Thursday, January 28, 2010

Arts and Tiles

Seen at Jendela Recital Studio: Visual Arts Space @ The Esplanade, Singapore

Nothing but a wonderful MESS of colours to make good art.



Tile-like, painted on plain surface, this may be found along a stretch of wall in one of Singapore's main theatres/concert halls--The Esplanade.

(I, unfortunately, do not know who the artist is.. Does anyone happen to know?)**


[** 2014/05/05 The artist is Milica Bravacic. Below is a snippet of this work from her official website; Some of her other exhibitions here. Thanks to her art agent who sent the info -- It's great to finally put a name to such a beautiful work.]



Dubrovnik-born Milica Bravacic is now based in Singapore and offers art courses as well.


[* A post for Thursday Challenge Photo Theme: MESSY ]

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Lack of Colour....Not

Seen at Hill Street, the MICA (Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Arts):





This building, also known as the OHSPS (Old Hill Street Police Station), was erected in 1934 which upon completion, was then regarded as the largest government building and a modern skyscraper. It housed the Hill Street Police Station (hence the name) and living quarters for policemen and their families. This was Singapore's first jail.

At the time of the japanese occupation, it was used by the Kempeitai as a holding area (and torture chamber, some say) for prisoners. After the occupation, it was reverted to being a police station where the Arms and Explosives Unit of the Police Department operated (1949-1981).

In the 1960's, government housing provided accommodation of the police staff and they gradually moved out, the last occupant leaving in 1979. The station was closed and renovated therreafter and was renamed Hill Street Building in 1983, then housing several government offices.

The building was gazetted a national monument in 1998, and was regarded as one of Singapore's 100 Historic Places.

It is now also known as the MICA (Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Arts), and it houses the National Arts Council, the National Heritage Board, the Media/Infocomm Development Authority, and Singapore Kindness Movement.


And just so you know, the building has a total of 911 windows with colourful shutters.




Some useful links:

The MICA website: http://app.mica.gov.sg

The ARTrium @ MICA website: http://www.artriumatmica.com

The ARTrium was established in 1991, functions as an art space/gallery for visual arts exhibitions and performaing arts events. It was converted from the courtyard os the OHSPS, the former police parade ground.




[* Well, That's My World!, what about yours?]

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Merlion Park, the morning after

My previous post was the Merlion Park seen on New Year's Eve.


This photo was taken the morning after.






Ah, the first morning of 2010.




The little white dots you see floating actually contain peoples' wishes for the ooming year. You can write on these wishing spheres at various places in Singapore (like shopping centres, etc). They then leave them afloat and light them up by New Year.

(I was lucky to have been able to write on one the previous year, and luckily for me, my wish did come true!....not that you really need to know).





A little history:


The original Merlion statue used to stand at the mouth of the Singapore River, at the tip of the current The Fullerton Waterboat House Garden with Anderson Bridge as its background. It was later moved to the Merlion Park (where it currently stands), situated near Singapore's Central Business District, and is one of the most visited places by tourists.



* For a virtual reality tour, you may visit this website.

* To know more and read more FAQs about the Merlion, you may refer to this website.



[* Care for more Watery Wednesday photos?]







And just so my post isn't too redundant, here's a little something to lighten things up, I came across this at some shop. They call it The Mercat. Somewhat a cross of the japanese money cat and the singaporean merlion.

Here's the result:




..a perfect plushie souvenir for little kids, you say?

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's a photo taken on New Year's Eve in Singapore.

They've closed the roads until 2am for the countdown (at Marina Bay). The place was packed with people!

Of course, there were fireworks and everything, But it's rare occasion we see the streets full of people in SG.






That white thing over there, it's the Merlion, (Lion head and fish body), and where it stands is called the Merlion Park.

Right across the park (crossing the bridge) is the Esplanade, and the floating platform (where they've set up the stage for that evening).

Pretty interesting, and exciting evening.

How was the New Year in your country? :)

[* Have a pleasant Scenic Sunday!]