art in my hood

OH! Open House is right here at my hood this year with the theme: Occupy Tiong Bahru. For those who has been following my blog, you know how much i love where i stay... and so this is going to be a long post with 31 photos(!) of arts, flats and neighbourhood. Here we go :)

Flat No. 1:

The Laboratory of Waste Management by artist/scientist Isabelle Desjeux. This is a lab recreated in bathroom with installation piece about managing waste. Showing also, another experiment on trying to grow sprouts from used magazines (bottom left pic).

Kuih-muih by Tye Sokkuan. A hand-stitched hanging mobile made up of local snacks. Fellow visitors were exclaiming how pretty it was when they stepped into the bedroom :)

Flat No. 2:

This is one of the first Art Deco flats built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in 1930s (read more here). The architecture style is just beautiful, i wish i am staying in one of these instead of the new flats. Look at the awesome spacious semi-round balcony and its view.

Transient by Cindy Salim. Installation of paper mache of everyday objects hanging above the kitchen island display.

Keeping by Cindy Salim. (in the fridge)

Giant poster by the stairway: God Sent (image of Tiong Bahru slum before the Bukit Ho Swee fire) by Zhao Renhui.

Total opposite style of high rise condominiums just a short distance away in the otherwise nostalgic art walkabout.

On the first floor of the next flat as we waited for the previous group to finish viewing.

Flat No. 3: i can’t recall the owner’s name but remember him as a very friendly guy with big bowl of candies welcoming visitors at his door.

Unconsciousness: Consciousness by Lavender Chang. A 6-hour long exposure photograph of the homeowner who slept in the nude.

Heimlich by Jying Tan. A bedroom with recreated contents using clear tape. It feels rather eerie, reminds me of paper furnitures meant for the dead.

Detour No. 7 by Ang Song Nian. Everything’s arranged so neatly.

Not part of the art, but i was surprised to see such a long spacious stretch of corridor space at the back of the kitchen. Umm... old flats are indeed very roomy as compared to new ones.

Flat No. 4:

Mother Tongue by Green Zeng. For those who doesn’t read the chinese characters, it says: “Speak more dialacts, Speak less Mandarin”, which is the opposite of the famous Speak-Mandarin Campaign slogan “Speak more Mandarin, Speak less dialacts” in the 70s (or 80s?).

I’m a Kway, You’re a Kway by Stephen Black. The artist had two trays of Ang Ku Kueh (a popular local snacks), one filled with the usual kind that we see from the market and was offered to the visitors (pic 1), and the other made from mold based on his thumbprint (2nd pic). Printed versions of the thumbprint kway can also be found on the wall and fridge. Before we left, the artist passed us his namecard that reads: Stephen Black, Kwaytologist. Such a cute title that he gave himself :)

On our way to the next flat through narrow back alleys.

Exterior of the 1930s Art Deco flats.

Flat No. 5:

An interactive light installation that tracked visitors by Race Krehel.

Den of Beauties by Marc Gabriel Loh. Definitely not something one would expect from its title.

Old mailboxes on the first floor.

Monkey God Temple stop:

Matter and Principle by Gilles Massot and Mark Wong.

Flat No. 6

This last flat was filled with art pieces collected from the homeowner. Basically, the art pieces were everywhere from the entrance to every corner of the house that you can see.

Although i preferred this year walkabout over the previous two years (1st & 2nd) – the neighbourhood is more interesting; we get to see the interior of these old flats which are very different from the modern ones (though it might not be a good thing as there’s a tenancy that visitors will get distracted and overlooked the art pieces); the participating flats are nearer to one another, thus walking distance is shorter – but i have to say that, the waiting time was ridiculously long. i was there at 4pm but only finished slightly after 9pm. That’s more than 5 hours in total for an 2-hour art walk.

Perhaps the organiser can consider selling online tickets with proper allocated time slot for the walk next year? That would definitely save us some time.

OH! Open House: Occupy Tiong Bahru

18,19, 25, 26 February 2012

4 – 8pm

Tour starts at Tiong Bahru CC