Singapore Art Festival 2010

Singapore Art Festival 2009; something to look forward to this coming May & June. Watch out for all the amazing free shows :D and all the spectacular opening and closing shows. :D

Click here for the complete information : http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/
And here and here to download the Festival Guides. :D

Have a great time everyone! I know I will :D

Design 2050 : Possibilities for Tomorrow

As you can see in the above pic, the 2009 Singapore Design Festival title is Design 2050 : Possibilities for Tomorrow. A biennial event which I'm lucky enough to see this year. :) Heck, I might not be still living here next year. Anyway, the overall score is good and enlightening. Definitely inspiring, although sadly few of the events that I want to attend is either closed on weekends or fully booked. :(

Below are random arrays of the exhibition in one of the Design Hub; the City Hall.
And as my twitter-friend @artshyster said, "Visual artists interested in visuals not words"; so you won't see much of my writing on the design concept explanation. You can just google it. Here you will see visual inspirations. Things that catch my eye and would be quite useful as a design inspiration. Although sadly sometimes it wouldn't show any of the actual artwork/ design exhibited.

The the credits of each installation will of course be written. :)

Enjoy! :)


Title : Floating 2050
Artist : Marina Milosavljevic


Title : Polish Architects Exhibition 2009


Title : Singapore Souvenir
This is the most clever souvenir! I always have a hard time differentiating between Kopi, Kopi O, Kopi C and the likes of it. Something that's definitely "Uniquely Singaporean". But with this "color chart"; I wouldn't be lost anymore! :D


Title : Mobile : Vehicles & Platforms
Artist : Anita Nevens


Title : Sustainab.Italy




Title : CCC Character Festival
Artists : Atelier Sango, Planet Planter, Hexa Project


Title : V for Vase
Artist : Hans Tan Studio



Title : Beyond Typography - Singapore Pangram

Now this is also one exhibition that allow us to explore a whole lot of different experience. But the room is too dark for me to take any pictures. Maybe it's better to leave it in the dark, and just put it as a reminder for a good spatial & visual experience. What's left above are the ones that can be easily photographed.

Illuma, Singapore

So here's the new kid on the (Bugis) block. :)



Designed by recent Aga Khan Award winners; WOHA Designs, and working together with the renowned German lighting designers Tim and Jan Edler of realities:united; they created this awesome looking lighting pills facade.

But personally, I don't really like the facade. The blinking humongous "pills" looks so un-environmentally friendly, and some say it's a little disturbing. But when I walked in, see the amazing column clad (the orange thingie :D), the sun-filled and extra spacious atrium, and the nice cheap and interesting shops inside, I'm in looove! :D







So what do YOU think about it? :)

just looking at the sky and think how beautiful it is ..

Art Scene Investigation : Li Chen's Mind - Body - Spirit

I went down around the SMU , SAM and National Museum's area this afternoon to see closely the interesting and vaguely familiar plump figures that has been haunting me since I took a glimpse of it as my bus went past the vicinity last week.

I just HAVE to see it.

And here's what I found.



We live in a highly complex and volatile age. There is a deep spiritual poverty within humanity – they are spiritually lost and confused souls. Art is not merely a record of life and its activities, but is also a valuable form of spiritual healing.
Li Chen, Taichung, 2009

Well said Mr. Chen. :) I couldn't agree more.

And as you'll see in the array of pictures below, the sculptures was made of bronze. You can only see it peeking from some of the rough finishes at some tiny areas. Lovely details, though I feel it's such a waste of precious bronze if you'd eventually have it painted in black, but hey, I'm just a commoner here. :)



Anyway, these lovely sculptures are going to be on display on 25 September to 9 December 2009; and you can find them around the Singapore Art Museum, the Land Transport Authority sites above the Mass Rapid Transit stations, the Campus Green of the Singapore Management University, and under the Banyan tree of the National Museum of Singapore. The collections on display are the artist’s 21 works (25 sculptures) presented from four series: The Beauty of Emptiness (1992 to 1997), Energy of Emptiness (1998 to 2000), Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether (2001 to present) and Soul Guardians (2008 to present).




" Welcome to my humble shack " :)


I'm officially a fan. :) I LOOVEEEE these sculptures! Not only it looked contemporary, but I love the expression on each of these Buddhas, their gestures, and furthermore, the philosophical meaning behind each creations. Even their size is just perfect. It's a perfect fuse between Asian philosophy, mythology, and somehow it also has a very contemporary and western look and feel. Each of the creations are powerful, and really, SMU is the perfect setting for these stunning bronze Buddhas.

