Drawing on works from the Singapore Art Museum collection as well as private and artists’ collections, the exhibition offers an insight into how artists in Singapore view and respond to the natural world, coming from and living in such an urban and built-up environment. As such, one strand running through the exhibition is the idea of nature as something that can be studied, controlled, and constructed – an idea that often extends into a metaphor for the nation and national identity.
In contrast to the notion of a carefully cultivated ‘Garden City’, other artists regard nature as unknown, uncanny, and untamed, drawing on memories of nature’s recent incursions into the urban cityscape. Natural sites as repositories of social memory and history also feature in these artistic excavations, as artists seek to call attention to forgotten or overlooked terrain in Singapore.
This conversation is extended with a complementary exhibition at 8Q which presents artworks by Singaporean artists and the region at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, a research centre dedicated to the study of earth sciences and natural phenomena.
Ang Song Nian, Genevieve Chua, Lucy Davis, Regina de Rozario, Isabelle Desjeux, Debbie Ding, Han Sai Por, Ho Tzu Nyen, Institute of Critical Zoologists, Charles Lim, Stellah Lim, Jennifer Ng, Donna Ong, Post-Museum, Ezzam Rahman, Twardzik Ching Chor Leng, Yeo Chee Kiong, Frayn Yong
A Day Without A Tree is a commentary on global warming and the future of our planet. Climate change is compounded by the fact that in several cities such as Singapore, natural shade is fast disappearing, as trees and swathes of greenery make way for urban development. Yeo Chee Kiong’s installation imagines a day without trees, when the very monuments we have cleared away greenery to build, start to warp, melt and liquefy under the intense heat of the sun. A Day Without A Tree was first presented at the National Museum of Singapore in 2007 and awarded the inaugural Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize (2008).
donna onglandscape portraits: a beautiful place nearby
2009
mixed media installation
The impetus for the creation of this mesmeric underwater world came from an incident where artist Donna Ong had to forego a much-anticipated diving trip. This moved the artist to create her own imaginary underwater landscape as a compensatory gesture.
What appears at first glance to be clusters of corals in this installation reveal themselves to be entirely constructed from industrial materials: nails, screws, nuts and bolts. Even the atmospheric sounds in the background—the faint clinking and stirrings—which convey the mysterious ambience of an underwater grotto, have been composed from sounds made by the metallic objects used in the installation. While part of the magical quality of this imaginary seascape stems from the artist’s gift in composing fantastical new worlds out of prosaic objects, the work also alludes to the idea of a ‘constructed’ Nature, which finds its parallel in the image of Singapore as a ‘Garden City’, where nature is manicured and carefully cultivated.
jennifer ngpulling at grass to make it grow
2013
elastic string and food dye
Educator Jennifer Ng created this installation as a metaphor for the pressures and demands foisted onto her young charges by the education system. In aiming to ‘stretch’ students to their fullest potential, the rigours of contemporary schooling in Singapore instead wear down the energy and spirit of youth, stretching them thin, like tender young blades of grass which have been compelled to grow too quickly and before their time.
