It's the annual Night Festival at our Singapore's museums again! I had browsed thru' the online catalogue to check out the programmes listing. This round, I've Denise to attend with me... yeah! We met up at SMU for a Subway dinner before we start our trail from the National Museum across the street.
We were glad that the paid admission exhibit for the "Princely Treasures from the House of Liechtenstein" were FREE for today! We spent quite some time inside to look at the antique paintings. After we exit the National Museum, we also stayed on to watch some acrobatic acts on the façade of the museum. However, after a while we were quite bored and the slow temp made us wana sleep! haha!
We went over to check out the Singapore Arts Museum (SAM) & 8Q. There was nothing much exciting & I was surprised that 8Q didn't participate this year in the late opening hours! What a pity! Usually, I enjoy the children arts better! After hours of walking, we were exhausted, especially I was lugging my tripod around! We ended the night after my shot of the night lights outside SAM.
I had marked my calendar for the annual Night Festival. I was looking forward to this year's as I had captured some nice shots previous two years. As frens indicated that they were keen to join me this round, I created a FB event for the first time, with a well-planned itinerary... but alas, it's a waste of my efforts as they did not even bother to read the details & asked me stuff which I had indicated clearly! Anyway, I had tot that in the event that people were late, I will proceed by myself!
The festival runs for two consecutive weekends & I did my 1st round on the 25th Aug. Ruby & i met up early at Kopitiam for dinner, while CK was late for a gd 1hr! She came with 2 other frens. We started out at Singapore Arts Museum & toured the 2nd level galleries... After 45mins, i realised there's nothing much to shoot inside but CK & her frens were still stuck in one of the galleries! Hence, i had no choice but to break off from them & proceeded wif Ruby. We moved on to SAM's ground floor & facade to shoot the light displays beamed on the main building.
Next, we strolled over to SAM at 8Q & I saw a big group of photography buffs shooting. For the first time, I had to setup my tripod at the pavement to capture the [Night Watch] display. 30 giant pairs of quirkly animal eyes peer out from the corridors of SAM at 8Q, modelled after the eyes of birds, fishes & reptiles. We also had fun doing self-shot but exposure was quite hard to grasp!
Cute motifs & quotes on cardboard boxes
I always find SAM at 8Q is more interesting as their artwork are usually kids-focus, hence easier to understand & appreciate! I much prefer the lively ambience here! As it was a saturday, the place was extremely crowded! We spent quite a long time exploring the various themes here & missed the National Museum's circus show...
At 10pm, after 3hours of continuous walking & shooting, we were tired & chilled out at Coffee Bean... while Leonard popped by for a chat with us. Thereafter, I continued to shoot across the road, to capture the reflections of SAM lit-up facade. We ended the night at 11.30pm!
PART II:
I felt that my shoot was incomplete & decided to return the following friday...Thankfully, my terrible flu recovered by then! I was clear that I only wanted to cover 3 areas for tonight & my parents decided to tag along!
We were caught in an unexpected traffic jam & instead of a direct bus ride, we had to change to the MRT & walked to Armenian Street! The La Argentina show outside the Peranakan Museum was supposed to commence at 8.30pm....we ended up waited for 40mins before it start at 9pm! I had setup my tripod, however once the crane ferrying the dancer suspended in mid-air moved into the crowd spilling on the narrow lane, there was no way for me to put a tripod! It was almost impossible for me to capture the shots clearly too! The dancer was spinning 360 degrees at one point! Luckily, I got dad to use the Fuji cam to capture some video! As the dancer performed, confetti rained onto the audience, nothing exciting :(
After the 15mins show, we moved to the National Museum & again shot some lighting designs splashed on the museum's facade. This was not so nice. We popped into the musuem to take a look at the 3-D artwork [Scaling the Dome], created by street artist, Joe Hill. It's nice but there's a long Q waiting for a shot with the artwork! I simply steal a shot from the side.
Lastly, we trooped over to the School of the Arts to view [Children's Dreams], where fairytales characters lit up with the synchronised music, created by french artist. It's cute :) Juz these 2hours plus was enough to warrant a supper stop at MacDonald's, haha! Overall, this year's Night Festival was not up to my expectations.
When Ruby told me about the museum's Night Festival, we were quite skeptical what this whole event entails... but too bad, juz a day before our agreed photography session, ruby was sick... hence, i decided to go solo wif my gears! Upon alighting at Bras Basah, outside SMU... i strolled past the Singapore Art Museum (SAM)... the area was getting set up & buzzing wif activity. The event's helpers interspersed at that stretch were handling out the programme brochure, while I checked out the schedule on a standee. Since the lighting condition happened to be the Golden Hour now, i took a couple of shots of the SAM's facade.
My original idea of dining at the nearby Kopitiam flopped as it was congested... end up, juz for a simple dinner... i found myself walking all the way to Plaza Singapura!!! Omg! That took like half an hour, juz to get a Subway meal... By the time i finished my delectable Cold Cut Subway & strolled back to the Art Museum, it's 8pm liao!
