Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

2014 in review: Jostling for space in the arts scene

SINGAPORE — As the country marches into its Jubilee Year, the arts landscape underwent a notable shake-up, quite literally. 2014 turned out to be the year when buildings and art spaces became integral markers of a changing Singapore arts scene. The most high-profile of these was, of course, the newly renovated Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, a beloved performing arts venue in the national consciousness, decked out for the modern era. Though less glamorous, the new National Design Centre and Centre 42 arrived to address needs in the fields of design and creative writing. The biggest arts structure has yet to open, but the good-natured buzz over its logo showed how the National Gallery Singapore may very well capture the public’s imagination next year.

SINGAPORE — As the country marches into its Jubilee Year, the arts landscape underwent a notable shake-up, quite literally. 2014 turned out to be the year when buildings and art spaces became integral markers of a changing Singapore arts scene. The most high-profile of these was, of course, the newly renovated Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, a beloved performing arts venue in the national consciousness, decked out for the modern era. Though less glamorous, the new National Design Centre and Centre 42 arrived to address needs in the fields of design and creative writing. The biggest arts structure has yet to open, but the good-natured buzz over its logo showed how the National Gallery Singapore may very well capture the public’s imagination next year.

It was a year when not only state-sanctioned structures popped up, but also one when arts groups took the initiative in creating their own spaces: The Singapore International Photography Festival revealed its shipping container space DECK, Drama Box had its inflatable theatre space GoLi and the indie cinema venue The Projector took over Golden Cinema.

And speaking of taking over spaces, you had a few of that as well: Haw Par Villa became the site of exhibitions under the Latent Spaces banner and artists took over the entire Eminent Plaza mall, which was slated for demolition, for an entire month.

Other spaces were in a state of flux themselves. The Asian Civilisations Museum and National Museum of Singapore underwent renovation, while The Substation announced similar plans for its gallery. The Arts House, while still there, also experienced a change — a complicated management change that saw The Arts House Limited formed from the merger between The Old Parliament House and Arts Festival Limited — under the folks who run the Singapore Festival of Arts.

For a while, independent bookstore BooksActually was in the spotlight for its gung-ho fund-raising efforts to find a permanent space because of rising costs. It was able to extend its lease in Tiong Bahru, but other notable bookstores weren’t so lucky, such as Sunny Bookshop and Select Books. The former closed and the latter had to move out of its Armenian Street premises. Another long-time arts space closed as well: After 15 years, Sculpture Square’s Middle Road premises was closed for good after the company behind it decided it no longer wanted a permanent exhibition space. MAYO MARTIN

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.