If you’ve never had a proper poke around the National Gallery Singapore, maybe hold off till November to give it a first whirl. This year, a specially curated tour combining local poetry and a tour through the Supreme Court wing of the National Gallery kills two birds with one culturally rich stone, as part of the 20th edition of the Singapore Writers Festival.
An accompanying event to the original anthology titled Eye/Feel/Write: Building Architectonics, the reading tour features six of the 12 Singaporean authors from the book, who were tasked to write three texts in response to a specific space allocated to them within the Supreme Court wing. According to the anthology’s editor Desmond Kon, each writer was asked to respond not just to the art in the space, but to the architecture and history of the space as well. Local author-journalist Clara Chow was given the Library of Law in the Rotunda as her room of inspiration, weaving it into a piece on her childhood.
Placing the tour in the former Supreme Court was no happy coincidence. As the theme for this year’s Festival is “Aram”, a Tamil word meaning “doing good”, the old courthouse now occupied by the museum was selected—for being a place of justice, equality and, well, doing good. Spots are limited on this highly exclusive tour; the first 30 participants will get to hear from the authors themselves, which include Chow, Aaron Maniam, Daryl Lim, Josephine Chia, Heng Siok Tian, and Nuraliah Norasid.
The Eye/Feel/Write: Building Architectonics reading tour happens on Nov 4 for one day only, 1pm-3pm, at the National Gallery Singapore Supreme Court Wing, and is one of the many free events under the Festival Pass, which you can get for $25 here. Registration for the tour closes here on Nov 3.
The Singapore Writers Festival is happening from Nov 3-12. Early-bird tickets on sale now till Sep 30, and more information on events and ticketing here.
