SINGAPORE: Art Garden 2013 @ 8Q SAM

Psuedo wonderland, if only bigger.

QUESTION: Taking pictures of food at restaurants and blogging about it is a national sport.

What about museums and exhibitions?

This has been my first time to the Art Garden exhibition, as the Singapore Art Museum will host its 4th inaugural Children’s Season this year. Starting every month of May.

It was refreshing with the visual bursts of colour, into light hearted themed rooms.

Encouragement from the curated creative artworks /concepts and activities included for the public to let your imagination run free.

For everyone.

While the space was substantial for the children to explore, it left me leaving with a slight sense of dissatisfaction. Wanting more.

The size of each exhibition space, while enabling me to explore different rooms on all four floor was not enough to satisfy my imagination and curiosity albeit in a Wonderland setup.

Sure, the Arts Garden 2013 was organized with the Children’s season in mind, I would to sea a more advanced branch out of the artists individual concepts for each of their work.

It almost felt like it was a brief introduction to them for us, a wisp of a taste.

But I will be back next year.

List of Artworks exhibited:

• LANDscape in the Box By NUS Architecture Students Explore the beauty of the new and once familiar landscapes of sunny Singapore in an assembly of 134 boxes
• The Enchanted Garden City By Sandra Lee (SG) Whimsical enchanted garden city and allow yourself to wander about fairytales with an Asian twist
• Around the Day in Eighty Worlds By Vicente Delgado (SP) Inspired by Salvador Dali’s sculptural installation, the Mae West Room (1974)
• Moving Image Gallery which runs 15 short animations made by students and address a variety of social issues in a one hour loop.
• Stellar Cave II By Julien Salaud (FR)  Stunning work made entirely of screws and thread, inspired by prehistoric paintings in France’s Lascaux Caves
• The Incredibly Magical Expanding Room By Mojoko and Shang Liang
• Les rêves engloutis – Glossy Dreams in Depths By Stéphane Blanquet (FR) A room filled with fantasy and dreams. Explore these rooms filled with peculiar objects, 3D drawings and holograms.
• Walter By Dawn Ng (SG) 
• LOVE . REVOLVE THE WORLD By Sun Yu-li (SG) Collaborative work between local sculptor Sun Yu-li and 750 students represents the connections that exist in the universe and the random nature of everything around us.

Based on a theme around childhood impressions of Imaginations, Fairytales and Dreams.

What i really hope to witness in years to come would be the increased support, participation and appreciation of the arts by the nation.

Going to a museum is like shopping to me.

With a certain sense of anticipation as we approach in the beginning, and what we bring back with us at the end of the day.

But with a bonus visual banquet feast, while finding out more about my personal likes and dislikes towards the topic of art (of all media).

And usually when you manage to latch on a certain exhibit or artwork you like, the story of the artist behind the work comes forth (And if you bother to find out). 

Perspectives, Ideals, Ideas, Dialogue, Expression.

Constraints and Freedom.

Concepts and its formation.

Here’s a video summary of what was exhibited (Thank you!)

• For a more in depth written narrative of the inspirations of the artworks, go HERE.
• For a written review of Art Garden 2013, go HERE.

Adults to let down their hair and remember being a child again. Let the skepticism and assumptions go a little.

Children to be introduces to the world of imagination and free expression.

For parents to be able to enjoy and appreciate the festival as much as their children would.

More awareness, more appreciation, better possibilities.
Meow Yo!.

Bear in mind, because the main audience would be the children (Especially on the weekends), go on weekdays if you can to avoid a little less noise.

Admission is Free to National Heritage Board Museums & Heritage Institutions in Singapore to Singaporean Citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) all year round. Read HERE for more information.

Exhibition runs from 17 May until 1 September 2013.