Singapore is the latest stop for Inventioneering Architecture, a traveling exhibition which has traversed the globe from San Franciso to Sharjah to Shanghai. Organised by the Swiss House Singapore, this exhibition showcases Swiss architecture and is here as part of the Singapore Design Festival.

The exhibition is held on a 40-metre-long green platform that was specially designed and built by professors and students of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Lugano (USI) to represent a cross-section of the Swiss Alps. Apart from the impressive platform, it also presents videos, books, as well as models of realised and unrealised projects made by Swiss architects and architecture students. Some of the featured firms are Studio Peter Zumthor, Studio Adrian Meyer, Studio Christian Kerez and Studio Valerio Olgiati.

The choice of location for this architecture exhibition is interesting; holding it in the middle of a gargantuan shopping mall certainly helps to reach out to a wider audience but when I was there, children were running all over and manhandling the delicate building models. I am not sure if the exhibition will survive the onslaught of grubby fingers so if you are keen to see the exhibition, it may be wise to visit it sooner rather than later.

From 22 November to 8 December at VivoCity.
http://www.inventioneering-architecture.ch/

THE DESIGN

I’m a big fan of these one-of-a-kind, multiple-use holiday cards, especially since they come with removable ornaments.

‘A Beautiful X’mas Is What You Make Of It‘ is a collaboration between designer Jonathan Yuen and B.G. Tan. A deck of four cards is housed in a custom designed package. Pieces from each card can be plucked out to form reindeer, Santa Claus, a Christmas tree and even a snowman. The cards are deliberately designed as a blank canvas, to encourage the recipients to use their imagination and creativity to personalise it. “We felt a need to create a Christmas card that is not just ‘another card.” says Jonathan. “You can write your personal greeting messages on the cards and eventually on the figurines, making an interesting and unique typographic motif. Or, children could color the cards and make figures to their own colors and pattern, and form a snowscape with Styrofoam beads. In essence … A Beautiful X’mas Is What You Make Of It.” MORE »

Hello, I’m Jonathan and I operate my own design studio ZXEROKOOL. I handle design and illustration work for clients in the publishing, advertising, entertainment and finance industries. In my spare time I work on my own t-shirt label and fiddle with personal art and design projects. You may have seen my work in the recent Tiger Beer Translate ‘Merge’ book, FiRST Movie Magazine, or on the cover of the upcoming edition of FL.ag magazine. Besides my design work I love to indulge in green tea, air-conditioning, movies and comic books. MORE »

THE DESIGN

“Being very fascinated and interested in Japanese culture, my dress was born out of an adoration of the Japanese yukata or summer kimono,” says Fashion Design student Janis Nah. “I have always wanted to own a yukata as I find them supremely unique. So I decided to sew one for myself. I read up on yukatas and kimonos and how to wear them and decided to reinterpret the design and make a more wearable piece.”

Janis kicked up a soft pastel drop-waist dress, reserving the most surprising accent for the back: a playful obi bow. “This is to bring the attention towards the back of the dress with a simple design to complement it,” she explains. “I designed the dress with plus-size women in mind. By placing a big bow behind, the attention will be brought towards the back of the dress, playing down areas you want to disguise.” MORE »

When I was in college, one of my professors asked me to draw a continuous line on the blackboard. He eventually told me to stop when I reached the door, at which point he politely asked me to leave the auditorium. That is exactly what came to mind when I read about Joshua Yang’s upcoming solo exhibition titled Superstring: Timepieces.

Like the title suggests, the theme of the show revolves around Time and Memory. Joshua makes technical drawings of watches and mechanical clocks, all done from memory. His artworks are done within a 24-hour time period and in a single continuous line with no breaks or overlaps. Each drawing is titled with a number indicating the start date and time, the end date and time, and the break date and time.

To further emphasize the notion of time and continuity, Joshua will confine himself to his Marina Mandarin art studio for a continuous 48-hour period immediately following his December 11 exhibition. He will create a mural directly on one of the studio walls, only stopping for “permissible” breaks.

