Children's Season 2013: Art Garden at the Singapore Art Museum

One of my favourite events every Children's Season is Art Garden at the Singapore Art Museum. This year however, the combination of us being out of the country and Singapore being clouded over with haze during the June holidays meant that we missed out on most of the events. Despite this, I still made it a point to visit Art Garden and I'm so glad I did, because I really liked this year's installations. I felt this was the best edition yet, though I know some people who thought it was the worst. Haha. That's the way it is with art, isn't it?

Walter's back!
(Though by now, no longer, as the front lawn and facade of the museum play host to the Singapore Night Festival this weekend.)

I personally loved this year's edition because there was lots to see, and that's what I love to do at museums -- to take time to look at art work, admire the skill of the artist, marvel at the details, and try to understand the message or intention behind it. It was rather less interactive than last year's edition but I liked that I wasn't made to drag my kids from art activity to art activity.

I liked it so much that I brought the kids down to visit again yesterday before the run ends this Sunday, and they had a great time again. It was better in fact, since we knew which exhibits we liked and headed straight for those! Here's a run down of our favourites:

On top of the list is the first room: The Enchanted Garden City by Sandra Lee. Bright and colourful, the wall to ceiling murals are a riot of colours and depicted familiar tales and rhymes, but with a local twist.  A Peranakan Red Riding Hood, a black-haired "Goldilocks" and the three pandas, and Hansel and Gretel coming upon a house made of Nonya Kuehs are some of the examples of the creative artwork. Truly a pleasure to look at, and for the children, a great space to run about in wild abandonment.

Meips absolutely adored the rainbow steps. She went up and down repeatedly, and commanded me to do the same.

The Old Woman who lived in a Shoe (for bound feet). Noey asked me where the old woman was, and we concluded that she was most likely the figure sitting on the roof, trying to escape the circus of children down below!

"Goldilocks" asleep in baby panda's bed. I just love chicken bowls and chopsticks for the porridge! And the chamber pot in the corner.

Hansel and Gretel and the house of kuehs! See all the kueh lapis -- both the brown baked version, and the red, green and white steamed version?

I see some different trolls waiting to pounce on the Billy Goats Gruff!

The activity in this room was to have your drawing projected on the the magic mirror on the wall. My kids spent some time scribbling, but ultimately were more interested in using the room as a playground than drawing!

Hard at work. Bizarrely, Noey decided to write Chinese words instead of draw on his sheet. He wrote 黑, 蓝 and then lost interest.

Both times we've been there, it was with much reluctance that the kids left this room to continue to the other exhibits.

Around the Day in Eighty Worlds by Vicente Delgado -- also what I came to think of as the "Cat and Kaleidoscope Room" -- was good fun. There was a big wheel to spin, flying birds to yank at, hoops to throw, amongst other things. I was quite disappointed though on our most recent visit to realise that quite a few things were broken and not working properly. Parents, don't let your children destroy the installations! Such uncivil-mindedness really gets my goat. 

Meow! A cross-eyed kitty greets you from across the room. The whiskers are, sadly, missing by now. 

The faces with string you could manipulate into different profiles -- two have the strings completely missing.

It wasn't me! This chair is actually meant to be this way!

Turn, turn, turn! (This still works.)

It's supposed to be a ring toss, but Meips had other ideas.

At the art station, Noey traces a cat whom he proceeds to turn into "Batcat", according to him. It honestly is a rather cool piece of work. Meips makes a hot air balloon collage, with lots of help from Mummy.

Also on the same floor is the Moving Picture Gallery, where you can sit back and enjoy a selection of locally produced short films. It is a good break from the activity, and the noise too. 

Colour Theory, a rather interesting and thought-provoking film by Davier Yoon from NTU. 

Upstairs and the other of my favourite installations, Stellar Cave II by Julien Salaud. This is absolutely stunning. Created entirely from screws and thread, the images glow in the UV light, looking like constellations of stars.

A stag's head in relief.

A herd of deer looking like they are dancing in the moonlight.

Past the curtains, there are some panels for you to try your hand at using the same method to create pictures. Noey really enjoyed this, though it wasn't easy. Without me telling him, he made the connection that this was like putting together constellations. I was quite proud of him for seeing that.

With the triangle he completed. It was the simplest one of them all but he was still very pleased to have finished it himself.

I strung together this bird Mummy, honest!

The Incredibly Magical Expanding Room by Mojoko and Shang Liang is a variation of a similar activity last year. You shout into the microphone and the images on the screen start moving. Noey's loved last year's version, but wasn't as taken this year.

Shouting. What my kids love to do best.

There is also Les reves engloutis - Glossy Dreams in Depths by Stéphane Blanquet, and Love  . Revolve the World by Sun Yu-li. The latter is a collaborative piece by the local sculptor and 750 students. The individual pieces are pieced together to represent the connections that exist in the universe and the random nature of everything around us. The former has imagery of dreams and nightmares in 3D and holographic forms. The kids liked the revolving bed but didn't care too much for the dark room. I would have liked a bit more time to study the pictures but had no choice but to leave when the kids zoomed out. They enjoyed making the monster masks both times we were there though.

Something that did hold their interest for a while but that has since been dismantled was LANDscape in the Box by the NUS Architectural Students. This was a collection of 134 boxes of the students' interpretations of SIngapore, many of them interesting.

An enticing collection of boxes.

Art Garden is on at the Singapore Art Museum at 8Q till 1 September 2013, which is this Sunday. Did I also mention that admission is FREE for all citizens and PRs? No reason not to go, really. We're looking forward next year's edition!

Previous editions:

Art Garden 2011
Art Garden 2012