3 new arts venues opening during Singapore Art Week
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Flock at Kampong Java (left) will soft-launch with a series of programmes. Project Art Hunter is a new space that will showcase works from the collection of Mr Yeap Lam Yang.
PHOTOS: 19SIXTYFIVE, PROJECT ART HUNTER
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SINGAPORE – An anticipated venue, an art gallery and a new offering from a private player.
This trio of art spaces are opening during Singapore Art Week (SAW), which is on from Jan 22 to 31. They promise programmes beyond the packed season, so arts lovers will have more time to check out what is in store.
1. Flock at Kampong Java (52-56 Kampong Java Road)
Flock at Kampong Java will soft-launch with a series of programmes during Singapore Art Week.
PHOTO: FLOCK
This long-gestating venue began as an initial proposition by former Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong in 2021 as “a space for artist-led innovation and creation” after the closure of The Substation
It is finally soft-launching with a series of promising programmes titled I Saw You. Across four segments – I Saw Your Dreams, I Saw It, I Saw Noise and I Saw Chaos – artists, musicians and designers have created works ranging from sound and projection to light and print installations.
Watch out for Mervin Wong and Nathan Yong’s Shelter (Under Construction), which wittily redeploys the manic construction of the North South highway on the venue’s doorstep into a site-responsive soundscape.
The soft opening is also a chance for people to explore how 19sixtyfive, the creative agency behind the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival and The Alex Blake Charlie Sessions,
The five black-and-white houses have received major infrastructural upgrades, but what catches the eye are the pops of colour in the interiors. Sunshiney yellows and warm oranges brighten staircases while comfortable sofas and wood chairs are set up in inviting conversational clusters.
There will never be a replacement for The Substation. But if anyone can wrestle this recalcitrant space into a worthy venue, it is probably 19sixtyfive, which turned the far-flung Pasir Panjang Power Station into a vibey destination hangout.
For details, go to str.sg/x3ca
2. Kwai Fung Hin (01-01, 30 Beach Road)
Claude Monet’s 1887 painting Peonies is the starting point for Worlds Beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II.
PHOTO: KWAI FUNG HIN ART GALLERY
Hong Kong gallery Kwai Fung Hin is opening its first overseas outpost in Singapore with Worlds Beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II. The 35-year-old gallery was founded by Catherine Kwai, who has a deep interest in the Parisian post-war art scene.
Hence the Claude Monet-inspired opening show, which puts contemporary artists’ works in conversation with the French Impressionist master’s 1887 Peonies. The show draws a parallel between Monet’s beloved Giverny garden and Singapore’s reputation as a garden city to address themes of nature and creativity.
Chinese ink master Li Huayi’s Pine In Meditation III (2020).
PHOTO: KWAI FUNG HIN ART GALLERY
There are lyrically vibrant abstracts by Chinese-French painters Zou Wou-Ki, Lalan and Chu Teh-Chun, and boldly graphic strokes from Chinese ink master Li Huayi.
Singaporean painter Teo Eng Seng’s Forest At Dawn (2010) is a mixed-media work made with his paperdyesculp technique while French-Syrian painter Ziad Dalloul’s A Summer Morning (2021) presents a seemingly dreamy idyll with pomegranates, a fertility symbol, scattered at the foot of an empty bed.
Teo Eng Seng’s Forest At Dawn (2010) is a mixed-media work made with his paperdyesculp technique.
PHOTO: KWAI FUNG HIN ART GALLERY
The thoughtful curation of this opening show featuring eight artists, on till March 28, bodes well for the gallery’s future shows.
Admission is free. For more information, go to www.kwaifunghin.com
3. Project Art Hunter (04-01A, 37 Keppel Road)
Project Art Hunter is a new space that will showcase works from the collection of Mr Yeap Lam Yang.
PHOTO: PROJECT ART HUNTER
The latest addition to the Tanjong Pagar Distripark arts hub is this new space showcasing works from Singaporean Yeap Lam Yang’s private collection, amassed over 40 years of collecting.
The space kicks off with Search And Discover: Works On Paper.
This show is curated by John Tung, who is also curating the S.E.A. Focus fair and OH! Moonstone art walk, among other events at SAW. It introduces visitors to the venue’s concept, which a statement describes as grounded in “attentiveness, material presence and the gradual accrual of meaning”.
Unlike some collectors who store their art in warehouses, Mr Yeap lives with them in his home and the show explores how his ethos and collection are shaped by daily close interactions with art.
Among the artists in the show are Singaporeans Chen KeZhan and Donna Ong, Thailand’s Dusadee Huntrakul and Indonesia’s Yunizar.
This show is on till Feb 26, and there are other programmes lined up in Project Art Hunter’s calendar. Besides four exhibitions over the next 21 months, there are plans for artist talks and curator tours.
Admission is free and the space will open for extended hours during SAW from 11am to 8pm. Thereafter, regular exhibition hours are from Wednesdays to Sundays, noon to 6pm.
Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, it was reported that the Project Art Hunter space will kick off with Search And Discover: The Joy Of Collecting. This is incorrect. It should be Search And Discover: Works On Paper.