From 11 December till 31 January 2008 at Marina Mandarin.

THE DESIGN

Small Book and Short Distance Reading is not just a collection of four short stories; it’s a pocket size book with a handmade fabric cover, with stitches surrounded by untouched raw edges. ‘The book is small and the stories are short which make it almost disposable’, says creator Aiwei. ‘The book cover is made with fabric to give it a different feel, softness and texture. The format is pocket size, because I like the idea whereby people can slip a book inside their pocket easily and read it whenever they want … it’s like eating a bowl of instant noodles … it requires no commitment, unlike reading a novel.’ MORE »

Along with Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto was regularly regarded as one of the great masters of modern architecture. But unlike Le Corbusier who believed that ‘the house is a machine for living in’, Aalto adopted a more humanist approach, redressing the balance between nature, social needs and architecture in his design. “The mission of an architect is to give life a more sensitive structure, and to put the material world into harmony with human life,” he once wrote.

In partnership with the Alvar Aalto Foundation and the Embassy of Finland, the NUS Museum is presenting an exhibition on Alvar Aalto, with a focus on the single family houses that he had designed in his career spanning over 50 years. Although most of these 100 designs were realised, they received little attention in comparison to his monumental public buildings such as the Viipuri Library or Baker House Senior Dormitory. The only exceptions had been Villa Mairea, the Muuratsalo Experimental House and Aalto’s own house, which are commonly viewed to be an integral part of his architectural legacy.

MORE »

Hi, my name is Justin Lee. I am a fine artist and graphic designer and my work has been recognized through commissions by the Singapore Art Museum, the Esplanade and the New Majestic Hotel. My art reflects a fine sense of contemporary design flavored with an essence of Singapore traditions. The themes in my work underscore familiar Asian cultures with a pop treatment that celebrates Asian values in an endearing tongue in cheek manner. I was awarded the Mont Blanc Young Artist World Patronage Project in Hamburg (Germany) in 2006, and scholarships to LASALLE and NAFA.

BOOKMARK THIS!

Untill October 2008: Mural in the basement lobby of the Singapore Art Museum. MORE »

THE DESIGN

Whether you can remember the 50’s and 60’s, or you are just nostalgic for early space-age toys, no toy captures the feel of that era more than Yonezawa’s Smoking Spaceman Tin Toy Robot.

gagatree designers Yang Qiao’e and Lester Lim added their own quirk to this fabulous retro robot and transformed it into a funky, contemporary object. The designers explain, ‘The Big Shot Robocard holds Music For Your Soul And Paper On A Roll and offers a unique blend of form, function and fun. The robot can hold up to fourteen CDs and keeps a roll of toilet paper handy for any spill, leak, drip, drop or any other emergency.’ MORE »

THE ART

‘Female of the Species is one of my few selected personal artworks which is also one of my favorites as it generates a kind of positive vibe,’ says Ben Ho, Multimedia Designer and the man behind Chaotic Constructives. ‘Like many other designers who love listening to music whilst at work, I decided to create an artwork inspired by the song Female of the Species. The basis of this artwork contains elements of stuff that women generally love; shoes, bags, accessories etc. The woman in the illustration is Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, and I deliberately choose one of her photos with a smiling face in order to give my artwork a young, vibrant and positive touch. As a result it was very well received and it even got featured on yaymonday. This is when I started getting exposure, followed by multiple invitations to produce artwork for events, magazines, books and apparel.’ MORE »

When Michele and I stepped into Majestic Bar when it first opened, we were instantly enchanted by the space. Fusing gorgeous architecture (admittedly, I have a soft spot for shophouses) with stunning installation art on every floor, I realised that it had been a while since an environment, much less a bar in Singapore, made my imagination purr so contentedly. I had the chance to speak with Mark Wee of Annex A architects, the firm behind Majestic Bar, and as he explained the concept and creative process behind the project, a voice in my head said, “This is amazing, if only people could hear this…” Which got me thinking about having a little do just for Culturepush, an opportunity for everyone to find out more about great work from the artists themselves.

