Photograph: 5Ft Creatives

Ask me about my ‘magical spaces’ in the city and I will tell you it depends …. on a personal experience, a memory, or even a poignant story. But as the ring of residential and commercial towers continues to rise, my ‘magical spaces’ which are tucked away amidst all the construction, have become almost imperceptible.

Responding to a column* in The Straits Times where journalist Hong Xinji spoke of ‘the erasure and eradication of Singapore’s magical spaces’, 5Ft Creatives launched the Magical Spaces Project in an attempt to build a ‘collective memory of the magical spaces in Singapore’.

Part art project and part architectural research, the project was aimed at finding out the meaning of a Magical Space, which they describe as ‘a place that holds memories and emotional treasures’. The project involved passing along notebooks to friends and strangers, asking them to ‘express their feelings for their magical space.’ The notebooks were collected on 31 August. They have been published in a book of the same title, and will be part of the ‘Asylum for Magical Spaces’ exhibition at the end of October.

Your turn: Do you have a ‘magical space’? Do tell … leave a comment.

‘Asylum for Magical Spaces’ runs from 31 October to 14 November at The Asylum.

* ‘When sentiment can make an unremarkable space magical’ by Hong Xinji, The Straits Times, May 11, 2007.

Situated on 139 Selegie Road, Night & Day Bar + Gallery + Friends has a lot of historical baggage. The Art Deco building was originally constructed in the 1950s as an automotive parts business, owned by Ong Beng Yew and his two brothers. It was concurrently made into an office, a storeroom, as well as a place of residence for the extended Ong family. Three families lived here under one roof until 1967. The building is currently owned by the Ong brothers, who inherited the building from their father.

Striving to preserve the family’s legacy and the architectural heritage of the building, the Ong brothers have turned down many offers from buyers looking to convert the space into either a budget hotel or office premises. When zArch architect, Randy Chan came along with his plans of a multi-purpose space for the arts, in accord with the building’s rich past, it was kismet. Aided by multiple conversations with the Ong brothers, Randy was able to envision the building as it had appeared during its heydays. MORE »

Hi, my name is Victric Thng. I became a filmmaker by accident. But I guess most beautiful things in life are not planned and happen naturally. I graduated from Temasek Polytechnic with a diploma in visual communication. In 2003, I crafted my first short out of spontaneity and boredom. The short got me a lot of attention and that’s when things began to take shape for me. I’m enjoying every bit of what I am doing now, and what is being offered to me. I am currently working on some experimental videos out of pure self-indulgence.

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The band bridges the disparate gap between the worlds of explosive rock and dark electronica without falling prey to the trappings of either. MUON is made up of guitarist/producer Nick Chan, drummer Edwin Leong and the reclusive Leopold von Berlin, who shares synths and electronics duties with Nick. The threesome has individually been members of other notable acts such as Astreal, The Death of Cinema, I Am David Sparkle, The Pagans and Starr. Find out how to win a copy of MUON’s latest EP after the jump.

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Every Chinese New Year, my family will make our annual pilgrimage to Shah Alam in Malaysia to pay my grandmother a visit. In recent years, she’s been of ill health which makes our visits increasingly important, because every meeting could be our last. For all my life, my grandmother has lived in the same house, a 3-storey bungalow built in the 70’s with interiors to match. I believe “groovy” would be the term used. From the purple velour sofa to the green mosaic tiles on the kitchen floor, much has faded, but little has changed. This year, I made it a point to take photographs of every corner of the house to remember it by. A little morbid perhaps, but it felt necessary. As I snapped away, I wondered what the house was like back in its day, when everything was shiny and new, the yard wasn’t so filled with weeds and when my grandparents first got their keys to it. Oh, how exciting it must have been.

It was because of these same sentiments that I found Ho Hui May’s upcoming exhibition, Domestic Dystopia, appealing. The first prize winner of the 26th UOB Painting of the Year award in the Photography category, Ho photographed the interiors of six dilapidated houses in Singapore located on East Coast Road, Evans Road, in Geylang, in Joo Chiat and in Kebangan. This is her first solo exhibition in Singapore. MORE »

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I found myself on pause and mouth agape at the utter brilliance of the fully customized cult kicks from master local pimps SBTG, Meth, Lazy, PhuEk!, Hypethetic, Ol’ Charlie’s, Republic Union, and Killer Gerbil, and guest pimps Darbotz (Indonesia), Spoonman (Malaysia) and Very Masa (Australia).

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The Brooklyn Art Project, a social network for established and emerging artists worldwide, is organizing the Battle for Brooklyn, a competition that gives artists from around the world a chance to compete for three slots in a Brooklyn based group show on September 28, 29 and 30. The show is part of the 2007 Art Under the Bridge Festival and is the single largest urban forum for experimental art in the United States attended by roughly 150,000 art enthusiasts each year.

Says Brooklyn Art Project Co-Founder Anthony Cospito, “We want to give artists from around the world a chance to be a part of something special and show their work here. This is one example of how social networks can drive real value for people. We’re seeing quite a bit of exciting work from all around the world, with an impressive amount from Asia, Singapore in particular.”

The Brooklyn Art Project recently featured Foon Foono, SpeakCryptic and OneTwoDelta on their site, three artists we wrote about not too long ago.

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Hi, we are The Great Spy Experiment! Our music has been described as ‘a champagne-fuelled orgy of power-pop, indie, rock and dance, informed by everything except J-Lo’. As much guitar-led as it is beat-driven, with indie riffs juxtaposing irresistible pop hooks, and dance textures overlaying dance-able rock-grooves, our music is created with the dance-floor in mind and the bedroom at heart. Though only two-years old and with only an independently-released single to our name, we have played numerous gigs here and abroad. Highlights include the Baybeats, ZoukOut and SingFest festivals here in Singapore, the South-by-Southwest Festival and the San Antonio Indie Fest in Austin and San Antonio, Texas as well as an appearance at Central Park, New York. On 3 September, we released our debut album, “Flower Show Riots”. Welcome to The Flower Show! MORE »