Sculpture Square bids goodbye with postcards

SINGAPORE — One of the most memorable works shown at Sculpture Square, to me at least, was Zai Kuning’s A Tree In The Room back in 2004. Which was basically what it said it was: A huge tree trunk inside the chapel space.

But it’s not that work that’s on display at SSQ’s ongoing final show this week but another equally iconic piece of his: 2008’s A Bowl Of Rice.

But in a postcard.

After 15 years, SSQ as we know it wraps up with Postcards From The Future, a kind of bittersweet look at one of Singapore’s oldest art spaces. As you may already know, SSQ the company will be vacating its Middle Road premises and embarking on a new journey (that’s still 3D art-related) and the National Arts Council will be conducting an open call for any new takers from Aug 25 to Sept 26 (and, thankfully, it’ll still be a visual art space).

So yes, postcards was the solution to the question: How do you condense 15 years of SSQ?

Significant artworks from some of the exhibitions held over the years (minus the in-transition year of 2012) are “highlighted” on postcards you can collect. They’re placed on plinths situated around the chapel space, specifically where the pieces were first shown (Zai’s Rice piece in the centre, for instance, and Cheo Chai-Hiang’s reconstructed 5’ x 5’ against the left wall).

Elsewhere, you’ll “see” Victor Tan, Tan Wee Lit, Han Sai Por, Heri Dono, etc. They’re all specifically from SSQ shows so even the exhibition timeline, starting from 1999’s Sculpture Carnival and ending with the very recent and oh-so-brief painting(!) solo of Joshua Yang, doesn’t factor in other exciting stuff that happened there such as editions of the Future Of Imagination performance art festival.

Together with the postcards are boxes of, well, stuff: Photographs, publicity material, documentation. The show also includes a Powerpoint presentation, loads of other documents, and a slideshow of what the place used to look like (i.e. a pretty rundown space after prior stints as a Methodist Church, a Chinese restaurant and a car repair shop) before its facelift in the `90s under first boss, sculptor Sun Yu-Li.

The irony isn’t lost on us, of course: A space dedicated to 3D art reduced here to these 2D keepsakes. Or, while we’re at it, the irony of a “disembodied” SSQ.

I’m not sure just how much nostalgia the local art scene has for SSQ (in my 10 years in Singapore and 7 years of arts coverage, it’s been quite a hit-and-miss place, personally) but you can’t deny its status as one of the oldtimers. Back in 1999, you had, what, The Substation, the Singapore Art Museum, the old Drama Centre...

But also, 15 years isn’t too bad, and with all the recent developments (not least would be the shake-up re: Arts House Ltd / The Old Parliament House, which managed the place), there was undoubtedly a bit of a question regarding its future. Just a bit because if there’s regret, it would be to have witnessed a rather short lifespan for Alan Oei’s tenure as artistic director. All the new energy and innovations he had planned for the space — the Ghost exhibition, the Chai-Hiang show, the Bureau artist residency, a snarky newsletter — I was so looking forward to more of these.

But again, it’s not like there’s no more SSQ or that the chapel’s going to be demolished for some new F&B. Both will still be around, except they’re not one and the same anymore.

SSQ will continue with its consultancy projects (which, I have to admit, I keep forgetting since the chapel space was, for me, the main, ahem, draw) and with a lot of push for encouraging and promoting art in public spaces (the Public Art Trust scheme and all)…

And for the record, SSQ chairperson Richard Helfer had said in a statement: “In the present landscape, the accomplishment of our vision and mission is best served by not being venue-specific. Rather, we feel that the flexibility to work with different venues and organisations allows us to connect artists and their works better with a broader audience base.”

(They had also declined NAC’s offers to extend their Middle Road tenancy for three years and to include SSQ in the major grant programme for 2014.)

As for who’ll take over the chapel and the building next door, we’ll just have to wait and see. A good run, though, SSQ-as-we-knew-it, a good run.

Postcards From The Future runs until Friday, Aug 8, 11am to 7pm, Sculpture Square, 155 Middle Road. Free admission.