Inflatable monkeys take over Gillman Barracks for Singapore Art Week

The Last Tree Was A Building 

Not all contemporary art is scary and inaccessible.

For the next couple of weeks, visitors to Gillman Barracks will encounter a clutch of oversized monkeys perched watchfully on various buildings. These quirky inflatables are part of Singaporean urban artist Antz’s multi-site installation The Last Tree Was A Building.

Part of his Urban Monkeys series, the sculptures are also a statement on urban development and the relationship between city and nature, and a playful invitation to look at the spaces humans inhabit and share with other creatures. 

Lit at night, they are also, of course, good fodder for the ’gram. 

Accompanying the installation is a pop-up show housed in a temporary structure at the carpark titled Field Test. This will contain Antz’s sketches, studies and concept drawings for Urban Monkeys, offering visitors insights into the artist’s creative process and the evolution of this series. 

Antz is also showing his new series of works inspired by Singapore signage and there will be limited-edition prints and collectibles for sale. 

Where: Gillman Barracks, 9 Lock Road
MRT: Labrador Park
When: Till Feb 8, 24 hours for The Last Tree Was A Building, 11am to 7pm daily for Field Test
Admission: Free 
Info:

artoutreachsingapore.org

空城 (kong cheng, Building Our Castles In The Skies) 

Cross-disciplinary incubator Supper House was much missed when it closed its Tagore Lane space in 2024.

There has been a series of pop-ups since, but the platform is prepping for a more permanent return, Supper House founder Ashley Chiam promises. In the meantime, it has a new project at Tanjong Pagar Distripark for Singapore Art Week. 

Part of its 开门见山 (kai men jian shan, Supper Is A Meal And A House Is A Home) series, this latest project brings together eight artists. 

Their works will fit into an “architectural folly”, a recreation of an HDB space sitting in a white cube space.

Mr Chiam observes: “As a nation, we are considered affluent, but we stop short of really supporting local artists where it is much needed. Though we think nothing of buying another Labubu.

“Hence the choice of a BTO (Build-To-Order) unit to replace the white cube space we are accustomed to. Of course, I also thought that some of the collecting crowd probably don’t know what a 2Br Flexi feels like, hence the recreation.” 

The works of Alexander Teoh, Akai Chew, Finbarr Fallon, Firdaus Pit, Jian Yang, Louisa Raj, Owen Tee Hao Wei and Supassara Ho will sit within this recreated home, questioning ideas of art, culture, consumption and value. 

Where: 04-02 Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
When: Till Feb 21, noon to 7pm (Thursdays to Saturdays); noon to 5pm (Sundays)
Admission: Free 
Info:

instagram.com/supperhousesg

The Strange Archive 

Archives are traditionally seen as static repositories of information. But in recent years, contemporary artists have been challenging this perception with practices that question the nature of archives. 

So, The Strange Archive plugs into this very current trend of deconstructing and reconstructing archival processes and materials. Curated by Singaporean artist-curator Adrian Tan, the works of five Singaporean practitioners are brought into conversation in this show. 

Koh Nguang How is perhaps the best-known archivist in the line-up, and his works are rooted in his epic ongoing Singapore Art Archive Project, which seeks to document the country’s art scene.

He has zeroed in on a female figure who seems to appear in two major paintings created in the 1950s – Chua Mia Tee’s Siapa Nama Kamu (National Language Class) and Lee Boon Wang’s Portrait Of A Lady. 

Collaborating with designer David Lee, Koh speculates on layers of archival materials gleaned from post-colonial conferences to create EAS 70, which uses generative artificial intelligence to construct an unrealised exhibition centring on the Equator Art Society.

In bouncing from documentation to speculation, Koh highlights the slippages and gaps of archival work. 

Another intriguing piece by Akai Chew reworks architectural forms into a neatly anonymous grid. A Survey Of Absent Places: Precinct N1 & N3 rearranges structures of two precincts cleared for urban renewal, re-presenting them as fragments in a tidy matrix.

It is a work that questions the constant remaking of Singapore’s urban landscape and, even as it documents the changes, challenges the value of such work. 

Where: 04-01D Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 37 Keppel Road
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
When: Till Feb 1, 10am to 6pm (weekdays), 10am to 8pm (weekends)
Admission: Free
Info:

thestrangearchive.sg