SINGAPORE: Next year, visitors to the National Gallery Singapore can expect more public art, more collaborations with international museums, and a brand new Children’s Biennale.
But before all that, the museum will be pulling out the stops for its first year anniversary celebrations later this month.
Titled Gallery Light To Night Festival, the event will be held over two weekends — Nov 25 and 26, and Dec 2 and 3 — and will feature over 60 programmes. The festival is free to the public and visiting hours will be extended to 3am on both weekends.
One of the highlights is a light show, where the museum’s façade will be transformed into a colourful spectacle of picture frames, paint tubes and artworks, courtesy of multidisciplinary team Spinifex Group from Australia.
Some of the museum’s artworks will also be reinterpreted into large-scale creations. A five-metre-high robot made of recycled cardboard was inspired by Malaysian painter Latiff Mohidin’s Pagodas II, while Singaporean pioneer artist Liu Kang’s iconic Artist And Model gets a makeover – a 3D version made using layers of knitted and crocheted yarn.
Singaporean pioneer artist Liu Kang’s painting gets the yarnbombing treatment for the National Gallery Singapore’s first anniversary celebrations. (Photo: National Gallery Singapore)
Students and faculty from LASALLE College of the Arts, meanwhile, will be showcasing different objects and projects inspired by artists such as Singapore’s Georgette Chen, as well as tree-like sculptures covered in Swarovski crystals, which are based on the tree-like canopy architecture at the museum’s atrium.
Aside from these, there will be film screenings, roving performances, an art and design market, various thematic guided tours, a food area, and music performances by artistes such as Nathan Hartono.
Developed to the tune of S$532 million, the National Gallery opened to much fanfare on Nov 24, 2015. During the opening celebrations, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he hoped it would eventually become the country’s pride.
In its first two weeks, the museum drew 170,000 visitors and this June visitorship hit the one million mark. Museum chief executive Chong Siak Ching that it has gone beyond 1.5 million to date.
At last year’s opening festivities. (Photo: S Shiva)
“The first anniversary celebrations will be another time to gauge (visitor figures) but what has been heartening is the diversity. It’s not just young families but seniors and visitors from other countries as well,” she said, adding that it has been an “exhilarating journey”.
Since it opened, the museum has presented nine exhibitions, including its two anchor permanent gallery exhibitions on Singaporean and Southeast Asian art.
Museum director Eugene Tan said he was satisfied with the reception of these two main shows. “It was the first time any museum in the region had attempted to show in a comprehensive manner the history of Singapore and Southeast Asian art. And it has raised a lot of awareness (among the public), which you can see in the number of school groups and also other visitors. It’s something quite remarkable.”
In reaching out to a broader audience, the museum has been actively collaborating with other players in the region and in Singapore, such as the Singapore Fashion Week, Singapore Writers Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival. And as an indication of its stature in the country’s tourism ecology, it received the best attraction experience and breakthrough contribution to tourism awards at last month’s Singapore Tourism Awards.
Since it opened last year, the National Gallery has drawn visitors both young and old. (Photo: National Gallery Singapore)
Judging by some of next year’s plans, the museum is not resting on its first-year laurels.
Next year’s Children’s Biennale will be held from May to September. It will include around eight to 10 interactive installations as well as a children’s festival held in July.
Museum director for audience development and engagement Suenne Megan Tan said this is in line with their ongoing efforts to nurture art-loving children. “We’re very focused on building audiences for the future,” she said.
