Temporary Works

A "group blog" for recording short-lived interventions in Singapore's public space. here's a place to record graffiti, sticker art, street advertising (if you must), holiday decorations, found art of various sorts, etc. Please email peter [funny at symbol] nusantara.com if you would like to contribute to this site.

Actually, that graffiti wasn't so bad...

Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 15:06
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Check out the letter "Why not liven up MRT cabins legally" by Yee Jenn Jong.

A Singapore MRT train is tagged by McKoy Banos

Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 23:02
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or is that McKoy and Banos? Or by people pretending to be McKoy and/or Banos? One man arrested, another named. Here's the train in question:

Should we consider Singapore's home-designed playgrounds public art?

Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Fri, 04/02/2010 - 02:39
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They are certainly on the borderline... fulfilling many of the functions of public art, in particular their ability to evoke and enhance a sense of place. And of course the move towards functionality and providing pleasure to the public has always been an important pull on public art. Many public artists have designed their work specifically for children's play.  In this case, by working specifically to incorporate local imagery, the designers of these playground amenities moved in the direction of public art as well.

And certainly these tiled pieces show a much better sense of design than the many hideous decorative gateways that adorn our HDB estates and are meant to give a sense of place and local identity to individual areas within estates.

 
Excellent article from Justin Zhuang.

Nature Borne at Singapore Botanic Gardens

Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 10:55
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We've been pretty hard on some of NParks' new acquisitions, so it's a pleasure to relate news of what looks like an interesting and thoughtful show at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, called Nature Borne. The exhibition features works from five Singaporean and five Korean artists.

CNA has a write up and a link to a video (they don't allow us to embed or even perma-link the video unfortunately...). The video features interview with Korea's Lee Soo Hong and Singapore's Michael Lee. I haven't been able to see a full list of participating artists, but other Singaporeans include Jason Lim, Jason Wee, and Vertical Submarine.

I'm looking forward to checking it out, and here's hoping this heralds a more positive approach to public art from NParks.

Public art on the cover of IS Magazine

Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Sat, 11/07/2009 - 13:55
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A thoughtful piece in their Out of the Box section, also their cover story. By Zaki Jufri, very nice piece.

Have you ever wondered what Singapore would be like, if positive thinking and encouragement were part of the national psyche?

Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 10:47
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    • Who is Romero Britto?

    Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Sat, 09/26/2009 - 10:11
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    Good Girl

    Originally uploaded by chooyutshing

    A Brazilian pop artist having a great commercial run in Miami - some of his small sculptural works have been placed on Orchard Rd outside ION Orchard (as of end September 2009). He's capable of interesting public art interventions (the Pyramid project, London for example, or some projections he's been doing). It's big loud commercial work, and in the right setting and at the right scale can be fun in a loud sort of way. But these small sculptures don't work as public art. They are 2d works produced in editions of 50. They can't compete with the buzz of Orchard Rd, and just look out of place on their big white plinths.

    STB is supporting this effort from Opera Gallery, and has given them plenty of space on their streetlight banners, maybe because the artist also has a line of portraits of F1 drivers.... But as public art this is a dud, and a missed opportunity given the artist's own abilities. For public art to work we need to put a bit more thought into it.

    Singas Gathering

    Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Fri, 09/11/2009 - 00:44
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    Singas Gathering

    Originally uploaded by chooyutshing

    Don't ask too many questions... just enjoy! Singa the Lion is the mascot of the Singapore Kindness Movement (if I remember correctly), anyway the character dates back to the days of the Singapore Courtesy Campaigns. Still a creature of the Ministry of the Information, Communication and the Arts, lately Singa's have taken to wearing surgical masks, as part of the communications around H1N1.

    Thanks to intrepid photographer chooyutshing for this nice capture!

    Merlion covered up for repairs...

    Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Sat, 03/14/2009 - 12:02
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    The Merlion was struck by lightning on 28th February, during an afternoon thunderstorm. Parts of the top of the sculpture were damaged, as was the new glass sculpture base, in the shape of waves. (which replaced the original mosaic tile waves of Merlion artist Lim Nang Seng). See the news report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao82w-_GEC0

    As of March 15, the Merlion still is surrounded by scaffolding.

    We like this capture by Keropok Man, with the profiles of Marina Sands coming up in the background. As befitting a national icon, there have been some consumer media responses posted online, including a video reconstruction of the incident and a couple of nice sketches here and here of the post-strike Merlion.

    Graffiti in the Botanical Gardens

    Submitted by Peter Schoppert on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 22:13
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