Text and Photos by Grace Baey Amidst the line-up of events at Singapore Art Week 2022, The Arts House is currently a site for three new installation works by artists Speak Cryptic, Jason Wee and WY-TO, and the National Library Board. We spoke with the artists and organisers to learn more about their works, beyond […]
Capturing The Imagination: Art Installations at The Arts House Read More »
As a resident of Yishun, I do not usually expect any sort of art exhibition to come to my town. As a town notorious for cat killing and the occasional murder, you wouldn’t expect any cultural experience to rank high on the list of places to go in Yishun, which was why I was pleasantly
Artistic intervention: An orange truck lands in… Yishun? Read More »
From now till 25 April, a truck carrying precious cargo will travel around Singapore, hoping to enchant you with its treasures and stories. Titled The Bottled City, this orange-hued truck contains art and design works curated and created in response to books by Singapore authors. Inspired by the concept of a cabinet of curiosities, the
So Lit: The Bottled City of mini objects travelling through Singapore Read More »
By Vithya Subramaniam (1,961 words, 8-minute read) We’ve taken more walks these days, haven’t we? Walking isn’t new to us. There hasn’t been a time when we were not walking. But this simple universal act has found new meanings over this last year. Here in Singapore, some of us walked along old train tracks for
A few walks-with: Vel Vel: A Sonic Walk and more Read More »
“People always see us artists as cool. They think we paint on the streets, make big money, no need to study one. Ask them to try lah! We work for hours in the hot sun. And you need strong fingers to hold the can.” Artist ANTZ was working on a boom lift on the side
Mixtape: The Millennial, The Zoomer and The Spray Can Read More »
By ila Many of us grew up with ghost stories. For some of us, it’s very much part of our belief system that we share the world with other presences. (If you’re interested, I wrote a speculative text about the Pontianak here.) When I was younger, my mom would use the word “pelesit” each time
Pelesits And Where To Find Them: A conversation with NADA and Teater Ekamatra Read More »
Walk around Kampong Gelam today and it’s easy to forget how much of a rich historical site it used to be. Historical markers abound, and yet, grab any young person hanging out in its many hip dining establishments and they might not know, for example, why Kampong Gelam is so named. Uncle: “It’s even medicinal,
Aliwal Tracks: Mr Gelam and the potential of virtual worldbuilding Read More »
Singapore’s bicentennial year in 2019 sparked great discussion and debate about the legacies of imperialism and colonialism, which continues till today, in step with larger conversations happening globally around decolonisation, indigeneity and civil rights. With the third edition of The Arts House’ LumiNation festival focusing on migration, historian and academic Timothy P. Barnard delves into
Imperial Creatures: Singapore beyond ‘great men’ history Read More »
By Akanksha Raja (830 words, 4-minute read) On 1 November, The Arts House plays host to an unlikely wedding celebration titled A Bigger Party Than Expected, which features “silent disco” dances to an Eurasian folk song, multidisciplinary art installations, and an assortment of performances. These unusual nuptial festivities are how The Arts House is
A Bigger Party Than Expected: Honouring Rex Shelley at SWF 2019 Read More »
By Nabilah Said (1,670 words, 7-minute read) We are in a rehearsal for Seven Views of Redhill. Well, not me – I am just a hanger-on trying to fold myself into a corner of the Chesterfield-like sofa backed up against a wall in a room I am told is called the ‘Back of Chamber’,
Seven Views of “Seven Views of Redhill” Read More »
The year is 2049: two hundred years since the Pontianak first appeared in writing, marked insignificantly in Hikayat Abdullah as residues of superstitious and foolish beliefs of the Chinese and Malays that have persisted with time. I guess the only parts that Munsyi Abdullah was right about are the Pontianak’s timelessness and persistence. She is
Celebrating the monstrous other: “Anak Pontianak” and “Nobody” at LumiNation Read More »
We asked our readers what they would put in a time capsule. The answers were heartwarming, quirky and intriguing – through each of them, there was a consideration of what deserves preservation, and an imagination of our futures. In Tan Pin Pin’s documentary, In Time To Come (2017), one time capsule is opened, while another is
“In Time To Come” at LumiNation 2019 Read More »
By Corrie Tan (1,300 words, eight-minute read) We’ve all met the gaze of this pair of narrow, red-pupilled eyes – whether with a torchlight under the bedcovers, or in school, snuck into class beneath a desk. The predatory stare on the cover of Russell Lee’s True Singapore Ghost Stories still follows us from the shelves
“Out of Print”: classic Singaporean texts get a contemporary makeover Read More »
THEATRE Southernmost: 1 Table 2 Chairs Project by Emergency Stairs, 12 – 24 December, The Arts House Presented by up-and-coming experimental theatre company Emergency Stairs, the first edition Southernmost is a theatre festival which brings the most outstanding and established traditional and contemporary theatre artists from the region together in this red dot for an intensive
11 – 17 December 2017: Singapore Read More »
