The Cuckoo Couture Design Awards

Carbon4 presents Carbonated Vol. 2.1, a collaborative event to celebrate local urban art. Local artists and establishments will come together this Friday, 30th July, at Orchard Central to showcase an exhibition of art installations and to launch a range of Carbonated collaboration products. These products have come to fruition as local artists, The Killer Gerbil, Antz, Sheryo & Zero get in cahoots with the event organizer Carbon4. Also, witness the action by the latter three who will get busy with Live Painting showcases alongside their Interactive Art Installations. 30 July, 7:30pm till late at Orchard Central, 277 Orchard Road.

If you know the music of Inch Chua, you will come to love how she playfully contrasts quirky electronic beats and alluringly acoustic songs with heartfelt lyrics. Join her in this Late Nite outing as she plays her first full length concert, featuring tunes from her debut EP The Bedroom and brand new full-length album Wallflower. This is a show not to be missed as she brings a whole troupe of backing musicians known as The Metric System to add to the festivities. 30 July, 2130hr at The Esplanade Recital Studio. Ticket charge: S$25 (excluding taxes) at all SISTIC outlets.

Celebrating its 7^th edition this year, Singapore Short Cuts continues to be one of the most popular and widely anticipated showcases of local short films in Singapore.This year’s program features a diverse selection of some of the most innovative and outstanding recent Singapore short films as well as a retrospective of Singapore filmmaker K. Rajagopal, a three-time recipient of the Special Jury Award for the Singapore Short Film Category at the Singapore International Film Festival. All screenings will be followed by discussions with the filmmakers. 31 July, 1, 7 & 8 August, 2pm at Gallery Theatre. Free admission with tickets. Click here for more information.

The Whiteness Of A Whale by Zhao Renhui and Satoshi Kataoka is a project with The Institute of Critical Zoologists. Residents of the Southern Japanese seaside village Omishima are often called “The Whale People”, or kujira no hitobito, people who live among whales. They got their name because of their obsessive and bizarre worship of whales and all things whale-related. In 1937, something happened that seized the entire village's imagination: a monk reported a sighting of a white whale along the village coast. Thus the search for the white whale began. The villagers raised funds to build a massive underwater tower in the middle of the ocean, which took more than ten years to complete. They had to cross a five-mile bridge on foot to reach the tower, all in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the white whale if returned. In 1960, a boat with an iconic white whale’s tail was built to carry out more search expeditions for the white whale. The boat had an underwater viewing chamber which, on a clear day, allowed the villagers to see up to 5 miles through the ocean depths. Today, few residents remember this way of life, although the watch tower and the boat are still around. A few still continue the search for the white whale. 27 July– 1 August at Jendela (Visual Art Space), Esplanade Level 2.

Through a series of artworks featuring bunny-eared and red-nosed human characters, Foon Foono presents and explores the humanity of his subject matters by accentuating their fragility and vulnerability. The sharp contrast between the dark background of his artworks and the colourful characters depicted is gripping and intense, and is a reminder of how human beings tend to dramatize or glorify their own feelings and seek refuge in their own intimate realms. 23-28 July at The Substation Gallery. Opening: 23 July, 7pm. Admission: Free.

Get your portrait drawn in 20 mins at the OIC Portrait Day. 7 Aug, 2pm-7pm at MAAD.

This annual series of presentations on design showcases objects, products, interiors, landscapes and architecture. It aims to promote awareness of the excellence of local design; provide a platform for designers to interact with students, educators, practitioners and users; and share new design perspectives and solutions devised to meet the emerging and evolving needs of changing lifestyles. Here and There, This and That by Tan Kay Ngee. 26 Jul, 7:30-9pm at Filmgarde Iluma. Click here for tickets.