greater. The addition of trees and the layering of the snowy ground produce a stunning 3-D visual masterpiece that looks better on-site that on an LCD image.

I would have lingered longer in this snowy place if not for the warm ventilation. Perhaps with the additional installation of ice-cold air-conditioning, this make-believe sensory experience of a snowy place would have been perfect.

See more places. Live more life.

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Art By The Bay: Slippers and Bamboo Poles

Art By The Bay: Slippers and Bamboo Poles

This Singapore Biennale outdoor installation art by the Marina Bay, located at the Marina Promenade site, reminds me of a familiar residential HDB scene. You might ask how can rows of slippers hung on bamboo poles at a posh Marina Boulevard address be compared to a neighbourhood backyard?

Instead of slippers hung on bamboo poles as an artwork, I see a similar scene of clothes on bamboo poles, flapping in the wind from a façade of an old block of HDB flat. As a small child, I used to see neighbourhood kids throw slippers at bamboo poles. They were having fun trying to chase away birds resting on those bamboo poles.

This art creation was conceived by Aquilizan Alfredo Juan and Gaudinez-Aquilizan Maria Isabel, husband and wife team, who named their work Flight. They were inspired by the lives of individuals during their process of collecting and presenting these personal items. 4000 bamboo poles and rubber thong slippers were carefully planted in the open space between the Containart Pavilion and the edge of Marina Bay.

Visitors to the Central Promontory Site at Marina Bay can embark on an outdoor walk, weave their way between bamboo poles and admire the city skyline around Marina Bay.

If you look carefully at the cranes and scaffolding at construction sites rising up around the Bay, a semblance to these bamboo poles cannot be missed.

See more places. Live more life.

Read more about Singapore Biennale:
1 Central Promontory Site at Marina Bay
2 Singapore Biennale Visual Art Exhibition 2008

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Wet and Wild Sea Journey Of Hope

Image: Singapore Biennale 2008 'Floating'.

Wet and Wild Sea Journey Of Hope

This Singapore Biennale video-art piece has vertigo-inducing yet addictive sequences of a boat on a wet and wild journey across the sea. If you can stomach the highs and lows from start till end, there is a message to learn at the termination of this video production.

Produced by Yuan Goang-Ming from Taiwan, the video can be viewed in one of the goods container at the Containart, located at Marina Promontory site, Marina Bay, for Singapore Biennale 2008.

This video work entitled ‘Floating’ brings viewers on a topsy-turvy sea journey. I witnessed a video show of a boat swinging wildly from side to side until it finally overturned. Yet somehow, it managed to re-position itself back to the right side up again. My kids and I liked the video but I felt mildly light-headed at the end of the short video show.

The guide book explains that Floating was produced as result of personal experience when the artist felt a sense of isolation while studying in a foreign land. The movement of the boat righting itself despite overturning, offers a sense of hope at the end of a difficult period.

If you have visited the theme parks overseas in Australia like Dreamworld, Movie World or Sea World, the video effects of some of the indoor rides may look familiar. What’s missing now would be cushioned seats that rock sideways, in-your-face water-droplet sprays, better acoustics and cold air-conditioning to make the experience similar.

See more places. Live more life.

Read more articles about Singapore Biennale.

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Central Promontory At Marina Bay

Image: Central Promontory site, Marina Bay.

Central Promontory At Marina Bay

The Central Promontory site at Marina Bay is the Singapore Biennale 2008's venue for a unique contemporary visual art exhibition. Access to the artworks at the newest location along Marina bay is free to the public.

Where is the Central Promontory site at Marina Bay? I was left wondering about this new Marina Bay site recently. I soon discovered that it was located at Marina Boulevard.

One way to get an idea of how to get to Central Promontory at Marina Bay is to look for the Merlion at Merlion park and walk pass Clifford Pier. At One Marina Boulevard where NTUC Centre is, turn left and the Central Promontory will be appear before you.

Currently at the Central Promontory site, visitors cannot miss Shigeru ban's Containart Pavilion. This artistic architectural concept made up of containers and recyclable paper rolls stacked up to provide the scaffolding for an exhibition space is the key attraction of Singapore Biennale SB 2008 at Marina bay.

This 'building', a large collection of huge cargo containers, is the largest outdoor artwork to be installed at the Central Promontory site. Inside the pavilion, you can enjoy many free visual contemporary artworks by internationally renown artists.

