GEK2001/SSA2202/GES1003

Changing Landscapes of
Singapore
Bicentennial Version
(2019 only)
LECTURE 6: LANDSCAPES FOR THE ARTS
IN SINGAPO RE

DR. KAMALINI
RAMDAS
 Outline
 Mini Quiz 5
 Recap – tourism landscapes
 Concepts and links to Lecture 1
 Bicentennial and the Arts
 Today’s objectives
 What is art? Why geographers interested in the arts: tourism/creative cities; nation-building; resistance
 Conceptualising arts spaces: Spaces for the Arts and Spaces of the Arts
 Arts: Scalar Analysis (Global, Regional, Local)
 Arts: Power (top-down/bottom-up)
 Recent issues in Arts Landscapes
 Summary/Conclusion
Recap
Tourism landscapes have resulted in many changes to Singapore’s landscapes.
Key concepts: scale, and also region (regionalisation and regional tourism).
Tourism strategies have evolved over time to focus on Singapore’s local attractiveness, to turning
it into a regional tourism hub, and a global city that can attract visitors in the way that London,
New York and Tokyo are able to.
The changes in these strategies have result in landscape changes that have taken place outside of
Singapore’s borders.
There have also been global influences on Singapore’s local landscapes as in the case of recent
strategies for tourism have focused on place-marketing Singapore as a global city with attractions
that demonstrate its global influence (e.g. World Gourmet Summit, F1, iLight).
Linking Lecture 1 to Arts
Landscapes
Key concepts: material and symbolic landscapes
 Landscapes that can be tangibly perceived as well as represented –
in a book, on a postcard, through a film, as a painting, a
photograph, a power point slide, etc
 Landscape that can be described symbolically by what it signifies,
such as when it depicts abstract ideas.
 landscapes in books, paintings, theatre and music as real – based
on real places but can be described symbolically for their meaning.
Linking Lecture 1 to Arts
Landscapes
Key concepts: Power and Scale
 Power relations – top down and bottom up approach
 Scalar approach to analysing the arts: global, regional and local
Other links: Arts Landscapes as example of tourism landscapes, and
global city for the arts as a tourism strategy (place-making with the
help of the arts: global city for the arts).
Place-making: Singapore’s national identity represented through art.
 Singapore Arts Landscape and
the Bicentennial Celebration
Two Public Art works commissioned by Public Art Trust to celebrate the Bicentennial and showcase different facets of Singapore Story:
Crossing Shores: Migration, multiculturalism
The Time Tree: historicity of the Singapore Story
Revitalisation of public spaces using Arts @East Coast Park and @Jubillee Park

Left: Crossing Shores by Speak Cryptic at East Coast Park

Right: The Time Tree by Robert Zhao at Jubilee Park
Singapore Arts Landscape and the
Bicentennial Celebration
SINGAPORE UTOPIA: National identity through
the lens of art
“This year marks the Bicentennial celebrations
for Singapore, with explorations into what
constitutes the current state of Singaporean
national identity. Instead of looking back, we
want to examine current socio-political and
cultural contexts.”
- Deborah Lim and Lisa Polten
(curators)
Singapore Arts Landscape and the Bicentennial Celebration

Commissioned artwork unveiled @ Lee Kong

Chian Natural History Museum, NUS
◦ Celebrates the work of British naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace and his field
assistant Ali 
◦ Commemorates Singapore’s Rich Natural
History and Biodiversity
◦ How might we critique this sculpture?

(From left) Head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Professor Peter Ng, Senior Minister
and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean and NUS president Tan Eng Chye at
the unveiling of the statues of British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and his field assistant. They
are pointing to a second, hidden part of the statue: a sculpted bird of paradise perching on a
branch.ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
Today’s Objectives
 Defining some terms. What is art?
 Understand why are geographers interested in the arts.
 Landscapes for the arts and Landscapes of the arts
 Scalar analysis of arts landscapes
 Top-down and bottom-up approaches to arts landscape
 Introduce interesting examples of arts landscapes in Singapore
Defining some terms…
 Art: the expression or application of human creative skill and
imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture
 Visual arts (e.g. painting; photography; sculpture; ceramics)
 Performing arts (e.g. music; dance; film; theatre)
 Performance art (political, abstract, unique)
 What is art? Art is valued differently, serves different
purposes, mimics life?
‘Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art, and working is
art, and good business is the best art.’ – Andy Wharhol
“Warhol’s $100 Soup Earned
Dealer $15 Million, Returns to
L.A.”
- www.bloomberg.com