Orchard Central, Singapore

I've been wanting to write about Orchard Central, since my last visit a couple of weeks ago, but still haven't got round to actually did it. But now my long awaited holiday is here, so I guess I can spare sometime to write a story about my visit to this Singapore's first "Vertical Mall", as how they put it in all of the publication about this particular mall.


Pardon my ignorance, but this is the first time I heard of that term. And my first reaction was, huh? I thought most buildings nowadays are built to be vertical? But turns out that this "Vertical" terms are referring to the 11 floors entirely dedicated for this mall. Quite impressive, considering walking around a 4th storey mall all day has worn me out, let alone this one with 11 floors?! Geez..

Anyway, I decided to like this mall. Because :

1. It has a very generous set cozy seatings, practically everywhere within the lower levels (from ground floor up to the 3rd floor, CMIIW). No picture here, sorry, you just have to go and see for yourself then. :)
2. I love the design for their 8th level (the High Life cluster); designed to look very industrial, and looked very much like Super Potato design. But I still haven't found further info on who's the designer for this 8th floor. But the entire mall was designed by DP Architects of Singapore.

3. The variety of shops. It's definitely planned for young people (modern working urbanites as they put it, sounds so cool is it? :D) in middle to middle-high range market (ME. Yay! :D).
4. Contemporary art sculptures seems to be scattered along the mall, which is a real feast for my sore eyes.


The downside is, most of the corridors leading to the stores are maze-like, and amazingly narrow for a mall (less than 2m wide). But being an open-minded-middle-ranged-28-yo-woman, I didn't mind at all. I'm used to it. Have I not scouring the narrow corridors of Bugis Village, Chatuchak Market, Mustafa Centre, even the crowded and sometimes wet corridors of Melawai with joy? :D It's part of the excitement I should say. To find some hidden treasures along the narrow corridors. :D


Another interesting thing to point out is the variety of design. Is it supposed to reflect the joyful mix of the urban life? Maybe. See the sample below on the ceiling design.


But all in all, it's a nice experience. And I would definitely pick this mall (and Plaza Singapura) as my ultimate destination whenever I went to Orchard. :)

The Crystal City by Donna Ong (Singapore)

The skyline of a glass city stretches horizontally into the distance as clear turrets of glass rise vertically. Amber lights shine through their faceted surfaces, creating amorphous patterns that shift and change as the lights dim and brighten. This illusion of a glass city is created using ordinary everyday objects as crystal bottles, jars, cups, bowls and decanters.



To me, this artwork is an interesting design idea for a restaurant. :) Don't you think?

* part of the texts are taken from from the Night Festival's Event Guide

The Beginning by Sun Yu-Li (Singapore)

So that night, is a night of beauty.

After I went out from the Museum through the side door, and saw the Tree right away, I only need to glance to my left and there I see this little beauty sitting pretty right under the Banyan Tree.



The Beginning is a stainless steel sculpture with LED lights; the spiral form of which resembles a massive DNA model glowing in the night. Sun Yu-Li adopts the approach "sculpture as a place", in which the work incites the viewer to moce or explore within its space.





* part of the texts are taken from from the Night Festival's Event Guide

The Tree by FARM (Singapore)

This very cool looking structure (it reminds me of something, but I couldn't remember what. Maybe some science fiction movie, or the Transformers?) meant to be an interpretation of the National Museum's Banyan Tree.

It is made out of several interlocking frames with lights that pulsates gently in the night. Hanging microphones simulating that of aerial roots will detect environmental sounds and alter the lighting nature of The Tree-- glowing intensely and dimming down with the rising and falling sound levels.

This installation will inspire people to slow down, take a breather and simply bask in this recreation of nature's wonder.

And if you wonder what does the infamous Banyan Tree that inspired this particular artwork, see image below. And pardon me for the blurry image. It's the camera, not me. :)



* part of the texts are taken from from the Night Festival's Event Guide

Cats of The World III

Do come and visit this little exhibition in the Arts House from 9 - 28 July 2009; 10am - 10pm if you want to feel a little love, happiness and warmth.


A smile is guaranteed! :)


When I came down to see this exhibition this afternoon and start scanning through the photos, a smile just formed across my face. Instantly. I don't even realize that I was grinning until a few seconds later. And then I see other people who come to see the exhibition, and I saw smiles on their faces also! :D It's just.. priceless!

It's such a rare thing you know. In an art exhibition, and people just smile affectionately to whatever it is exhibited.. It's nothing avant garde or artsy fartsy, but just a very simple, small and heartwarming exhibition.