World's Slowest SMS Billboard
The facade of the Art Museum had some curious onlookers staring at the World's Slowest SMS Billboard. The crowd spilled to across the road too... This is a tongue-in-cheek interactive artwork where messages received r manually assembled by a team of ppl on the giant billboard for all to read. Each msg would stay for 5mins. After a couple of takes here, I went to explore the insides of SAM. Coincidentally, the Art Museum & the Bras Basah MRT area r on my photography locations check-list... This Night Festival provided me a good reason to be here! Inside, there was this fenced-up area where i could see it being termed the 'Abusement Park', idea is albeit like some black humour (i overhead a conversation on this). But if wan to access, one would need to exit & join the long Q outside... so i simply took the shots thru' the gaps of the fence! haha!
I went up to check out the art galleries too...but but, i dun really know how to appreciate lah! wahaha! I saw some people seems so serious staring & snapping pics of the artwork... wonder if they really understand these abstract art! Then, i chanced upon this art-piece, wif a Rabbit Head attached to an infant's body... the artist seems to imply the world is not so pure for the kids these days, wat an irony rite?
Next, i saw a photo in the museum's programme brochure which enticed me to visit the SAM at 8Q, which was 88 steps away (according to Wiki's write-up)... It explained that this SAM was an extension of the mother Art Museum, meant for contemporary art, wif a focus on children. Currently, the theme is Art Garden: Children's Season... I was captivated by this huge inflatable rabbit at the facade! I read before in the papers, the artist brought this rabbit named Walter to various locations around Sg & observed ppl's reactions when they spot such a huge rabbit! The grounds of SAM at 8Q was turned into a bustling flea mkt too... At level one, there's a play area for children to run around freely... Since i couldn't be like the kids to enter the play-area, I ventured to 2nd level... had to removed our shoes & stepped in to view arts & crafts inspired by nature done by children... tables & chairs were set up for children to do some arts too. I tot that's all abt it... when i decided no harm to explore the last level since still early.
Upon stepping into the 'classroom' at level 3, i was awed wif this exhibit named ''The Enchanted Forest''! About 1/3 of the classroom was converted into this forest, filled wif alot of colourful wildlife & peppered wif lotsa imagination. The artist ~ Sandra Lee did not had a fixed idea but painted & created the characters along the way... the whole process was humongous, where she sketched & did water-colour painting on paper, bef sent to the printer to be scanned. Then each was printed as a draft for her to preview, before enlarging to print into wallpaper. Some 'creatures' & stuff were so minute on the drafts that a magnifying glass was needed! The concept of this Little Girl in Red Shorts who love adventure, venturing the mystical forest & met different creatures along the way is really a brilliant idea, where both kids & adults could relate & allow our imagination to run wild inside this little space! The Little Girl was created not juz for children but for adults who r child @ heart too!
When i stepped in, i discovered the challenge to photograph as much of the forest as possible. As i was figuring out, the visitors increased... hence, i observed how the other visitors 'interacted' inside this enchanted forest & managed to capture some actions of theirs! Kids were imagining that they could 'swim' in the 'pond' & grow-ups like to strike some 'animal styles' or jolly well act cute lah! My eyes were transfixed on the Flying Turtles, hanging from the ceiling cos there's this particular one which had a cute expression... I also love the Giant Panda, which was almost as high as the ceiling! I even requested the exhibit's staff to help me snap a pic wif the cute panda! Haha! When i read the characters' explanation, i love wat Sandra created for the Flying Turtle... When the Little Girl was at a cross-road & asked the turtle for directions, the turtle replied "If u duno where u r going... any road will take u there.'' These turtles lived among the stars & would appear whenever the Little Girl needed them. The Flying Turtles represent spirit guides that could appear bef us in diff forms.
After my fulfilling forest adventure wif the Little Girl, i crossed the road to SMU Campus Green, where a few activities were on-going... The Muay Thai (thai boxing) attracted quite a huge crowd & there's graffiti artists at work + some cambodian skit too. When it's slightly past 10pm, i made my way to the National Museum to find a gd photography spot. Not too sure wat to expect thou i noe there would be this 'Paraboles 2.0', where 6 giant satellite dishes stood at the museum's facade... stroboscopic light flashes quietly, signalling activity & under each statellite, there would be abstract sounds of stars, solar winds & radio waves all mixed tog.
I set up my tripod next to an uncle who had set up his gear earlier... guess wat? when the crowd grew juz bef the show commenced, some guys blocked his view & the uncle asked the guys in front to pls move aside! sei! I can't do that manz.. cos i'm not that 'old' enuf for ppl to 'show face', haha! As it was pretty dark there, for safely reason, i even turned my tripod into a monopod at times, in case some blur ppl tripped over! Well, managed to capture some interesting shots... the colourful eyeballs on the statellites were creepy But cool! As the half hour perf started fr soft sounds to fast-beat & soft sounds again... the sudden finale bang of fireworks jolted the audience! Sei, really got a shock! haha!
It was overall a rewarding nite out as a high % of my shots were within my own acceptable standards... cos usually i'm a perfectionist when shortlisting my takes, keke! ^o^
The rest of this album can be viewed on my Photo Gallery located on your right side, click arrows to view full screen.
A typical Gemini with dual personality...Can be quiet at times, that's probably when indulge in watching my dramas & seriously @ work. While other times, I can be chatty & enjoy sharing a good meal with close friends. Someone who gets bored easliy & curious about how's the other side of the world looks like. Loves travelling & want to trotter around the globe as long as I can.
