Food was the focus of my first trip to Singapore a few years back. I fell in love with chicken rice, a deceptively simple dish that hides its decadence in its juice. This trip I had a deconstructed interpretation of it at Violet Oon’s restaurant inside the National Gallery, which houses the largest collection of art in the city-state. The museum - like the restaurant - is a gleaming space housed in municipal buildings that date back to the 1920s and echo British imperialist architecture punctuated by towering white columns.
Singapore has really only existed independently since 1965 and has since developed quite a successful economy. They also have strict laws that modern societies view as draconian like capital punishment for drug crimes including possession and censorship of the arts that allows works to be banned if they’re deemed to be “contrary to the public interest.” I was intrigued when I learned that Art Basel director Lorenzo Rudolf had founded an offshoot (Art Stage Singapore) during the city-state’s art week. The event spans several days and occupies an expansive space in the Marina Bay Sands hotel. Its futuristic design and rooftop that stretches across three buildings make the hotel an iconic part of the skyline and a go-to spot for nighttime cocktails. The Singapore’s best cocktail bars though (like the Basquiat-emblazoned Operation Dagger) are hidden away in unmarked subterranean spaces.
The main part of the fair is a convention hall sized exhibition of galleries throughout Southeast Asia displaying works of local artists alongside art world heavy hitters like Jenny Holzer. A diptych called “The Super Omnivore #4” by Indonesian artist Agus Suwage illustrates the Ghandi quote, “This planet can provide for human need, but not for human greed” with a cannibalistic whimsy. Oil canvases by another Indonesian artist Ronald Manullang titled “The Origin of the Japonaiserie” bring a modern update to the grand erotic Ottoman Empire paintings. Meanwhile Japanese artist Takuro Noguchi creates quilt-like geometric tapestries that draw the gaze into his mysteriously disjointed world.
Lectures make up the second part of Art Stage Singapore and I got to sit in on one hosted by Rudolf that examined the relationship between money and art and how art has become a currency. The super rich are now buying paintings the way they buy bonds. Like any good philosophical question there were no easy resolutions, but it sat with me through the trip. I wanted to be as moved by the Singaporean artists - many of whom exhibit great technical skill - but more often I felt like there was a void where a deeper purpose or grappling should be. A performance art piece, “No Regrets for our Youth,” in the chic urban Aliwal Arts Centre had the makings of a compelling work. It took over a whole room with vibrant colors and twisty contraptions but in the end felt more like an exercise routine than art.
The independent non-profit gallery Objectifs put on a more thought-provoking show that explores the relationship between Singaporeans and the sex tourism-saturated island of Batam. “Fantasy Islands” juxtaposes myth and reality, restraint and action in simple but compelling ways. A Hello Kitty curtain provides a window into the life of a teenage sex worker while a waterslide evokes an abandoned theme park that has lost its purpose.
Between shows I still got quite a bit of the food I remember from my first trip, like enormous crabs cooked in a sweet chili sauce along with gourmet fois gras cherry and whiskey pork dumplings. I had the latter at Janice Wong’s upmarket eatery in the National Museum of Singapore. Singapore could be known just as much for their art as their food. They have pristine galleries and museums, but they also need artists who don’t have to worry about offending the government. Chefs and mixologists don’t have these concerns, and they are rivaling the world’s most storied cities with places like the Tippling Club and 28 HongKong Street along with New York import Employees Only.
The thing about offending though is that it actually is a sign of respect. It says that I recognize your humanity and intelligence enough to know that you can handle me expressing myself. And if we need to have a conversation afterwards about it then those words we exchange are the lifeblood of democratic societies. Singaporeans are warm-hearted people who trace their origins back to China, India and Malaysia and strive to build a utopian society. Their respect for these cultures is evident, but censorship is the opposite of respect. Every society has missteps. The amendments to our constitution certainly offer proof of that. Singapore has an opportunity to lift its censorship laws and allow Singapore Art Week to become one of the art world’s great events.
Singapore Art Week runs this year from January 17th-28th