Singapore Art Museum Open House

Singapore Art Museum

We dropped by SAM ( Singapore Art Museum ) on Sunday. It was free due to the Hari Raya Puasa Open House event. SAM is located at the ex - ST Joseph's Institution premises. Build in 1855. This magnificent building was restored and preserved as a National Monument to house SAM.



We had previously explored other museum as well and enjoyed our time there. As a result we had high expectation for the event.

See our Visit on National Museum of Singapore and Singapore Philatelic Museum

Kid's activities

The visit started off rather promisingly. There were a few activities lined up for kids on that day.Since I like Arts and Craft, I had chosen to make a ketupat card to remind me that I visited the museum on Hari Raya.

My Kepupat Card

Learning Gallery

Our first stop is the Learning Gallery. The learning gallery is SAM's permanent exhibition dedicating to presenting artworks from selected museum collection base on contemporary art. It is suppose to nurture appreciation in arts and is targeted at youth. The current exhibit is People and Places ( ends 31st Dec) featuring 20 South East Asia artwork.

People and Places- Learning gallery 2

The art pieces are visually interesting and appeals to the younger audience. However I may be a little to young to understand the themes of identity , urbanisation and globalisation.
Suffice to say, I had more interest in touching the exhibits ( which is not allowed ) than to admire them.

People and Places - Learning gallery 1

Panorama
There was another exhibit called Panorama. It features art from contemporary Asia leaning towards social and political overtones.

Panorama

Some of the exhibits are highly graphic. I don't think they are intended for audiences of my age. Given the disturbing nature of some exhibits, Daddy thinks SAM may not appeal to kids even if they have kids events planned for the Open House.

Disturbing graphic scenes

However in the midst of chaos, Daddy found this letter written by a Daddy to his child. It seem that the child is away from home and the Daddy is writing to him to come home to attend the wedding of his brother. In a weird way, the letter could have been written from a child to a Daddy and instead of class , you place it with work. In looking from a Daddy's perspective, it turns the way you view the world upside down and this is an interesting way to deliver a meaningful message across.

The letter also reminded Daddy of the letters Grandpa wrote to him when Grandpa was posted outstation for work decades back. Grandpa was never someone who is open with his emotions, yet within the letter , what was written was something that Daddy appreciates. It goes to show that absence does make a heart grow fonder. Some thoughts are meant to be pen down rather than spoken for one to understand the other.

The Panaroma exhibit spans 3 floors of SAM . There was even a video showing the artist blending a happy meal and drinking the mixture. It definitely gives the word 'fast food' a new meaning. It is however visually disturbing and thus we will not showcase it.

Seeker of Hope : Works by Jia Aili
Back to the museum on a lighter note, these visually stunning works by Jia Aili was a welcoming sight in comparison to the gloom of the Panarama exhibit. To show how epic such art works were, we decided to have some fun and take some photos next to it.

Untitled

Will we be back to SAM?
In all honesty , probably not in the next few years. The works were too advance for our age to appreciate and understand. Perhaps a visit to the National Museum of Singapore or the Singapore Philatelic would be more age-appropriate for us.

Still it is an eye opener and we think it is more suitable for families with teens.

Duino Elegies

The Little Details

Singapore Art Museum
71 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189555