Singapore's artistic pose
(draped) By A D McKenzie
SINGAPORE - Music festivals. International
art shows. Ballet under the stars. Literary
readings. Fashion galas. Film fiestas.
No,
we are not talking about New York, London or
Paris, but rather the strait-laced city state of
Singapore - better known for its official ban on
chewing gum and for caning petty criminals than
its cultural offerings.
But things are
quietly changing here - though within limits. In
the past few years, Singapore has gone from being
a cultural
backwater to something
approaching a regional arts haven. Global culture
is being imported into this tiny island, which is
short on natural resources and historically long
on authoritarian tendencies.
Since
January, the country has hosted a 10-day jazz and
world-music festival featuring artists such as
blues legend Buddy Guy and Nigerian Afrobeat star
Femi Kuti; a two-week children's theater festival
with performances by international entertainers;
an Asian dance championship; a new Asian wildlife
and environmental film festival, endorsed by
famous naturalist David Attenborough; and,
finally, the world-renowned musical by Andrew
Lloyd Webber - The Phantom of the Opera,
which runs until April 29.
Those
performances have been topped by an array of
smaller opera performances and art exhibitions,
including concerts by the American Grammy
Award-winning soprano Renee Fleming and a show by
the well-known Filipino painter Emmanuel Garibay.
Last month's Singapore Fashion Festival,
meanwhile, added a glint of glamour to the
cultural scene.
All this follows a rash of
happenings last year that included a so-called Art
Bienniale, which ran for three months, and an
international contemporary-art fair known as
ARTSingapore 2006, which gathered 72 galleries
from 14 different countries under one roof.
On taking over the post in 2004,
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
declared his desire to give Singapore the
so-called "X-factor" other major global
metropolises had. And the recent showing is the
government's attempt at bringing that policy to
life. "There is an increasing awareness of art
here," says Chen Shen Po, organizer of
ARTSingapore, which will have its fourth annual
event this October. "The government is actively
promoting the arts and people are responding
because they need more art in their lives."
Chen says that the growing group of
gallery owners is trying to "position Singapore as
the art hub of Asia" and that the island state is
ideally situated for this. "It's easy to do import
and export here. We are English-speaking, and we
have the right place and right climate," she said,
adding that most big art fairs are in the West and
that ARTSingapore is a "fair organized by Asians
for Asians".
Sponsored by a local bank and
backed by the Singapore Tourist Board and National
Arts Council, last year its exhibitions covered
4,000 square meters and rang up an estimated
US$2.8 million in total sales - up from $2 million
in 2005. Jasdeep Sandhu, owner of a gallery
specializing in contemporary South Asian art,
agrees that the government-backed art scene in
Singapore is taking off, though he contends there
is "still a long way to go" toward becoming a true
arts and culture haven.
Restricted
themes For instance, restrictions still
apply to works that go on public display. Minister
of Information, Communications and the Arts Lee
Boon Yang told an art gallery in February that it
could not display a four-meter high painting of a
nude woman in the public atrium of the ministry's
building.
The privately run SooBin Art
Gallery had wished to display an oil painting by
Chinese artist Chen Xi on the ground floor of the
same building as part of a month-long exhibition.
But under the Media Development Authority's
guidelines, nude or erotic artworks "should not be
displayed in venues which are easily accessible to
general audiences, including children and youths,"
a ministry spokesman said in a statement.
The gallery was able to show the work in
the atrium only for a few hours during a
reception, after which the painting was turned to
face the wall and later placed inside the gallery
itself. Defending her work, Chen told reporters
that "the painting celebrates independence and
freedom. It is a wholesome message that carries no
sexual connotations." The artwork, entitled "Fly
Onto Clouds", portrayed a nude woman covered in
soap suds against a black background and was later
sold to a Singaporean art collector for S$60,000
(US$39,600), the gallery said.
Because of
its booming economy and an increase in the number
of so-called high-net-worth individuals,
Singapore's high wage earning residents have more
money than ever to spend on art and culture.
According to a report by investment bank Merrill
Lynch and Capgemini, an estimated 55,000
individuals living in Singapore had assets worth a
total of S$260 billion at the end of 2005, up
13.4% from 2004.
That's showing up in
attendance figures. This year's Mosaic Music
Festival, which featured Femi Kuti and
controversial performers such as the American
spoken-work artist Ursula Rucker, attracted some
90,000 people, up from 60,000 in 2005 when the
event was first launched. The number of events,
both paying and free, also doubled to 100 from 50,
according to the organizers. And the tickets were
not cheap, ranging from S$26 to S$100 depending on
the event.
In the months ahead, there will
be more events. April sees the Singapore
International Film Festival, with 300 films from
45 countries. In May and June, the Singapore Arts
Festival will showcase innovative dance, music and
theater. And in August, the three-day world music
festival WOMAD-Singapore will bring in performers
from Africa, South America, the Caribbean and
other areas.
Although the
government-promoted arts scene mirrors the
country's nanny state mentality, it's giving local
artists an unprecedented chance to single-mindedly
pursue their talents. Manjeet Shergill, whose
vibrant portrayals of monks and Indian women are
collected internationally, said: "To be able to
make a living as an artist here now is just
amazing and unprecedented."
"Four decades
ago, this was pretty much impossible. Many artists
then had to teach to supplement their income, and
there was really only one place they could go. Now
... there are so many avenues for artists."
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