“PSLE woes dramatised in timely play”

– My Paper, 25 Nov 2013
Why are geographers interested in
the arts?
 Rejuvenating the city: leisure spaces and urban development, the
arts as tourism landscapes, attracting talent (creative class –
Richard Florida, 2003)
 Understanding identity/creating sense of place (e.g. national or
neighbourhood identity)
 Arts as resistance, contested arts landscapes
 Emotional and embodied geographies (music, performing arts, and
how they evoke emotions) – Level 2000
Creative cities and the Arts
Guggenheim, Bilbao

Guggenheim, New York Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi

http://
www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-v
iew/kandinsky-in-paris-1934-1944
 Public Art, Sense of Place
and National Identity

First Generation,
Progress and Advancement,
Chong Fah Cheong Bicentennial Sculptures, 2019
Yang Ying Feng
Contestation and Resistance in
Arts Landscapes: Street art vs
graffiti
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/S
tory/A1Story20100607-220766.html
The 2010 Oliver Fricker (MRT depot) case

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-flipside/government-en
dorsed-graffiti-uncool-072355575.html
A new programme in Singapore to teach the public how to
create graffiti art in public places approved by the
authorities.
Conceptualising Arts Spaces
 Spaces for arts: creative spaces where we make and learn about
the arts (studios, arts schools)
 Where should the arts should produce and showcase the arts?
 museums, galleries, alternative spaces? Esplanade vs. Substation
 Arts infrastructure or hardware
 More discussion when we look at scalar analysis and top-down
approach later in the slides
Conceptualising Arts Spaces
 Spaces of the arts: symbolic meanings represented in art works
 What are the meanings and discussions that artists want us to be
involved in through the arts?
 Space of the canvas can represent a real, material place but it also
symbolizes more than that.
 It can tell us about contested values, alternative groups
 Through the art we learn about Singapore and how it has changed
 Not hardware but “heartware” (Chang and Lee, 2003)
Spaces of the arts - symbolic meanings, help us
to understand Singapore’s Changing
Landscapes

