International Museum Day 2009 : ACM & SAM

Last weekend (30-31 May 2009) was the International Museum Day 2009. To those who don't quite get what I mean, International Museum Day means FREE ENTRY !!! :D I went to Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and Asian Civilization Museum (ACM), as those are the two museums that I'd like to visit the most. Which I haven't done until there's this FREE ENTRY opportunity :D

At ACM, you'll see the old art. The old wisdom and culture. Their beliefs, how they live, and what are their life's values. At ACM, the feelings that are evoked are respect, awe, sentimental and sometimes creepy.


Seeing all those artifacts on display, I feel like I can actually feel the energy. You see, most of the stuff on display is hundreds of years old. And it has been absorbing and transmitting people's hopes, wishes, secrets, fears and prayers for the longest time. So it may be just a piece of wood/rock at the beginning, but when the wood receives such concentrated energy from humans for a long period of time, it will retain the energy, and soon will considered "sacred".

So last week, I purposely come to see the Fantastic Creatures Exhibition (specially curated for children), at Asian Civilisations Museum, from 25 Jan 2009 - 12 Jul 2009. The collections are not so much, but nevertheless, fantastic. :)


It displays a fascinating arrays of truly fantastic creatures from all over Asia, and one of my favorite is the Quilin (above) (a magical creature with body of a deer, the head of a lion, green scales with fire along its back and a long froth-covered horn; and was told that it sounded like bells and musical instruments)


My other personal favorite is Makara (above). A mythical creature with the head of an elephant and body of a crocodile. I found this piece particular very captivating. I can't explain why. Simply stunning!

Looking at these fantastic creatures, I was thinking, how can our ancestors design such a creature? What were they thinking .. ? But whatever it is, surely they have awesome imagination. :)

If only there's some kind of psychology of archaeology studies on these anonymous old masters, it must be very interesting.

And the ACM collection itself, are so amazing, I couldn't even put it words. The best thing to do is to come and wee the exhibition by yourself. By the way, I'm not paid to say this, but it's just how I feel.

Meanwhile, over at theSingapore Art Museum (SAM), you'll see the "new" art. As a result of this quick paced-interconnecting-ever changing world that we're living in now. A different era will resulted in a different kind of art. So this modern art, those that are exhibited at SAM, are ours. It belongs to our generation, it's a reminder of how we live, what are our life's values, what are the gods that we worshiped, what are the things that we despise. Well, it's totally reflecting the new age we're living in, I guess.

It's supposed to be a very interesting place to visit. And I still have the time to pose :D (above) But there are few exhibition that got me really annoyed, because it's highly disturbing. :-S

So all in all, I like ACM better :D. Maybe it's also because I'm not a risk-taker by nature. And I feel comfortable in the more established grounds. Like the centuries old of wisdom. :D

art scene investigation : Love Tank

Once again I saw another towering pink/ magenta structure at the NMS's Rotunda. Both by an Indonesian artists. Is this a coincidence? I surely hope so. I dont want to think of other kinky possibility. Or maybe I already did. :D

On the left, is called "Surrounding David", by Titarubi; exhibited on NMS at March 6th 2008 - August 11th 2008. On the right, is the object of our review, "the Love Tank (the Temple)", by S. Teddy Darmawan; will occupy the NMS's rotunda for 5 months, since May 1st 2009 up to October 4th 2009.

Now you see what I mean? ;)

Anyway ..

At the first sight, without reading the piece's description, I thought it's some kind of peace offering symbol, or maybe a symbolization of freedom.

And reading the description, turns out that I'm a bit far off. This piece has nothing to do with peace or freedom. But it surely have something to do with love, if that's any consolation .. :P


In short, this installation is a symbolization of East meet West; and how the "physical strength" (depicted by tanks, an obviously powerful killing machine) of the Western culture, when combined with Eastern culture's "Inner Strength" (love, of course); can be a super powerful tool to .. mm.. break the walls? :D

And here's my favourite part :

See that?! Even the tank's canon is in heart shape! LOL! :D The only thing that can be shoot out of that thing is love and love only. ;)

For those of you who wants to read the actual description (instead of my distorted ones :D). Just zoom into this image below.


Enjoy!

art scene investigation : Verner Panton, a feast for the eye!

Name of venue : National Museum of Singapore
Address : 93 Stamford Road Singapore 178897
How to go here: Walk for 5 mins from Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station Interchange (NS24/NE6/CC1)
Attraction : The works of Verner Panton
Entry Fee : S$ 6

I've been wanting to see this exhibition since the first time I saw this image on the National Museum's event guide.

It's calling me. :D

One glance at the color, the shape, and the resulted space is enough for me to make my first paid entry to NMS.

But subliminally (which wouldn't be subliminal anymore since I already flaunt and analyze it here), I think one of the first thing that intrigue me about this particular exhibition is that I feel like I'm in the same direction with Verner Panton. As a designer, I LOVE bold colors. And I love unusual shapes. But most of the times I've to suppressed my interest in colors and shapes because I was afraid to be told "unsophisticated" or "not trendy" or "childish", or even "ridiculous".

But here I can see, one successful example. That bold colors ARE cool. :)

So, let the journey begin ..


The most popular and widely recognizable design of Verner Panton is this one :

It is called the Panton Chair. First time I saw this chair is on a juice bar in Paris Van Java Mall, Bandung, Indonesia. They were using the yellow ones, on a all white interior with a tinge of green. I think it's about 5 years ago. And the chair was designed in 1967 ...

Ha! :D

I probably am not so knowledgeable, but at least I'm learning, right? :D *self-justification*

Anyway, those of you who knows me must be familiar with my very bad memory. I prefer to say that I've a very selective memory. *another self-justification* :D So why do I remember this specific piece? Simply because it's just so amazing! At the first glance, I'm instantly attracted by the color. And the shape is so intriguing. Makes me wonder how does it feel to sit on it. And on my next visit to Bandung, I tried. And the chair doesn't ceased to amaze me. It is "springy". And it's not what I'm expected. I thought the chair must be stiff, just like any other plastic chairs. But no. The chair bounces off, back and forth so sexily and comfortably. My goodness ...

So that's why, I really can relate to this "instruction" on the wall. :D And wishing that my hubby will buy me one Panton chair so I can put the instruction into practice .. ;)


Anyway, another popular piece by Panton is probably this one :

It is called the Heart Chair. Designed in 1957. Geez !!!

This exhibition is a truly a feast for the eye. Even for a child, or someone who doesn't have any interest whatsoever in art & design world.

The base color for the whole exhibition is black. But then they create boxes for each theme (Early Works, System Furniture, The Panton Chair, Experimental Furniture, Lighting, etc), painted it in the boldest color possible and with a color strengthening lighting, it creates an amazing space and a very memorable performance.


And then, I went to the highlight of the show. I deliberately save this one, presumably the best, for last. The very thing that caught my eye and makes me want to come and see the exhibition. The Phantasy Landscape. Yes, it's Phantasy with Ph- and not F-. Don't ask me why. :)

Before entering this Phantasy Land, there's 1 person regulating at the entrance, requiring us to take off our shoes and wear this blue plastic bag to cover our feet. And they will give one squirt of hand sanitizer just to make sure that we're all good and sterile. :)



And then I'd like to end this post with a very precious words of wisdom from the Master himself :