Art and about: Public art in the city and beyond

SINGAPORE — Those of you out and about the Civic District on Sunday might spot a few unusual things, such as a rain cloud seemingly floating in front of the Esplanade Bridge. Or some huge mynahs in front of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall.

The former is a sculpture by Tan Wee Lit titled Cloud Nine: Raining, while the latter sculptures are from Lim Soo Ngee. These works by Singaporean artists are part of a growing presence of public art.

After the opening of the National Gallery Singapore and the continued presence of art fairs and galleries, it would seem public art is the next step in the country’s artistic evolution. And right now, the Civic District is where the public art party’s at.

TRUST IN PUBLIC ART

Low Eng Teong, director of the National Arts Council’s (NAC) visual arts sector development, reckons there are “easily 20 to 30” artworks that people can stumble upon in Civic District. And it’s not just the familiar boys jumping in the river or the cats at Cavenagh Bridge. Tan’s raining cloud is one of the three fairly new additions in the area. Along with Baet Yeok Kuan’s spherical sound sculptures 24 Hours In Singapore (in front of the Asian Civilisations Museum) and the granite-and-steel work The Rising Moon by Han Sai Por and Kum Chee Kiong (at the Esplanade Park), these comprise the first three works under the council’s relatively new Public Art Trust, which was established in 2014 and is now slowly trying to cultivate an appreciation of public art.

It’s a multi-pronged approach that Low hopes will get the public to see and appreciate more of these works (including the older pieces) and the private and corporate sector also chipping in with co-commissions (two of the first three works were sponsored by private organisations).

There have previously been tours held, but now the PAT is working with Art Outreach on creating special tours for teachers, who can then have the option of holding their own tours. A new website is also scheduled to be launched next month, where the PAT hopes to provide a map of all the public artworks available across the island (many of which have already been chronicled in the excellent public art website http://www.nusantara.com/pasta/ by Peter Schoppert).

And if you think public sculptures and installations are a lesser (and free) alternative to its cousins in museums and galleries, think again.

“It’s just as important or even more important,” said Low. “If I want more people to get in touch with art, it’s the most accessible. And the kinds of considerations one has in making one can be even more challenging, because it’s also about the idea of how it transforms a space, how it interacts with the broadest range of people, and there’s also the technical aspects (of creating a huge work suitable for the outdoors).”

He also dismisses the idea of these as simply being “beautiful” or decorative. While they’re wonderful for that selfie moment, the best ones also “triggers something in you to make you want to linger longer”. Which makes sense if you want people to hang out more at the Civic District, car or no-car.

OUTDOOR GALLERY

While the PAT is a government-led initiatives, the private sector has also been chipping in. The most visible of these initiatives in recent months is art gallery iPreciation’s massive Envision project. Featuring 13 works by 11 artists (including aforementioned mynahs), the ongoing outdoor exhibition stretches from The Arts House all the way to Marina Boulevard. There are also free weekly guided tours every Saturday afternoon. And for Car-Free Sunday, they’ll also be doing the tours.

It’s not the first time the gallery has gone into public art. Last year, they exhibited Chinese artist Ju Ming’s works at the Botanic Gardens, and way back in 2004, an island-wide show on the same artist was held.

But this time around, the Civic District was the obvious choice for gallery managing director Helina Chan. “It’s both very scenic and an area of cultural and historical significance. It will be great to have monumental works of art displayed in the vicinity of Singapore’s top cultural institution.”

And while there are obvious benefits to having free public art for the public, it’s also beneficial for artists, particularly for those keen on dreaming big in space-cramped Singapore.

“Sculptures are difficult and costly to make as we don’t have the industry and foundries in Singapore where artists can experiment with their ideas. Hence they have to go overseas to test these out—and the starting cost is very high,” said Chan, who says the works on display in Envision range from US$25,000 to US$5.5 million (on the PAT’s part, Low declined to give figures but highlighted it’s definitely more expensive than indoor works).

INTO THE HEARTLANDS

Right now, it would seem that the Civic District is overflowing with public art (at least until Envision wraps up in April), but Low thinks it hasn’t come to a point where there’s way too much. “At the moment, we haven’t come to that happy problem yet,” he said.

And in fact, they’re pushing for more — beyond the city. PAT isn’t only aiming to chronicle existing works elsewhere (and design different trails) but to see if there could be more put up beyond the city centre. Low said that for the next round, they are looking at installing works in residential neighbourhoods such as Bishan and Tampines.

As the PAT team works towards that, its community arts segment counterpart at the council has already been going ahead with its own initiatives, even if it isn’t necessarily huge sculptures. There’s the ongoing self-guided art trail at Taman Jurong, where you can get a map from the community club (or simply download it) and go on your own art adventures, spotting works by artists and residents. Among these are photographic prints and portraits by artists Fiona Koh and Terence Lin, done in collaboration with residents.

Also slated to launch at the end of next month is a location-based mobile trail, which you can download via the Pocket Trips App. Done in collaboration with Singapore Management University students, the trail will comprise public artworks in 10 to 15 spots around one’s neighbourhood, as well as other interactive content.

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2 ART TRAILS TO CHOOSE FROM

1. If you’re at the Civic District this weekend (or, in fact, any time you’re free) try iPreciation’s tour for its ongoing show Envision public sculpture exhibition, which starts at The Arts House and ends all the way at Marina Boulevard. Guided tours only run every Saturday at 5pm (details at http://www.ipreciation.com/envision/). But they’re making an exception for Car-Free Sunday and also holding free tours. Alternatively, Public Art Trust also has its own art trail comprising new and old works in the area. You can download it at http://www.facebook.com/publicarttrustsg.

2. If you’re all the way in West, there’s the Taman Jurong Art Trail, with works by artists and in collaboration with the community. You can either do a walkabout (from Lakeside MRT Station, walk along Yuan Ching Road to the footpath net to Yuan Ching Secondary School) or a bus-walk combi (take Bus 98 in front of the station). You can pick up a map at the Taman Jurong Community Club or download online at http://www.tamanjurong.sg/ourgallery.)

(click to enlarge)