Scenery, Liu Kang 1967 Boats at rest, Ong Kim Seng 2007
Spaces of the arts – contestation
over social values in theatre
Sex, Violence and Family Values. Film written and directed by Ken Kwek. Banned in 2012, but
limited screening in 2013. 3 short films (Cartoons, Porn Masala and The Bouncer). Provide
satirical other side to Singapore’s ‘squeaky clean’ image.
Scalar Analysis: Global (Chang
2013)
 Renaissance City Plan
 Global City for the Arts (global vision for the arts in Singapore,
cultural capital tied to the arts)
 Esplanade, National Art Gallery
 Singapore Biennale, Singapore Arts Festival
Scalar Approach: Regional
(Chang 2013)
 Emphasise regional Asian identity as tourism strategy
 Connect to Asian roots in an era of globalization – also about our
Asian identity and values
 Challenges? (Singapore’s cultural imperialism, we are ‘borrowing’
from our neighbours? Why?)
Scalar Approach: Local (Chang
2013)
 Neighbourhood spaces and outreach to communities
 Arts Housing Scheme (e.g. Little India, Waterloo Street)
 Challenges? (lack of interaction between arts groups, and between
arts groups and neighbourhood community)
Top down approach:
Why is the state is interested in the arts?
Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts (ACCA) provided
recommendations on arts infrastructure, education, publicity and
administrative organisation (ACCA 1989).
Marker of socio-cultural development - importance of arts, cultured
society, visiting art exhibitions.
Strategy for economic development: tourism, service industry, global city
for the arts – “the arts as a potential growth area” (Kong, 2000: 413)
State’s strategy for attracting skilled workers - foreign talent, ‘creative class’
(Florida, 2003).
Top down approach:
What is the state’s focus?
Two areas: infrastructure (in the form of performing venues and
museums) and institutions (in terms of arts administration and
governance).
The arts has to serve social, political and economic agendas by giving
Singapore a unique national character through music, theatre and
movies;
It has to broaden minds and deepen people’s sensitivities to the non-
material aspects of life; it has to improve local quality of life; and it has
to contribute to the nation’s tourism and entertainment economies
(ACCA 1989: 12)
Top down approach: Government
plans relating to the arts in Singapore
 Renaissance City plans (MITA 2000), policies throughout the 2000s
underscored the term “global city for the arts” as a vision for
Singapore).
 Asian renaissance of the twenty-first century and a cultural centre
in the globalised world.
 The idea is to be one of the top cities in the world to live, work and
play in, where there is an environment conducive to creative and
knowledge-based industries and talent” (MITA 2000: 4).
Top down approach:
Government Spending on the Arts
(Chang, 2013 and Ooi, 2010)
 Renaissance City Plan I (2000-2004): S$10 million (US$ 7.5 million) per year between 2000-2003
 Renaissance City Plan II (2005-2007): S$12 million (US$ 9 million) per year between 2004-2006
 Renaissance City Plan III (2008-2012) :S$23 million (US$ 17 million) per year and for 2009, an
extra S$8 million (US$ 6 million) was allocated.
Aims:
◦ Develop infrastructure: e.g. Esplanade, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, expansion of NAFA and LASALLE college
of the arts, SOTA
◦ Cultural festivals: Singapore Biennale, Singapore Arts, Festival, Art Stage, Singapore Writers Festival and Singapore Film
Festival.
◦ Transforming Singapore into global hub for media industry in Southeast Asia
◦ Cultural diplomacy outreach programme – showcase Singapore art and artists outside Singapore
Top down approach:
Hardware vs. Heartware (Chang and Lee, 2003)
 Hardware: State’s commitment to cultural industry:
◦ Arts spaces not just to preserve historic buildings
◦ Arts to attract tourists and foreign talent (global city).
◦ Critique – arts spaces to attract big shows and not so much to cultivate local talent or local
interest in the arts.
 Heartware: Physical space is not enough
◦ Incubator for the arts, spaces that inspire creativity (small arts venues, suitable arts housing)
◦ Arts education: LaSalle, NAFA, SOTA
◦ Interest in local arts, knowledge of local arts: Arts in the suburbs
◦ Need for freedom of expression
◦ Local arts goes global
 Bottom up Approach:
Alternative Landscapes of the
Arts
 Reproducing or resisting national values around race, religion,
sexuality?
 Making space for alternative ways of living, urban diversity through
arts landscapes
 Alternative landscapes of the arts: more democratic spaces? (Art
mimicking ‘real life’ – Alfian Sa’at’s cooling off day (2010) and cook
a pot of curry (2012)?
http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/play/pubic-hair-re-emerging-singapore-576248
Limits to Bottom up approach:
Censorship and the Arts
 Censorship stifles creativity and limits resistance through the arts.
 What is Singapore’s ranking in press freedom?
 Why are certain performances, literary works banned?
Singapore Arts Landscape:
Recent developments
• Art Resource Hub by National Arts Council
• Promoting art as a career option
• Provides working space, information on job opportunities and
career guidance for freelancers
• Art and National Identity building
• Singapore Utopia Exhibition @Gilman Barracks
• Issues of multiculturalism, intimacy, diaspora and the role of
bureaucracy are explored
Singapore’s Arts Landscape:
Emerging Spaces
Migrant Workers’ Photography
Exhibition @ Objectifs - Centre for
Photography and Film
◦ Brings forth often hidden voices of
migrant workers in Singapore

Photo: A migrant worker’s lunch

(source:
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/photos-by-migrant-workers-shine-at-ne
w-festival
)
Arts Landscape Summary
 Singapore has been seriously addressing the arts since 1989
 The approach has been overwhelmingly top down
 Yet there are grassroots actions occurring
 Think about: What is art? Why is it important? How important is
the state’s role? Grassroots role? How is power operating?