Barricading void decks and playgrounds to prevent “walking time bombs”, Pinacotheque’s sudden closure and the Rugby Sevens—read on for a quick round-up of the city’s burgeoning (and dying) trends.
Aware
Hot: Aware’s new campaign
Not: Racism and xenophobia
Aware, Daughters of Tomorrow and Kinetic Singapore has launched a series of posters advocating equal rights and opportunities for single parents as part of the #asinglelove campaign, and it highlights discrimination faced by both single fathers and mothers here. While there were murmurs that the campaign appealed to people’s pity by suggesting single-parent families are incomplete, we’re glad to see the issue get some airtime and hope it impacts change in local policies.
More disheartening news has taken over headlines in recent weeks as three female madrasah students were allegedly attacked by a Chinese man on the way to school. Less than a week later, MP Denise Phua found herself in hot soup when she stoked the ire of netizens with comments that playgrounds and void decks in Little India should be fenced off so that residents can have better access to spaces meant for them. Referring to the number of foreign workers in the area, she also said that “Congregations of such high density are walking time-bombs and public disorder incidents waiting to happen.”
Pinacotheque
Hot: French art and culture
Not: French museum
French festival Voilah and National Gallery’s Reframing Modernism exhibition (featuring artists such as Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall) may be hot on our list right now, but casting a shadow on French art in Singapore is the sudden departure of the Pinacotheque, which opened for less than a year here. This follows after the closure of the privately-owned museum in Paris earlier this year, due to a sharp drop in visitor numbers in recent months.
Rugby Sevens
Hot: Rugby
Not: Singapore football
The Rugby Sevens is happening this weekend and there is no better time to get acquainted with the rough-and-tumble sport. This big-deal event will have 16 international teams competing for the top title including favorites like Australia, New Zealand and England. Not so hot is Singapore football—we were rated a dismal #148 according to FIFA’s world ranking.
Uniqlo
Hot: Uniqlo
Not: Singapore’s retail scene
It’s been a week of stores exiting our flailing retail scene. First, we discovered the impending closure of beloved vintage store Granny’s Day Out, and then CB2, New Look and Celio followed. But a glimmer of hope remains: Japanese mass fashion chain Uniqlo plans to open its first three-storey Southeast Asia global flagship outlet at Orchard Central later this year.
