SINGAPORE, March 19 — From enjoying “kopi” at a pop-up coffee shop to watching films about forgotten islands, Singaporeans will have a chance to revisit the lesser-known slices of the nation’s past as part of the SG50 celebrations.
From April till August, the National Library Board’s Singapore Memory Project (SMP) will showcase Past Forward, comprising 74 projects of forgotten memories through various media, such as films, books, websites and 3D-printed installations.
Hands-on activities, including dialogue sessions and workshops, will also be featured, allowing visitors to participate in creating their own stories through the use of media such as lego bricks.
A preview of 20 of the projects was launched yesterday by Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim at the National Library building in Victoria Street.
The exhibition will be open to the public until tomorrow.
The people behind the 74 projects, who are funded by the irememberSG Fund, include film-makers and ordinary individuals.
The organisers said Past Forward was opened to anyone with ideas that meet its aim of presenting various stories and revealing aspects of Singapore’s past that are lesser known.
“This time around, we are saying anyone can be a memory maker, anyone can do documentation and do it in a way that is befitting to their community and to their story,” said SMP spokesman Yee Yeong Chong.
For artist Jahan Loh, his Singapore Kopi Culture project, one of the 20 featured at the National Library preview, provided him with an opportunity to preserve Singapore’s unique coffee-drinking culture.
Loh, 38, described the traditional way of roasting coffee here as a “dying trade”.
For his project, Loh and his team interviewed Hainanese settlers who started Singapore’s first coffee shops to better understand the origins of the beverage.
The team’s efforts revealed interesting facts about the local “kopi” culture, including its “cosmopolitan” nature.
For example, furniture for traditional coffee shops, such as wooden chairs, were imported from Europe, while the white marble tables came from Italy.
A book documenting the team’s findings will be launched at a pop-up stall during their exhibition at the National Library building on July 26.
Other teams involved in the showcase went for a more nostalgic touch.
The artist behind Moving Home, Alecia Neo, 29, said one reason the team decided to focus on the rituals that people associated with their homes is to better understand how people react when they have to leave their abode, which can be difficult for them especially if they had lived there for a long time.
“... I myself had moved home for about 12 times around the neighbourhood, to different estates, to different blocks, so the idea of moving home was quite special to me,” said Neo.
Moving Home will hold its exhibition from April 3, also at the National Library building, with activities such as a dialogue session to engage participants in sharing what moving home means to them.
Most of the events will be held at the National Library and its branches across the island. — TODAY