At the Central Promontory site, look out to Marina Bay and take in the visuals of the new-look that is coming up. To the left, on-going construction can be noted at Clifford Pier by the Fullerton Heritage. To the right, the Marina Bay Sands Intergrated Resorts is taking shape.

In between, familiar landmarks like the Merlion, the Singapore Flyer, the Esplanade (or Durian) and other Marina Bay buildings are a sight to behold. The new Marina Barrage however is hidden from view at the Central Promontory site.

See more places. Live more life.

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I’m Not Expensive: Singapore Biennale Art

I’m Not Expensive: Singapore Biennale Art

Eyes half open,
Hot like oven.
A car with manners
Follows you like voyeurs.
On windowless wall,
Not Paris but City Hall,
Mona Lisa eyes thrill
Visitors of their will.
-- by SeenThisSceneThat

In this City Hall art installation at the Singapore Biennale called “I’m Not Expensive, 2008”, the work of Lee Yong Deok, a native of Korea, is an intriguing three-dimensional wall art installation.

Made of Aluminium plate, fibreglass, urethane paint and neon light, “I’m Not Expensive” has street scenes with figures like a dancing couple, a mother carrying a child, an old car and a seated person that appear unremarkable at first glance.

Take a second look and your impression of it will improve. As you shift your footing, colourful elements on the wall come to life. This SB 2008 artwork’s illusion of movement captured my imagination. Like a gleeful kid, I spent some time to ‘play’ with this art piece, shifting my position across its width.

The clever use of materials with slopes carved into the artwork challenged my perception of flatness. It tricked my mind into seeing magical movements in the deceptively simple characters created by the artist.

As long as you keeping moving and looking at the objects, these Singapore Biennale figures will appear to move before your eyes. This unique installation will playfully engage you, if you visit the Singapore Biennale and will it to.

Read more of Singapore Biennale art in SeenThisSceneThat:

1. Singapore Biennale visual arts exhibition

2. The Swing

3. Bitter gourd with faces

4. All of SB 2008 posts

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Singapore Biennale: Sugar Sculpture Short On Sweetness

Singapore Biennale: Sugar Sculpture Short On Sweetness

This five-foot high sculpture made with strong doses of sugar and sweetness looked sublime on paper. The sweet images shown in the publicity booklet featured a regal looking temple with fine construction inspired by architecture from Myanmar.

Photograph: September Sweetness at Singapore Biennale South Beach Development

The made-of-sugar installation September Sweetness is a life-sized Burmese pagoda constructed from a special sugar-based compound. This sculpture is a collaborative work of art by artists Rich Streitmatter-Tran, Chaw Ei Thein and Aung Ko. They designed and built this exquisite exhibit for the Singapore Biennale to highlight recent events that occurred last year.

The use of sugar as a building material was a deliberate choice. On exposure to the rain and shine in an open-air corner of the South Beach Development, their sculpture will “deteriorate…melt and spill… crack and fall … ants will dismantle … granule by granule”.

I would describe their satire with a hokkien phrase, “ho kua bo ho jia”. Roughly translated from dialect into English: “good to see, not good to eat”.

As expected, after so many days under the elements, this sugar sculpture appeared short on visual sweetness. At a forsaken corner of South Beach Development the exhibit looked different from its publicity material.

Firstly this was the first exhibit I’ve seen that carried a verbal warning from the ticketing officer. She had genuine concern in her voice when she warned about the smell and the bees at the exhibit.

Secondly, this exhibit that greeted me at South Beach Development was not in the best shape for gallery viewing. Crumbling parts were visible, marked by moderate discoloration. Ants, dead or alive, were scattered around the open space near the exhibit. Fortunately the bees stayed away during my visit.

I would have added a third reason, for the aromatic fragrance, but fortunately my stuffy nose saved me.

Catch the Singapore Biennale before it ends on 16 November 2008.

Read posts on Singapore Biennale in Seen This Scene That.

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The Swing

The Swing

This high-tech swing will never be seen in any respectable neighbourhood playground. It was designed as an exhibit in a stuffy room at South Beach Development. During the Singapore Biennale that runs until 16 November 2008, visitors can get cozy with this swing. A warning is warranted: stare too long and you may succumb to its vertigo-inducing effect.

