Night Out With The Arts
094116Q (Group 4)
The night was silent and the darkness punctuated only by occasional flashes of light from hand-held cameras. With a soft hisst, strategically placed mist-machines released their contents onto the grounds. It was 10.30pm on the 16th of July, and the first unveiling of the Paraboles 2.0 in Singapore has begun outside the National Museum of Singapore.
The Paraboles 2.0 was the highlight of Singapore Night Festival 2010, which took place from the 16th to 17th of July.
The festival is collaboration between Peranakan Museum, Singapore Arts Museum, The Substation, SMU and National Museum to showcase and interact with people through highly engaging and interactive performances.
Paraboles 2.0 is an outdoor performance presented through the collaboration between Singaporean video artist Victric Thng and Compagnie Off, all the way from France. The performance involved the use of 6 gigantic satellite dishes to capture different radio wavelengths and playing them out.
Coupled with video projections and accompanying musicians, an eerily beautiful abstract experience is produced.
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Paraboles 2.0 was not the only thing to look forward to for the festival. There are many other acts and performances from artists all over the world.
Take for example: (No)Bleeding Hearts Club is a non-media based platform aiming to involve audiences through the use of video, sound and visual installations. Putho! is a circus act from Cambodia which put up an exciting performance with acrobats flying gracefully through the air as they used stunts to illustrate a story.
One can visit the cheeky carnival-like Abusement Park at the SAM. Drink from the blood-red Fountain of Youth and explore the dungeons where artworks by NAFA Arts students were displayed. They even had their own currency there.
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“I hope that sponsors allow more events like this. Orchard Road is a little dead after hours and it would be more interesting if there are more extensive events like this,” commented one visitor as she sat with her sister beside The World’s Slowest SMS Billboard.
It never gets boring with so many things to see and experience. The Peranakan Museum hosted interesting workshops for people of all ages and The Substation put up music gigs by local bands. Take a break and try out the Peranakan food sold outside the Peranakan Museum.
Catch Roving Artists, artists like Andree Weschler set up random performances anywhere and anytime outside The Substation. Take up a spray can or painting brush and unleash your creativity on the canvas between the Museum and Substation for the Community Mural Project.
Catch Roving Artists, artists like Andree Weschler set up random performances anywhere and anytime outside The Substation. Take up a spray can or painting brush and unleash your creativity on the canvas between the Museum and Substation for the Community Mural Project.
Colourful sights and interactive performances are what dominated the festival.
“It was such a good performance that no words can describe it. I personally felt that people should learn to appreciate these kinds of art performances more. There were a lot of camera flashes and it was disturbing for others who want experience the performance,” said a rather disgruntled Ms Goh as after squeezing out of the crowds streaming away from a successful performance of Paraboles 2.0.
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Food For Thought
093245Y (Group 4)
It’s a Friday evening and the sidewalks along Clarke Quay are filled with people, dressed for a night out. Nothing out of the ordinary really, except for the fact that this time most of the crowd is here for a different reason. It’s the week of the Singapore Food Festival. This year the festival takes place on Clarke Quay Food Street along Read Bridge from the 16th to the 24th of July.
The festival is held every July for duration of about 2 weeks. Tourists and locals flock to the locations, hoping for a taste of the delightful delicacies. If we could put it simply, it’s the Great Singapore Sale of food. The prices aren’t that much different anywhere, but since it only comes around once a year, it would be the cardinal sin not to go.
The deal seems so good that even first time visitors can’t help but get in on all the fuss. One such example is Australian backpacker, Alexandria Garcia. The self-confessed food junkie admits that she was immediately drawn to the festival when she saw the stalls were selling exotic dishes. “I was actually backpacking through Clarke Quay when I saw this festival, so my friends and I just decided to come here for food”. She says she enjoys the atmosphere as well as the cheap pricing here compared to the cost of food back home. The Aussie claims to love the food so much, she would return to the Backpacking Inn, where she is holding up here, to tell all the patrons there to try it. When asked what her favorite dish was, she grins widely and without hesitation says,” the chilli crab!”
The food festival has been a vital and large part of Singapore’s rich food culture. It started out in 1994, and is in its sixth year now. As the years go by, the numbers increase. This could be due to the rising population in Singapore, from the influx of foreign talents and immigrants, or it could just be that more Singaporeans are being born into the culture of `food-lovin’.
Indian expatriate, Mr. Steve M Dadlani, is visiting the Food Festival for the second time, this year. He said he was introduced to it last year by a friend, and has fallen in love with it ever since. With a big grin and a hearty appetite, it’s impossible to miss that very fact. Though he loves the food in hawker centers, he decided to come to the festival, for a change. The festival offers a variety of dishes that are difficult to find in food courts these days. Dishes like tau sar piah and a select few Teochew dishes are truly a delicacy.
The sport shop owner plans to bring his family back again, to let them try out some of the dishes. “I also hope to eat some of the stuff I didn’t get to eat today, like my favorite, duck rice”, he smiles toothily.
The food festival is also being held at other locations such as Central River Promenade and Clifford Square.
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Flea To Singapore Expo
A greater variety of stalls were being incorporated for the second Mega Flea Market. Games stalls and lucky draws, which were unavailable during the first flea market, had been made available for the second flea. There was also a booth for married couples to sign up for photo shoot packages from Mikan Photo Studio.
