Arts Picks: SAM’s public art trails, ACM’s refreshed textiles display, and kebaya fashions

Singapore Art Museum’s Public Art Trails

The Singapore Art Museum’s (SAM) new artworks will test your dedication to contemporary arts because they are scattered around Tanjong Pagar.

Port/raits Of Tanjong Pagar: Encounters With Art In The Neighbourhood comprises six works spread across SAM’s new home at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Everton Park and Duxton Plain Park.

The most fun and Instagram-friendly installations are Divaagar’s Everfowl Estate and Isabella Teng’s Little Islands. 

Divaagar’s cheeky work, located at Everton Park, features architecture modelled after neighbourhood buildings with fat chickens occupying the spaces. Be patient and you can shoot live jungle fowl wandering past the installation. 

Teng’s anamorphic murals are at Tanjong Pagar Plaza. The ground-floor mural recreates a beach scene across walls, pipes and pillars. Stand at various spots and you can match up arcs of colour across the ceiling. The work on the third floor is an Instagram magnet – the mural across a long parapet is matched to the surrounding scenery. 

Singapore Deviation: Wander With Art Through The Rail Corridor offers one of the best works in this clutch of new commissions. Film-maker Tan Pin Pin’s walk walk (Singapore Deviation version) includes a 27-minute film, which screens five times a day in a tiny room at Kampong Bahru Bus Terminal.

The film focuses on people and their relationship with walking. The most intriguing is artist Amanda Heng, who has turned walking into an art practice. 

This trail also has the most far-flung work. Sookoon Ang’s Moonlight, a bronze cast form at Wessex Estate, is accessible only via a dirt track. 

It is commendable that SAM is commissioning so many local artists and working on public outreach for contemporary art, which can sometimes seem inaccessible to the man in the street.  

Where: Tanjong Pagar and Rail Corridor
MRT: Tanjong Pagar/Outram Park
When: Till March 9, 2025
Admission: Free 
Info: singaporeartmuseum.sg

Textile Masters To The World

There are some fine examples of fabrics in this latest refresh of the Asian Civilisations Museum’s Fashion and Textiles gallery, which focuses on Indian cloth. The examples here – created in and exported from north-west India and the Coromandel Coast – run the gamut from prestige items created on commission to more mass-produced ones catering to European markets. 

In the contemporary world of disposable fast fashion, this exhibit is a timely reminder of the skill and patience demanded by weaving and tailoring. Look out for a 16th-century painted cloth from Gujarat, across which a bevy of women dance in exuberant postures. 

Another intriguing display juxtaposes a shoulder cloth with a checked design and a floral border with an unfinished textile, where the floral border has yet to be painted by another artisan. 

Such textiles were once luxurious items which travelled long distances and were handed down through generations, given their handcrafted hardiness and value. A European robe from the 1780s gets recycled to suit late 18th-century fashions in a cotton gown. An early 20th-century kimono here incorporates old patches of Indian cloth into its elegant design, combining both sustainability and aesthetics. 

Another intriguing tidbit here reveals that the Thai royal court regularly commissioned textiles from manufacturers in the Coromandel Coast. It is a reminder that maritime trade links between South-east Asia and South Asia pre-date colonial narratives and vestiges can be traced in these material artefacts. 

Where: Asian Civilisations Museum, 1 Empress Place
MRT: Raffles Place
When: 10am to 7pm daily, till 9pm on Fridays
Admission: Free for Singaporeans and permanent residents
Info: nhb.gov.sg/acm

Love, Kebaya

This is a tiny show of just six kebaya outfits from contemporary designers, tucked into a second-floor corner at the National Museum of Singapore. But the size is likely due to its travelling nature. The showcase will head to Gardens by the Bay and Our Tampines Hub in late April and May. 

Still, this capsule display conveys the ways in which the outfit has been updated over the years.

The most striking outfit is a va-va-voom red number by designer Sufiyanto Amat Sopingi and fashion business consultant Muhammad Afiq Juana, which fashion fans of a certain vintage will instantly recognise as the classic silhouette worn by 1950s movie star Saloma.

The figure-hugging bodice with the flared bell sleeves and kick pleated skirt vividly evoke her screen-siren persona. 

This is a nice contrast to the sweetly modest bridal kebaya by veteran designer Ratianah Tahir. The loose-fitting minimalist white top gets a touch of luxe with gold embroidery detailing and a gold kerongsang (brooch).  

This show is to support the multinational effort by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore to nominate the kebaya for inscription on Unesco’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

While it feels a tad slight given the kebaya’s rich history, it is nice to hear from the designers in the video speaking passionately about their love of this traditional outfit that cuts across ethnic communities. 

Where: The Platform, Level 2 National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road; Visitor Services Centre, Gardens by the Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Drive; Festive Market, Our Tampines Hub, 1 Tampines Walk
MRT: Bras Basah/Dhoby Ghaut; Bayfront; Tampines West
When: Daily at National Museum, 10am to 7pm till Sunday; daily at Gardens by the Bay, from Wednesday to May 14; daily at Our Tampines Hub from May 16 to 24 
Admission: Free 
Info: str.sg/i4c9