Constructed of neon glass tubing with light-emitting diodes, this one-of-a-kind swing can even rock to-and-fro without being manually pushed. A hidden mechanical arm pushes this Singapore Biennale swing the way an old pendulum of a grandfather clock does. Peer hard and you can imagine a ghostly figure sitting on this hot swing. No human will ever get to sit on it for fear of causing breakage.

Conceived by artist Su-Mei Tsu, born 1973 and bred in Luxembourg, who is a trained classical cellist with strong musical family background, she examines the “cultural conflict between East and West” in her Swing, 2007 sculpture. According to her write-up in the Singapore Biennale guide book, she also examines how that conflict is “reflected in individual freedom, social norms and the notion of others and one’s Self.”

Children may be awed by the swing but adults should ensure their kids do not jump on it.

Read Seen This Scene That's posts on Singapore Biennale 2008.

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Bottle Gourds With Faces

Photograph: Bottle gourds with faces.

Bottle Gourds With Faces

Han Jong Gun took a year to create his art installation of bottle gourds with faces for the Singapore Biennale 2008, entitled Evolutional Mythology. His bottle gourds wore many creepy facial expressions that stared at me through tall glass bottles. While many readers would be familiar with bottle gourds as sources of food or as containers, using bottle gourds shaped into faces as art was rather unusual.

cc photo via flickr by Ivan Lian

Bottle gourds (scientific name Lafenaria siceraria) are also known as birdhouse gourd, trumpet gourd, calabash gourd and white-flowered gourd. The term bottle gourd also describes the plant’s use as a container. The fruit is green in colour and can grow up to 12 inches in diameter and 40 inches in length. Most often they are eaten as a boiled vegetable. To create bottles out of bottle gourd, bands are used to constrict the fruits into desired shapes.

At this art installation located at the former restaurant of City Hall, Han Jong Gun’s painstaking work required him to plant gourd seeds, grow them to maturity and then painstakingly fashion the gourd fruit into human-like faces as they matured. His one-year dedication and perspiration produced many faces on gourds that were later kept in glass bottles for exhibition.

There were happy faces, sad faces, angry faces and faces with weird expressions. Placed inside tall acid-filled cylindrical glass bottles, the gourds reminded me of scenes from X files and other movies featuring aliens that kept human species as specimens for scientific research. Best to see this alone, when the evening lights flicker and dim during a thunderstorm to let an icy chill massage your bones.

Read more:
1. Singapore Biennale

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Garden Places To Play With Sand

Garden Places To Play With Sand

Blackfield (2008) is an art installation that reminds me of garden places to play with sand. Inside City Hall during the Singapore Biennale, you can see ten thousand plants made of metal rise from a floor-bed of sand that recreates the feel of garden places with lots of sand to play with.

This visual garden installation looks like a botanic creation that one may attempt to reproduce in the parks and garden places of Singapore. Stick multiple cutouts of synthetic flowers into a bed of sand measuring 100-square-metres in size. Paint one surface in different bright colours and keep the other surface black. Call yourself an artist and invite visitors to play with sand at your garden cum art museum.

Created by artist Zadok Ben-David who was born in a place called Yemen and works in another place called the United Kingdom, his playful plot of fine white sand has been converted into a delightful bed of flowers. Instead of flowering plants that require sunlight, fertilizer, soil and places with water, this garden plot of sand contains bionic cut-out plants that stand upright on metallic stems with painted metal as petals.

If our authorities set it up in a housing estate, this unusual garden of sand for residents to play in would stand out from other neighbourhood garden places. Passers-by and resident park visitors would likely produce plenty of oohs and aahs as they wander around this garden. I am sure children would love to play at such garden places and plant their footprints across the sand. Your housing estate would be endowed with more places that support the visual arts with this beautiful garden.

On closer inspection, the plants in this garden demonstrated very intricate patterns in their structures. As I moved from one place in the garden installation to another, the shifting play of colour and perspective was visually mesmerizing. With a garden theme that sits well with Seen This Scene That, I was inspired to place this article here for my art and nature loving readers.

Read more about art gardens to play in:
1. Singapore Biennale (SB2008)
2. Art Places inside City Hall at SB2008

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Google Earth Satellite Map of Singapore

Photograph: Google Earth satellite map of Singapore inside City Hall.

Google Earth Satellite Map of Singapore

While you would be familiar with the sight of Google Earth satellite maps of Singapore on your LCD screen, have you wondered how a similar map of Singapore would appear under your feet when it has been enlarged to fill a cavernous chamber hall of City Hall?


