BASIC.
When ART Comes Alive
FEBRUARY 2015
Hands of Hope
Time is running out for Who let the dog... Die? “old Singapore” Top 5 things to do in ECP BREAKING FREE OF THE SMOKY CHAINS
Chaos in Creativity
See you!... On the 29th!
As of late...
WHEN ART COMES ALIVE
signifies a journey of a vehicle, the determination one has and power. Thus, in the 21st century, with the ‘DRIVE’ that Singapore has, it is able to boost itself to even greater opportunities in all areas, becoming a city full of life.
With a fantastic line up of local and international artists displaying their artworks at the Barracks, the public will be It features exquisite artworks ranging spoilt for choice as they take an from wall murals to sculptures to afternoon stroll through the grounds, photographic prints. DRIVE had an open getting acquainted with public art. call submission where only 20 out of 60 submissions were chosen. They were By: Nicolette Lim & Cheryl Lim picked based on the fact that they were able to make a project and also on their DRIVE is a four month long public art artistic skills. project where artists, both local and international, come together to display their works at Gillman Barracks. This is the first time Gillman Barracks has held DRIVE, which begun on 26 September 2014, closing with a finale event called Art After Dark on 23 January 2015.
So what is the meaning behind the DRIVE project? As quoted by Faith Ng, 21, one of the gallerist of the DRIVE project, “The purpose of DRIVE was to give aspiring artists based in Singapore an opportunity to showcase their work.” she says with a smile. Not only that, but it also meant the start of 2014 F1 Singapore Grand Prix Season and the different meanings of DRIVE- It 2 FEBRUARY 2015
The unique placement of the artworks were expressed on the ‘environmental canvas’. The more introverted artworks would be placed at the back of buildings while the loud and colourful artworks would be placed at the open spaced areas befitting of the artist’s personality.
Accelerator City shows her first impression of Singapore where people and their connections come and go in this ever-changing city.
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“I think it’s pretty cool, it has a very wide range.” says Melissa Jiang, a student from Singapore Management University (SMU) studying Bachelor of Business Administration. Jia En, another student from SMU commented, “The art pieces ranges from Southeast Asia to European. Very eclectic. Overall, it is very elaborate.” Merryn J. Trevethan was announced the winner of DRIVE public art project and walked away with a cash prize of S$5000 and a curated spread in Art Republik. Using a whitewashed wall as her canvas, she painted her winning piece, Accelerator City. The distinctive piece exploded around the building, allowing the viewers to be able to view it from many angles.
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her rich voice and distinct voice rang throughout the Barracks. Audrey Yeo, 32, curator of the DRIVE project voiced, “Art should never be stressful. It is a cultural product. Art allows people to find meaning in life.” ••••••
Dawn Ng’s artpiece, ‘GREEN’ is part of her series called ‘Everything you ever wanted’ which shows her visual documentary of contemporary Singapore. It tells a story of a country in the making.
“These art pieces have really inspired me as a designer and I hope that this will trigger ideas for my fashion line.” Sirion Teankaprasith, 30, creative fashion designer answered gleefully. One of the pinnacle of DRIVE was Vanessa Fernandez “Vandetta”’s performance of “Re-tracking”: Silent Moments in Singapore Film History. It was an edited video collage which she made using footage of silent moments in Illustrated by Mary Lee, Institutionalised Pressure Singaporean film from the 1950s – 1970s, depicts the preference of the economic sector over the creative sector in Singapore. and then re-tracked with a soundtrack. The audience became entranced as BASIC.
FEBRUARY 2015 3
As of late...
Time is running out One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. There are many places in Singapore to find these ‘treasure and what better way than at the Sungei Road Flea Market to hunt for some antique artifacts while taking a little trip down memory lane in ‘Old Singapore’? The Sungei Road Flea Market came about in the 1930s where stolen goods were sold to earn a sum, therefore earning its name (and also being known as), the ‘Thieves Market’. The market is a historical icon for Singapore, becoming famous for second-hand items and many vintage finds. It was cut down to half its original size of seven hectares to start construction for the new Sungei Road MRT Station and may cease to exist after its expected completion in 2017. Majority of the vendors in the market are retirees, looking to earn a quick buck since they are not able to work anymore. 70-year-old Peter who has been selling second-hand goods and repaired home appliances at the market for 16 years says, “People say when you like your job, you can work well.”
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Indeed, this was true as we were greeted by the lively vendors trying to sell off their wares to visitors of the market. For some, this market is a way to help the less fortunate. 49-year-old Nur has been going to the market for 3 years now and she feels that, “I can help those who are selling things. I can buy from them, at least I can help them a bit.” She then gives the items she buys at the market to others in need. Mr Hafiz Naeem (41) has been in Singapore for over 30 years and been selling his wares at the market for more than 20. Further proving that the market can really be the home to all sorts of items, Mr Naeem sells, “Model phones, watches and other things”. Mr Naeem’s 50-year-old brother, Mr Abdullah Khan, an aviation officer in Pakistan came to the market to visit him, this being his first time in Singapore. “Actually in Pakistan these types of markets are available and they are very common.” The thing he likes about the market is the cheap prices of every single item sold, with almost all items sold at less or maybe more than 50% of its original value. BASIC.
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for “Old Singapore” Like Mr Naeem’s store, almost every other store sells a wide variety of items. Specialised stores that only sell a niche range of items are not common, possibly due to the fact that the vendors take in everything they feel can be resold.
BY: MEGAN KHAW
The Sungei Road Flea Market is truly a haven for the ageing population in Singapore as it may be their only source of income as they are unable to work and may have financially tight situations. The whole market will welcome you with the vintage bliss of ‘Old Singapore’.
