Art isn’t just for museums and galleries. Two new public art trails, Port/raits of Tanjong Pagar: Encounters with Art in the Neighbourhood and Singapore Deviation: Wander with Art through the Rail Corridor will bring art encounters into the everyday.
Part of Singapore Art Museum (SAM)’s long-term public art initiative, The Everyday Museum, the two trails feature newly commissioned public artworks from nine Singaporean and Singapore-based art practitioners, and weave art into the island’s urban landscape and inspire interest and curiosity.
Revisit Tanjong Pagar
The Tanjong Pagar trail encompasses locations such as Duxton Plain Park, Everton Park, Tanjong Pagar Plaza and Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Explore multifaceted histories, identities, development and economic aspirations of the Tanjong Pagar district which has seen dramatic changes over the years.
Discover artworks by six contemporary practitioners, including sculptures titled Grounding Points: Settled and Grounding Points: Settling In by Aki Hassan; {still} life installation by design studio Space Objekt; Little Islands, a series of murals by Isabella Teng; Sea of flags by Grace Tan, and Everfowl Estate by Divaagar.
In the later half of the year, there will be a new commission by Zen Teh in the neighbourhood. Rattan Eco Sprawl: Manifesting the Forest features a permeable, curved rattan structure that is intended to be an extension of the surrounding natural landscape.
Explore the Rail Corridor
The Rail Corridor trail is a nod to its history as a colonial railway and explores the site’s continued relevance to today’s communities as an urban and community leisure zone.
Featuring three artists at Kampung Bahru Bus Terminal and Wessex Estate, visitors are encouraged to “deviate” from the trail and explore its surroundings.
Film-maker Tan Pin Pin presents walk walk (Singapore Deviation version), a work comprising a video and text installations exploring the gesture of walking.
Hilmi Johandi presents a series of billboard-sized prints called Stagecraft: Landscaped Grounds at Wessex Estate. The work is constructed from fragments and collages of early 20th century travel advertisements of the Federated Malay States Railways (1901–1948).
Also at Wessex Estate is Sookoon Ang’s Moonlight, a sculptural installation that explores the liminal space between the constructed world and unkempt wilderness.
Port/raits of Tanjong Pagar and Singapore Deviation are on view from Apr 29, 2023 to Mar 9, 2025. Admission is free for all artworks under The Everyday Museum. More information can be found at theeverydaymuseum.sg.
