It Takes a Village
Project Brief:
To create a public installation that could be transported to 3 Capitaland malls over the course of a month. The three malls (Raffles City, Plaza Singapura and Clark Quay) were configured differently and the installation had to be adaptable to those sites.
The installation needed to promote a collective identity and provide space within it for members of the public to interact with one another and participate in various activities organised by the National Gallery Singapore. 5 Augmented Reality activations will also be nestled within the artwork and gradually unlocked for the public over the course of a month.
As part of the Gallery’s public outreach, the installation needed to draw references from it’s permanent collection and needed to be constructed with sustainability in mind.
Proposal Sketches for It Takes a Village installation. The initial sketches were done with Plaza Singapura’s site in mind as it presented a narrow linear space which was the trickiest location to design for.
The Proposed Artwork
Inspired by artworks in the National Gallery’s collection, namely Liu Kang’s Life by the River (1975) and Jaafar Latiff’s Wandering Series from the 1970s, It Takes A Village invited audiences to explore a cardboard neighbourhood of familiar buildings, furniture, flora and fauna, and scenes that collectively painted a picture of life in this tropical city. The whimsical depictions of Singapore’s urban scape and folktales were divided into 3 sections: our Community, the Land and the Stories that have become the foundations on which we continue to build our Kampong Spirit.
To bring this installation to life, I collaborated with Trio Packaging, a company that specialises in Cardboard structures. The graphics in this installation were printed using GREENGUARD GOLD and UL ECOLOGO Ⓡ certified water-based Latex ink, rendering the entire artwork recyclable.
Full Installation at the Clarke Quay outdoor mall.
Layouts and Structure of the installation
As the installation needed to be dismantled and reassembled at 3 different locations, I designed it to comprise of smaller modules that could create open yet clear zones for each theme. Each piece had to be carefully crafted such that they embraced the viewer yet could be arranged along a linear path since the site at Plaza Singapura was long and narrow.
The Community
Modules combined structures frequently found in spaces like Tiong Bahru, HDB void decks, cafes and black and white houses. Surfaces of these cardboard buildings were covered with colourful patterns and motifs inspired by Peranakan tiles, window grills, food and textiles. Windows and openings framed scenes of local life and provided pockets for the AR components to be nestled in and revealed at a later date.
Night Time at Clarke Quay outdoor mall
The Land
Referencing topographic maps and contours, playful cardboard tables were designed to provide surfaces on which works created by members of the public during the activity sessions could be displayed.
The modules in this category were covered in botanical motifs that were inspired by local batik motifs and stylised representations of local birds.
The Stories
This section of the installation paid homage to local folktales and acted as a backdrop for storytelling sessions taking place in the space.
As so many Singaporean folktales relate to sea travel, water was the main motif here, with a fountain at the center.
