Arts Picks
Tampines ahead of Sengkang, Yishun for MRT poem competition submissions
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More than 140 Singapore poems are on panels in MRT trains.
PHOTO: NICHOLAS YEO
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Poems On The MRT Writing Competition
Since Nov 7, 2025, commuter poets have been submitting poems inspired by Singapore’s MRT stations. Part of the Poems On The MRT initiative
For reasons unexplained, Tampines MRT station has been the most popular station among submissions so far, with 11 poems, to Dhoby Ghaut, Kembangan and Sengkang’s 10 each.
Breathing down these leaders’ necks with nine are Yishun, Bishan, City Hall, Pasir Ris and Punggol stations. This is still very much a live race.
According to the campaign producer, Sing Lit Station, 365 entries have been received to date – to be judged by poets Aaron Maniam, Alfian Sa’at and Zhang Ruihe, who will pick the winning entries for the adult, secondary and primary school categories.
There will also be a popular vote prize to recognise fan favourites.
Take a cue from 17-year-old Eric N., whose On Placeholders might offer an avenue for catharsis during the next train breakdown: “Dear Viewers,/ Sorry for the/ inconvenience caused......”
When: Till Feb 8 poemsonthemrt.com
Info: For more information and to submit your poem, go to
Cry Now
Chen Chunmu’s Enough (2019) is part of Cry Now at Prestige Gallery.
PHOTO: PRESTIGE GALLERY
Before the mad rush of Singapore Art Week from Jan 22 to 31, a new group exhibition by Prestige Gallery in Tanjong Pagar Distripark takes crying as its point of departure. Seven artists working in painting, sculpture, glass, ceramics and sound demand viewers struggle against the desensitisation of their feelings – while making an urgent plea for the environment.
Singapore artists represented are glass artist Tan Sock Fong, ceramic artist Teo Huey Ling and Perth-based Singaporean-Australian Desmond Mah.
They exhibit alongside Chen Chunmu from China, his surrealist oil paintings black holes of gothic tension, Taiwanese-American Pearl C. Hsiung, Bali-based Japanese Kanoko Takaya and Singapore-based Chinese artist Rick Shi, who turns a running battle between humans and lobsters defying their gastronomical fate into gory high drama.
Ten per cent of sales will go to marine conservation initiatives. There is also an artificial intelligence-powered exhibition guide developed in collaboration with culture app Artlas.
Rick Shi’s work pits defiant lobsters against gory cave men.
PHOTO: PRESTIGE GALLERY
Where: Prestige Gallery, 03-01 Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road prestigearts.com.sg/cry-now
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
When: Jan 10 to Feb 22, 11am to 7pm (Tuesdays to Sundays); closed on Mondays
Admission: Free
Info:
Elements – SSO x Ding Yi
Ding Yi Music Company’s musicians who will be performing in Elements.
PHOTO: DING YI MUSIC COMPANY
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Chinese chamber music ensemble Ding Yi Music Company have come together in a meeting of West and East.
Singapore composer Sulwyn Lok’s commissioned Gathered By The Winds begins the night with its echoes of recognisable folk melodies from different parts of China. A Western string quintet joins forces with the yangqin, guzheng and pipa for this score, hoping to whisk listeners away from divisive cities to more utopic pastorals.
There is also Shades Of Oil Lamps, by Dr Ho Chee Kong from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, which recalls traditions of outdoor storytelling that have disappeared.
Dr Ho’s programme notes include this scene that should have listeners on the edge of their seats: “As the story reached a tense moment, the storyteller paused. A metal pan was passed through the gathering. The groans from the captivated audience were loud even as the pan with its clinking coins quickly made its way through the crowd. With the pan by his side, the storyteller pressed on.”
Where: Victoria Concert Hall, 11 Empress Place str.sg/qMw2
MRT: Raffles Place
When: Jan 11, 7.30pm
Admission: $30, $40, $50 (SG Culture Pass eligible)
Info:
