Sylvia Goh Hwee Ching

National Arts Council 2001 Nokia Singapore Art Press Release

THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD by Sylvia Goh Hwee Ching and Benjamin Puah
Singapore River Promenade – Outside Asian Civilisations Museum, Empress Place and UOB Plaza

Public art is a term that refers to a type of artworks that is strategically located in common areas accessed by the general public such as parks, squares, and even atriums, stations or community centres. An integral aspect of public art is its unique relationship with the audience. Such art may act to transform a given environment, turning it from the familiar to one that provokes awareness about that given environment. It provides an aesthetic experience that opens up the audience to many interpretative possibilities. In The Yellow Brick Road, Sylvia Goh and Benjamin Puah have introduced a visual element that aims to disrupt our complacent regard for the Singapore River. A series of bright yellow laminates are placed on opposing sides of the Singapore River promenade to create an imaginary pathway. The reference to the popular children’s tale Wizard of Oz is not incidental. The artists have intended to inscribe into the given landscape – a site potent with a rich history, and cultural and economic significance – a virtual trail that facilitates not physical movements, but rather mental exercises for the audience regarding the nature of history, space and our association to them. This is to aid and allow multiple conceptual connections, as such that we may ponder on the past, present and future transformations of the historic site with differing intensities and interests.

Material sponsorship and technical assistance provided by 3M Scotchprint® Graphics. Presented with the kind courtesy of the United Overseas Bank and Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place.

 

M-Spaces
5 January from 3pm & 6-13 January, 11am-9pm
The Great Hall @ Millenia Walk


M-Spaces opens on Saturday 5 January at 3pm in the Great Hall of Millenia Walk. M-Spaces: Crossover or Assimilation is an interdisciplinary international art project, and affiliate program of Histories, Identities, Technologies, Spaces: Singapore Art Today in Nokia Singapore Art 2001, organised by the National Arts Council and the Singapore Art Museum. The project is curated by Jay Koh and participants include: Sylvia Goh, Wilkie Tan, Heng Yew Seng, Chua Xinyuan, Kai, Chu Lik Ren, Tan Tarn How, Bianca Polak (The Netherlands), Jay Koh (Germany), Lea Kantonen (Finland), Pekka Kantonen (Finland), Eva Ursprung and Veronika Dreier, members of Woman Art Support, Graz (Austria).

M-Spaces: Crossover or Assimilation aims to visualise spaces within spaces, be they mental or material, manufactured or manipulated, as worlds within worlds. It investigates the emergence of spaces within dominant narratives and within realities shaped by media and social-political rhetoric, that are both local and global. Project talk on 12 January at 5pm.



There is No Room for Failure by Sylvia Goh