SINGAPORE, Jan 15 — Singapore Art Week launches its sixth edition on January 17, spotlighting the island's thriving arts scene through more than 100 events, including two large-scale commissions, an outdoor light show and a major tribute to street art.
Culminating in the art fair Art Stage Singapore, the week's programme is spread out across diverse venues, including galleries, museums, art districts and non-profit spaces.
At the ArtScience Museum, “Art from the Streets” will trace 40 years of street art, from its countercultural beginnings through to its presence as a major contemporary art phenomenon. Large-scale mural paintings, installations, videos, prints, archival material, drawings and sketches by Banksy, Shepard Fairey (aka Obey), Futura, Invader, JR, Blek le Rat, Swoon and Vhils will join works by local and regional artists, and several artists will create a series of live paintings and installations on site.
The National Gallery Singapore is using the occasion of Art Week to unveil its second Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission, which this year features a bamboo maze and a wooden tea house by international artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. The artist is known for works that engage audiences, and the new commission invites visitors to rediscover South-east Asian traditions as they navigate the maze, participate in tea ceremonies and attend performances.
A second major commission is set for installation on the front lawn of the Singapore Art Museum, where local artist Gerald Leow has imagined a large-scale wooden structure that makes reference to a traditional rice granary and stands in contrast to the colonial architecture of the Museum building. Called “Lumbung” — Malay for rice granary or barn -- it uses recycled crate pinewood such as that used to freight artworks in and out of the museum's exhibitions, imprinted with stamps to reveal its past journeys.
From January 19 to 28, the annual Light to Night Festival will turn the facade of the National Gallery Singapore into a canvas for a multimedia light show, transforming the area near it into a sprawling picnic ground; on the weekends, nearby cultural institutions will stay open late with festival-specific programmes.
Another nighttime activity can be found at the Gillman Barracks arts cluster, where on January 26 Art in the Dark will feature an evening of contemporary art, live music, pop-ups and exhibitions.
Find the full Singapore Art Week programme here. — AFP-Relaxnews