View Larger Map

Map: Google Earth satellite map of Singapore.

In this art installation entitled Singapore 2008, a huge Google Earth satellite map of Singapore is laid on the floor of the Chamber insdie City Hall. One can pretend to be Godzilla and trample the streets and parks of Singapore. You can also jump over tall buildings on a Google Map in a single bound to reach your own residential address. If you like F1 racing, you can race over the Marina Bay street circuit faster than Fernando Alonso.

Once done with a bit of circus fun, paste a paper label to mark your home in Singapore and ponder the significance of your presence as a blip on this map of Singapore in the larger scheme of things.

Wit Pimkanchanapong from Thailand created this Google satellite map of Singapore artwork to encourage people to come forward and have some fun with the large-scale map of Singapore. As more people place tags on the map face of Singapore, it will mess up the expanded Google map.

The idea behind the Singapore map artwork according to Wit Pimkanchanapong is to use it as a "metaphor for nation building where individuals contribute and add meaning and understanding to a new land as they live and work in it."

"Singapore 2008" is one of the less abstract Singapore Biennale artwork that generated a bit of fun for me. The super-cool air-conditioning in the chamber is also one of the better Singapore Biennale venue to hide from the oppressive afternoon heat.

Read up on what the Singapore Biennale 2008 is about here.

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Visual Arts Exhibition Singapore Biennale 2008

Visual Arts Exhibition Singapore Biennale 2008

Singapore Biennale 2008 is a contemporary visual arts exhibition with more than 130 artworks by more than 60 artists from Singapore and 36 other countries and regions around the world. The National Arts Council is organizing this exhibition that carries the theme of “Wonder”. The artistic director of the Singapore Biennale is Fumio Nanjo who will be assisted by curators Joselina Cruz and Matthew Ngui.

Photo of Singapore Biennale 2008: Maggots overrun City Hall.

Who's the alien among us all? Is this the end for Singapore?

Three venues were chosen to showcase their visual arts creativities. City Hall, South Beach Development and Marina Bay’s Central Promontory are the places to examine the bulk of artworks in the visual arts exhibition of the Singapore Biennale 2008.

In the words of the Singapore Biennale guidebook, “to experience wonder is to open one’s mind, to face reality and be amazed by the marvels of reality – the beauty of this world, the emotional sensations caused by it and the discovery of new truths.”

The official Singapore Biennale guide continues to extol the virtues of art, like this: “Art is becoming an important tool for a modern and well-rounded society. Public art becomes an amenity for everyday life.” Yet at the same time it tries to moderate Singaporean’s expectations: “Art has always been the platform for ideas without necessarily having a pragmatic purpose.”

So is this a useless and aimless visual arts exhibition? Should time-pressed individuals who need to multitask a hundred and one things in their lives visit the Singapore Biennale? Is this exhibition meant to show foreigners how wonderfully cultured we are in the field of the arts?

I have seen selected exhibition works at the Singapore Biennale 2008 and will share my thoughts on the art pieces later. Seen This Scene That has always been on the lookout for places of interest. The Singapore Biennale 2008 visual arts exhibition is one of those that fit my criteria.

But please do not wait for my review. Go see it for yourself to determine whether these visuals at the Singapore Biennale 2008 generate sufficient wonder for you. After all, only you can allow your own emotions to respond to the beauty of these visual exhibits.


Details on Singapore Biennale 2008

Singapore Biennale Exhibition Date:

11 September to 16 November 2008.


Singapore Biennale Exhibition Hours:
Weekdays: 11 am to 8 pm.
Closed on Mondays.
Catalogue, tickets, short guides, merchandise, information available from City Hall and South Beach Development.

Singapore Biennale Admission Charges:
Single Entry Pass $10
Each entry pass allows entry to City Hall and South Beach Development. Entry to Marina Bay site including Containart Pavilion at Central Promontory is free.

Singapore Biennale Discounts:
30% for Passion Card holders,
50% discount for Citizens above 60 and
students with valid ID

Singapore Biennale website:
www.singaporebiennale.org

Singapore Biennale Scheduled guided tours:
Conducted at City Hall and South Beach Development.

Singapore Biennale SB2008 Audio Guide by Bloomberg:
Can be downloaded as MP3s for free.
Free MP3 players with pre-loaded audio tours
available free at information counter and ticketing counters.

