Atypical is defined as “different from all others of the same type” according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus. So with this description as a touchstone, the Singapore Tourism Board has launched Atypical Singapore, an art and augmented reality technology showcase that brings a slice of Singapore’s artistic facet into the streets of select cities. Part of the Passion Made Possible global campaign, Atypical Singapore presents seven contemporary artists from different specialisations whose exhibits connect with viewers through multi-sensory art experiences, participation and dialogue.
This showcase, spearheaded by Khairuddin Hori, curatorial director and partner of Chan+Hori Contemporary made its first overseas stop in Russia this past September and will travel to Myanmar in November and December as part of Singapore Festival 2018. Atypical Singapore will be amongst the line-up of a three-day street activation on Bogalay Zay Street, an iconic and popular thoroughfare in historic downtown Yangon. Visitors can expect a Myanmar-Singapore street food festival and performances by talents such as Singapore’s own THELIONCITYBOY.
Some snippets of the art visitors can look forward to viewing and experiencing at Atypical Singapore, Myanmar:
Artist Eugene Soh together with art and technology studio Meshminds have developed engaging ways of viewing and sharing art works through augmented reality (AR). Viewers can transform Eugene’s artworks into 3-D dioramas by scanning his artworks with their mobile phones and watch them come to life in AR animation for up to 30 seconds. Eugene’s works are a whimsical observation on contemporary Singapore life.
With Lunar Beast and Lunar Cleric, Daniel Yu presents two inflatable sculptures adapted from traditional Chinese lion dance. Daniel’s sculptures depict Singapore as a modern, urbanised city that continues to respect traditional practices.
Amanda Tan’s two-channel video is a mash-up of images and sound; a reflection on the dichotomy of building a personal identity in a multi-cultural society that celebrates diversity within a nationalist construct.
Self-taught artist Gerald Leow has created sculptures reminiscent of heavy metal band logos that are in fact reimagined designs of traditional Austronesian roof gables. In Alang Alang (A Framed One) these objects of material culture speak to personal identities and modes of living within disparate subcultures.
anGie seah draws upon her current involvement in theatre work as inspiration for her ‘live’ performances; incorporating props and involving the audience to blur the lines between life and art thus addressing the living paradoxes that surround us.
Muhammad Izdi draws upon legends of Singapore from the book Sulalatus Salatin (Genealogy of Kings) where the founding of Singapore is narrated through the tale of the Srivijayan prince Sang Nila Utama’s sighting of what he thought was a lion on the island of Temasak which he renamed Singapura or Lion City. Tales Don’t Tell Themselves consists of a body of .GIF animations culled from these legends. Ironically lions never existed in tropical Singapore and what the prince saw was actually a tiger. These tigers have since disappeared but both lion and tiger live on in our national insignia.
S*Gatte is Speak Cryptic’s immersive AR work. Tall monochromatic painted gateways featuring the five stars of the Singapore national flag are juxtaposed and the ideals represented by each star interpreted against the artists’s personal identity as a Malay man of ethnic Boyanese descent and his alternative subculture influences. Holding up your mobile phone to the work activates a landscape of Singapore peopled by black and white individuals known as “The Tribe.”
Singapore Festival 2018, Myanmar runs 30 November to 9 December with Atypical Singapore activities happening 30 November to 2 December.
All AR animations © (2018) by Muhammad Izdi, Gerald Leow, Speak Cryptic, Eugene Soh, Amanda Tan, Angie Seah, Daniel Yu, MeshMinds and Chan + Hori Contemporary in partnership with Singapore Tourism Board. Adapted and reproduced with permission.
