Party under a viaduct? Sure!

The Local People founder Pin Goh (far left) and co-founder Lu Yawen are co-organising an art market with SLA under the West Coast Viaduct tomorrow.
The Local People founder Pin Goh (far left) and co-founder Lu Yawen are co-organising an art market with SLA under the West Coast Viaduct tomorrow. ST PHOTO: JONATHAN CHOO

Get fitted for a suit, ink a tattoo, watch free movies - these are some of the offerings at the funky art market held under the West Coast Viaduct tomorrow night.

Called the Duct Tape Party, its location is unconventional - it is being held under the bridge that supports the West Coast Highway. The exact location is on Clementi Road, near West Coast Park.

There will be 30 vendors, mostly selling Singapore-made or designed wares. Admission is free.

They include The Juicy Way selling fresh juices, menswear tailor Men's Label and 13rushes selling cruelty-free make-up brushes.

Visitors can lounge on inflatable chairs or bring their own mats to lie on as they catch screenings of eight short films that are part of the Singapore Heritage Short Film Competition 2016. The films will be projected on the underside of the viaduct.

The annual contest is organised by the Singapore Film Society and features works by young film-makers documenting the lesser-known facets of Singapore.

  • VIEW IT / THE LOCAL PEOPLE X SINGAPORE LAND AUTHORITY: DUCT TAPE PARTY

  • WHERE: West Coast Viaduct, 2A Clementi Road (diagonally opposite Niqqi's The Cheese Prata Shop at 18 Clementi Road)

    WHEN: Tomorrow, 7pm to 1am

    ADMISSION: Free

    INFO: www.facebook.com/events/1887731668122909/

A tattoo artist will be onsite too, if you want to get inked outside a regular tattoo parlour environment.

Visitors are also urged to bring dried or canned food items to donate to non-profit charity organisation Food From The Heart.

The event's name comes courtesy of an installation that will be made out of duct tape. Visitors can bring along patterned or coloured tape to stick onto wood canvases.

The market is organised by art market specialist The Local People in collaboration with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

It is meant to publicise the space that will become available for commercial short-term leasing of between one and 90 days.

"We are constantly looking into ways to creatively adapt state land and properties for interim use," says SLA's chief executive Tan Boon Khai. Other such spaces include the land under the Thomson flyover that is now home to Offside Futsal Park, a place to play the modified football game.

The West Coast space has been fitted with electricity and structures to "facilitate new concepts by social groups and entrepreneurs", Mr Tan adds. The Local People has teamed up with the SLA before for an event held last year at the former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

"We're always on the lookout for weird in-between spaces," says The Local People co-founder Lu Yawen, 29. She adds that holding events in unexpected locations such as under the viaduct gives Singaporeans more opportunities to learn about their surroundings and "appreciate the unconventional".

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 20, 2017, with the headline Party under a viaduct? Sure! . Subscribe