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Kids' Day Out: Singapore Biennale Treasure Hunt For White Rabbits

Kids’ Day Out: Singapore Biennale Treasure Hunt for White Rabbits

Photo: Treasure hunt clues may be found in South Beach Development exhibits like this one on Kids Day Out.

Parents may be wary of bringing young children to the Singapore Biennale 2008, the nation’s largest contemporary visual art exhibition. With a wide range of provocative art works by renowned visual artists from all over the world on show, parents may rightly believe that the Singapore Biennale’s art pieces are too esoteric or abstract for children to appreciate.

To handle this concern, the Singapore Biennale has rolled out a Kids’ Day Out programme just for these parents and their children. This excellent opportunity will offer families with kids to appreciate new art forms, enjoy fun games and learn about the trendiest global talents in the field of visual art. Hopefully at the end of this Kids' Day Out programme, parents' misconceptions about the Singapore Biennale may be corrected.

On 4 October 2008 from 11am to 4pm, a family-friendly Treasure Hunt for white rabbits with a host of Kids’ Day Out activities have been planned at South Beach Development, one of three venues for the Singapore Biennale 2008.

Kids get free entry on Kids’ Day Out into the Singapore Biennale exhibition site while the $10 admission fees apply for accompanying adults. There will be free lessons on windmill making and balloon sculpting for all kids. Popcorn, candy floss and Anderson’s ice-cream will be handled out free to kids only on Kids’ Day Out.

In the Singapore Biennale treasure hunt for white rabbits, happy families on a day out with their kids will explore the buildings and spaces at South Beach Development looking for clues to solve an on-the-spot puzzle game.

Once done, drop your answer sheets into the ballot box, leave the Kids Day Out programme and unwind at home or proceed to the other two venues of the Singapore Biennale. Winners of the treasure hunt will be drawn from correctly answered entries and announced later on the Singapore Biennale website.

For a special Kids Day Out for parents and their children, this Singapore Biennale event is certainly worth considering.

See more places. Live more life.

Read more:
1. Singapore Biennale Kids’ Day Out Treasure Hunt
2. South Beach Development

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South Beach Development

South Beach Development

South Beach Development is one of the venues for the Singapore Biennale 2008, scheduled from 11 September 2008 to 16 November 2008. This Singapore Biennale presented an opportunity for me to visit and write about the South Beach Development located along Beach Road.

photograph: South Beach Development

The History
According to the Singapore Biennale website, South Beach Development (previously known as Beach Road Camp) comprises the Former Beach Road Camp, the NCO Club Building and the Former Beach Road Police Station building. The Singapore Volunteers Corps (SVC) was a big part of its history where the first NS enlistment was held in 1967.

Three Art Deco Style blocks built in the 1930s and a NCO Club building built in 1953-53, which is a hybrid of Art Deco and the Modern Style, are present within the compound. In February 2000, Beach Road Camp on this site was closed. It was conserved on 9 October 2002.

South Beach Development is scheduled to reopen by 2012 as the revolutionary New Eco-Quarter in Singapore. It will feature two striking towers of up to 45 storeys, including the four revitalised historic buildings and will house premium office space, two luxury hotels, exquisite retail space and exclusive city residences. City Developments Limited and its partners Istithmar (part of the Dubai World Group) and US-based Elad Group are currently working on this project known as South Beach.

My Visit
From the multi-storey carpark of Shaw Towers, a bird’s-eyed view of South Beach Development can be captured on camera across Middle Road. As you approach the South Beach entrance, the perimeter fence gives way to a small swing gate. A three-storey South Beach building stands before you with a label of the previous occupants clearly visible on its whitewashed facade.

Photograph: Corridor in building of South Beach Development

Inside one of the South Beach building along a dim window-less corridor lit with tungsten, there is an eerie sense of being lost in time. Like in an Alfred Hitchcock horror movie, one could literally expect to see a shadow jump out of a door waving a threatening knife in a moment of madness. The hair on my skin would curl and crawl up both arms to reach the neck in such morbid anticipation. I have not heard any ghost stories surrounding this South Beach Development. If any such ghost stories should appear, genuine disbelief will not be one of my reactions.

Photograph: Old Kitchen inside South Beach Development

This collection of historical buildings in South Beach Development shows its age well. In contrast to the spick and span of modern-day skyscrapers nearby, old-world charm oozes from every crack and pore of this South Beach Development. Such authentic preservation of the past at South Beach is a great reminder of our historical roots.


Source: Singapore Biennale 2008 website

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