A special and immersive new show that will be part of this year’s Singapore Art Week promises to dazzle and surprise visitors even as it plunges them into a world that many haven’t experienced. The show features work from a large group of young Singaporean artists, but the truly unique aspect to it is that the works will be displayed in a World War II-era air raid shelter.
The shelter itself was built as a part of a public housing facility, and it has never been opened to the public until now. The young artists who will be displaying their work in the shelter are faced with numerous challenges that wouldn’t be present in any other exhibit space, including the tendency for groundwater to seep into the space, threatening the art installations. Other difficulties include brick walls that force the young artists to adapt the ways they would usually hang their art. Irregularities, like stray nails and out of place tiles, add to the disorder. Coupled with dismal lighting and overall dampness, the air raid shelter feels like a hostile environment for the art that is meant to be displayed there.
This, however, is where creative resilience and problem solving comes in. One of the most special features of the air raid shelter, besides the opportunity to see a preserved, historically important space from another era, is that there are writings on the wall from the people who sheltered in the facility. Many young artists remarked that they felt like they were a part of that special story and history of the shelter, often working around the messages scrawled over the bricks in the walls. A majority of the artists who will be displaying their work even drew inspiration for their pieces and installations from the air raid shelter itself.
One of the installations features dried flowers that a person might find at a funeral, as well as concrete slabs that appear like ones used in burials. The symbolism of being buried is strong with that installation. In another installation, lights are rigged up on the wall. Coupled with a motor to create motion, the artist said her art, which resembles an improbable window underground, promotes the idea of hope in the midst of turmoil, like many people sheltering in the facility must have felt during World War II.
Art is a fantastic way to interact with the world around you, including fostering deeper connections with places you might not have understood or appreciated otherwise. Visit SGArtClass.com to learn more about the different genres of art while browsing through all the various art classes you can enroll in. Whether you’re interested in installation art, oil painting, assemblage art, or other genres, there is certainly a class that will boost your passion for art.
To learn more about the history of the air raid shelter, as well as to see photos of the exhibit being installed, go to http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/art-in-a-dark-dusty-damp-place.