Singapore Night Festival: Pedal to relive heyday of Chinese street opera
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Opera In Motion at the National Design Centre, as seen during a preview of the Singapore Night Festival.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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SINGAPORE – Hop on a tricycle and pedal away to recreate the sights and sounds of Chinese opera.
Opera In Motion at the National Design Centre harks back to the days when opera shows were a common sight.
Stacked high with tarpaulin-covered boxes as if packed up by an opera troupe heading to their next show, the tricycle is also a seldom used form of transport in Singapore these days.
The work, situated at the back entrance of the National Design Centre where the Chinese Opera Institute was once housed, holds special meaning for co-creator Lim Jia Ren.
The interaction specialist grew up attending many Chinese operas with his grandfather.
“He forcefully took me along to wayangs as well, not just in Singapore but also Malaysia where my parents are from. It drew my attention to the experience of Chinese opera when I would go during the festive seasons like the Hungry Ghost Festival,” says the 33-year-old.
The light installation – co-created by Hoo Jian Li, Ezekiel Wong and Ron Tu – uses zoetropes, an animation device that produces illusions of movement with shadows and light.
Festivalgoers can take turns cycling to power the devices, throwing up projections of opera masks on the walls around the interactive artwork.
Recordings of Chinese opera taken from the National Library archives will also play from four speakers set atop the installation. This is a cheeky nod to noise complaints filed by Bugis Street and Victoria Street residents in the 1980s.
The installation is firmly anchored to a platform, ensuring that overzealous cyclists will not shake or damage the artwork.
Interaction designer Hoo says: “The structure is endorsed by a professional engineer and not really linked to the tricycle, so someone trying to cycle quickly won’t affect anything.”
Pedalling faster also does not change the speed at which the zoetropes appear on the walls.
Artist Wong, who directed the project, says he hopes that the work will revive interest in Chinese opera. “This is a dying craft,” he adds.
Lim says: “I really hope this installation brings not only a younger crowd, but the older generation as well to experience our take on Chinese opera.”
Book it / Opera In Motion
Where: National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road str.sg/3ixXE
When: Aug 23 to Sep 7, 7.30pm to midnight
Admission: Free
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