Hence, we are pleased to present our first Culturepush event, Next Stop: Wonderland! Details below.

NEXT STOP: WONDERLAND

Inspired by an enchanted forest, the Majestic Bar is a hidden oasis in the heart of Chinatown. Conceived as a tree within a building, each story in this three-storey bar represents a different part and experience of being in the tree.

In a rare collaboration of art and architecture, Majestic Bar integrates artworks by Zadok ben David, Donna Ong, Sandra Lee and Yuki Chong, transforming a classic shophouse into a living work of art.

Join us for a night of drinks and conversation with architects Annex A, artists Donna Ong, Jason Lim, Sandra Lee, Yuki Chong and Audrey Phng of Asian Art Options as they bring us on a very personal tour of Majestic Bar.

The first of a series of intimate and friendly tours and talks initiated by Culturepush, we invite arts enthusiasts, aspiring artists and ultimately, people curious about art, to meet up-and-coming and successful Singapore-based artists and designers to find out more about their work.

The event is free. To reserve a place, email Michele by Friday, 23rd November.

NEXT STOP: WONDERLAND
8pm, Wednesday, 28th November

Majestic Bar
41 Bukit Pasoh Road [Map]
www.majesticbar.com

So join us for some midweek tipple in a gorgeous space!

Michele interviewed Donna Ong on her work for Majestic Bar.

I am Alvin Tan and I am part of :phunk studio, a creative collective that propagates a visual signature that seamlessly blends diverse influences into a singular creative thought that never fails to revive itself in the ever-fleeting world of art, design and culture. Our cross-disciplinary approach is best described as “an aesthetic collective consciousness” focused on experimenting with new approaches to visual expressions. MORE »

Collaboration between artists, while not new, has been a strong trend in the arts in recent years. If we consider that Singapore’s contemporary arts scene is still in its relative infancy, or at very best, on the awkward brink of puberty, collaboration can only be a good thing bringing with it a culture of curiosity, experimentation and communication.

Dual City Sessions: Null, conceptualized and curated by Felix Ng, founder of design studio, SILNT, is an interesting look into collaborative efforts between 28 Japanese and Singaporean artists of diverse disciplines. Each country’s team of artists worked based on the themes of nature, architecture and other items symbolic of their country. Using only two elements in monochrome, the artworks were conceived, designed and constructed personally by each artist. MORE »

THE DESIGN

Model: Dinara

Pablo Picasso once said ‘Beauty? To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.’

Young fashion designer Elvin Tan created a dress which he aptly named Extreme Beauty. ‘The design is inspired by people suffering in the name of beauty,’ he says. ‘In the pursuit of beauty there is pain. In the Victorian era it was the ultra-small waists, and corsets were used to painfully reshape a woman’s body. In Africa beauty required piercing and scarification. So, I believe beauty is an endless topic and the willingness of a person to suffer to achieve beauty will never change. People will always try to do something in order to achieve the standard of beauty, from eyebrow plucking to extreme plastic surgery. Anyway, nothing is beautiful or ugly in itself. Beauty lies in the beholder’s eye.’ MORE »

THE MAN
My name is Giuliano Gullotti. I am an Italian multi-instrumentalist based in Singapore, and although I am not exactly a musician by profession, being in bands and recording music has always played a major part in my life. When I was three, my parents asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. ‘A music conductor’, I said. Now I am quite happy to let people listen to the music in my head. And when I’m not putting my children to sleep, I like to hole up in the studio at night and dream up soundscapes.

THE BAND
Amberhaze represents a process towards a sound in constant evolution in which I let experimentation and trial-and-error lead the way. Very often my finished tracks sound nothing like what I had planned at first. But it’s these random surprises that attract me the most to making music. MORE »