Singapore Art Week a bonanza of film and visual arts events packed into nine days
This year's visual art bonanza Singapore Art Week includes films and walks with the aim to reach diverse audiences
To make Singapore films come alive, the Asian Film Archive is organising a series of weekend bus tours to old movie locations starting Saturday.
Destinations include a forested spot along East Coast Road where the Malay comedy Mat Tiga Suku (1965) was filmed. In reaction to the film and location, artist Mike H.J. Chang has created a life-sized bus stop using sand.
Mixing film and visual art, old work and new responses, the programme is part of Singapore Art Week, a nine-day-long art bonanza of more than 100 activities such as art fairs, exhibitions and talks.
Running from Saturday to Jan 24 this year, Art Week was started in 2013 by the National Arts Council, Singapore Tourism Board and Economic Development Board to ride on the momentum of the rising visual art scene, including the growth of the art fair, Art Stage Singapore, and the launch of the art gallery cluster in Gillman Barracks.
Artist Kumari Nahappan's saga seed-inspired work, Road To Fifty.
Related Story
Singapore Art Week: ST's guide to must-see exhibitions and arty stops
Related Story
Five ways to survive this year's art blitz
Over the years, however, non- visual art activities have made their way into Art Week.
Last year's programme included a family-friendly carnival, neighbourhood walking tours and music parties.
This year, the cross-disciplinary focus is stronger. There is an immersive theatre production in Joo Chiat by the arts group OH! Open House as well as a skateboard exhibition at Aliwal Arts Centre.
The Asian Film Archive is participating in Art Week for the first time. It hopes that the buzz surrounding the event, which drew about 126,000 visitors last year, will widen public interest in Singapore films.
It is presenting State Of Motion, which comprises an exhibition of film stills from the archive of the now- defunct, Singapore-based Cathay- Keris Studio, and a weekend bus tour of the different locations in the film stills where a work of art, specific to the film and site, is installed.
READ FULL STORY
RELATED