Shoppers could see the array of products available at The Mega Flea Market 2. They were ranged from apparels and accessories for genders, soft toys, infant clothes, snacks, facial products, cosmetics, perfumes, IT products, books, stationeries and many more.
Ms Foo Quee Yiap, who was selling honey and body care products at the flea, heard about the event through email and decided to book a stall. She felt that she could get good exposure for her shop since she had just started business with her partners. “This will help create awareness of our product in the market,” she said.
The convention hall was swarmed with people of various ages, browsing through books at the different trolleys all over the place. Even with the World Cyber Game event just a hall away, the patrons were clearly too immersed in their books to even pay their slightest attention to the gaming sound effects and cheers that penetrated through the walls.
Flea To Singapore Expo
094335X (Group 4)
After the first ever Mega Flea Market earlier this year, it was back again with more stalls at the Singapore Expo last weekend.
The organizer, T. Cartel had been collecting feedback from vendors and shoppers about the inaugural flea market from their Facebook accounts. The useful feedback was taken in by the organizer and they had been putting in a lot of effort to make the second event a better shopping experience for their vendors and shoppers.
A greater variety of stalls were being incorporated for the second Mega Flea Market. Games stalls and lucky draws, which were unavailable during the first flea market, had been made available for the second flea. There was also a booth for married couples to sign up for photo shoot packages from Mikan Photo Studio.Raffles Girls School student, Amanda, a frequent flea market shopper, had been looking forward to the large variety of items sold there, especially branded clothes like those from Topshop. “It’s much cheaper and I don’t really mind that it’s second-hand,” she said.
The Mega Flea Market 2 had been a great success with its variety of items for people of different age groups. Also, there were more stalls as compared to the first flea market.
Shoppers could see the array of products available at The Mega Flea Market 2. They were ranged from apparels and accessories for genders, soft toys, infant clothes, snacks, facial products, cosmetics, perfumes, IT products, books, stationeries and many more.As for a typical housewife like Madam Harita, the flea market had given her a chance to get things for her child at cheaper price.
“I was curious about it and heard from friends that the things are cheap and good,” she said, while holding on to a pram.
Other than The Mega Flea Market 2, there were also events held in other halls at the same time. Some of the events include the John Little’s Sale, Furniture Show (Home Ideas 2010) and Malay Food Show.
However, this did not stop interested stall vendors from booking a stall for the flea.
Ms Foo Quee Yiap, who was selling honey and body care products at the flea, heard about the event through email and decided to book a stall. She felt that she could get good exposure for her shop since she had just started business with her partners. “This will help create awareness of our product in the market,” she said.“Since we are selling food, the organizer felt it was a good mix to the event and so we were selected,” Foo said.
Ms Raodah found no reasons to reject when T.Cartel informed her about the event. She was selling brand new clothes, all below the price of 30 at the flea. She used to set up stalls during the first Mega Flea Market event and also at Chinatown. “Traffic in the Expo is quite high, so I guess my business is pretty good,” she said.
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Singaporeans Clearly Love Their Books
092370D (Group 4)
The convention hall was swarmed with people of various ages, browsing through books at the different trolleys all over the place. Even with the World Cyber Game event just a hall away, the patrons were clearly too immersed in their books to even pay their slightest attention to the gaming sound effects and cheers that penetrated through the walls.This was the National Library Board (NLB) Library Book Sale 2010.
Held at the Singapore Expo on the 10th and 11th of July, people were encouraged to browse through stacks of old books from 9:30am to 8pm. With a myriad selection of over 370,000 titles, the book enthusiasts perceived the giant convention doors as gateways to heaven. As the day went on, the convention floor seemed to be moving in a fluid motion as masses of people entered and exited the hall simultaneously.
Other than the payment, storage and the large areas available for casual reading, the convention hall was separated into four sections according to the four main languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Be it fiction or non-fiction books, they are all sold at S$1 or S$2. Stacks of old magazines worth S$5 per stack are also for sale. Among the books in the English section, they are categorized by their genre and it has quite a variety to satisfy English-speaking patrons from all walks of life.
“The purpose of the book sale is to give back to the community by offering them books at affordable prices and also to make space for the new books that are coming in every year.” Mr Phua Ree Kee, head of NLB’s Corporate Communications Associate, pointed out.
After collecting a shopping basket, people made their way down the aisles and some ran their fingers along the spines of old library books coupled with appraising glances. Those who were more enthusiastic hurried to dig through the existing piles for lost literary treasures.
The event seemed like an opportunity not to be missed for families, as parents can purchase books at affordable prices for their children. There are children who have developed an interest in books but can never get their books because of the hefty price tags that come along with it. With this book sale, parents will not have qualms over the price issues.
“My husband and I have picked around 30 books. There are some books that we want to read but mainly we picked the fiction books for our daughter,” Mrs Jacqueline Tan, a fellow patron, said.
Because of the “60 books per customer” policy, there were quite a few people who sat down and looked through the huge stack of books that they had rummaged from the trolleys. And of that group, they brought their own trolleys to ease their burden of carrying plastic bags of books back home.
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