The lively flea market, “Thieves Market”
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The second-hand goods sold in the “Thieves Market”
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FEBRUARY 2015 5
Leisure
1. Fishing
Top 5 things
East Coast Park is home to the longest and most popular fishing jetty in Singapore, Bedok Jetty. “Aside from the open sea, East Coast Park is definitely the best fishing spot on the island,” quipped 70-year-old retiree, Mr Zhong. The seasoned fisherman of 40 years finds the jetty the best place to fish in Singapore due to the spaciousness. Although mainly populated by elderly retirees who are regulars at the spot, many youngsters can be seen fishing there on the weekends.
2. Skateboarding
In the middle of East Coast Park is the Xtreme SkatePark, Singapore’s first skate park built to international competition standards. Complete with launches, ledges and rails of different sizes, the skatepark is built to suit skaters of all levels. Skateboarders of all kinds gather here for the kick of adrenaline the sport has to offer. 16 year-old avid skater Fionne Hoeden
The sprawling jetty provides ample space for beginners to try their hands calls this skate park his second home, at fishing, even on weekends when the coming to the park four times a week place is usually crowded. with his group of equally passionate If you’re a newbie to fishing, Bedok Jetty would be the perfect place for you to try your hand at this rewarding sport.
Mr Zhong talking about his fishing experience in ECP 6 FEBRUARY 2015
skater friends. Aside from the convenience of the skate park being a stone’s throw away from his house, the serene sound of the crashing waves that can be heard nearby is another reason he likes skating here.
Teenagers cycling along ECP BASIC.
to do in ECP
Leisure
BY: DANIEL YAP
3. Cycling
With a 15 km long stretch, it is no wonder cycling is such a popular activity at East Coast Park. With bicycle rental shops located every few kilometres, getting a bike is nothing to worry about. At just 8 dollars for 2 hours, cycling is a cheap and good way to explore the entire stretch from head to toe.
4. Photography
In a hectic lifestyle, one has to occasionally slow down to smell the roses. Or even better, capture the beauty of them. That’s exactly what Raymond Wee likes to do. “Aside from my kids and the flora and fauna, I usually capture landscape sceneries here. What I like about the park is that there’s a sense of space you can’t get anywhere else.”
“there’s a sense of space you can’t get anywhere else.”
“This place is spacious and the clearly paved cycling route makes it much better and definitely safer than cycling on the A suggestion is to cycle with a camera on road.” commented recreational cyclist you, so that you can capture the beautiful Ivan Gan. scenes you see along the way.
5. Eat, Eat, EAT!
After a long and tiring day, there is nothing better than to be greeted with a haven of delicious cuisine. East Coast Lagoon Food Village, an alfresco-style hawker centre, promises a variety of local delectables for every palate. Queuing for food in East Coast Lagoon Food Village
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Laksa, BBQ stingray and satay are just some of the many dishes there to treat your taste buds. Don’t forgot to wash everything down with a big glass of freshly squeezed sugarcane juice! FEBRUARY 2015 ••••
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People.
BREAKING FREE FROM THE SMOKY CHAINS “I started to smoke when I turned legal, together with my friend,” confessed the year 3 student from the School of Chemical and Life Sciences. Two years ago, Venise Lim Jing Ting was hanging out with her friend and when they started a conversation about smoking, they got curious. They went on to try their first cigarette to “celebrate” their coming of age. “It was really fun to smoke as you see smoke coming out of your mouth,” Venise explained the reason for her addiction. “At first I wasn’t addicted to it yet. However, there were more and more occasions for ‘social smoking’.” Gradually, Venise thought that her addiction was going out of control and that was when she decided to quit smoking. She admitted that she love to smoke, but she disliked the feeling of being controlled by the addiction. 8 FEBRUARY 2015
Venise was rather disappointed in herself when she was addicted to smoking. Using that disappointment, she was motivated to quit smoking. She laughed as she talked about her experience of buying nicotine gum, “I bought it to help myself to get over my addiction, but I didn’t eat it because I heard from the others that if you eat it too much you will start to have ulcers. It sounded horrifying and I decided to control myself through willpower instead.” Venise explained that the first week trying to quit smoking was the toughest as the temptation was overwhelming. She also had withdrawal symptoms, like breaking out in cold sweat and her hands would be shaking constantly. Overcoming her addiction was progressing smoothly as Venise was having her common tests. She was constantly studying and it took her mind off it. Now, Venise has totally overcome her addiction and has stopped smoking for four months. BASIC.
People. Venise thinks that overcoming an addiction has to be based on one’s willpower and determination saying that, “those who want to quit smoking have to be motivated themselves.” Venise went on to elaborate, “when people tell me to stop smoking, I thought to myself, ‘why should I listen to them?’ However, when I started to feel controlled by the addiction, I told myself that I have to quit smoking.” “My friends all don’t smoke, but I do think that being surrounded by people who smoke will make quitting hard to achieve,” Venise said, smiling sheepishly. “My boyfriend quit smoking for me,” Venise laughed. Her boyfriend promised to quit smoking for her several times but failed eventually. Venise then pushed her boyfriend by telling him that he will not be able to quit smoking and that he should give up on the thought. Unknowingly, Venise hurt his ego and to prove her wrong, her boyfriend quit smoking, and he has successfully quit smoking for 2 months.
The number of smokers who have the intention to quit smoking cut a worrying figure, as 58% of the lower and 53% of the upper level students who smoked revealed they had no intention to quit
The road to quit smoking is tough, so “put it out before it puts you out”. •••••• By: Soong Check Eng
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FEBRUARY 2015 9
People.
Hands of Hope “To me, social work requires a lot of sacrifices and intangible values like empathy and patience.” He answers as he took a sip of coffee before continuing,” I think many people do not know much about social work, but I think it is one of the toughest profession out there.” Wayne Lee is a Year 2 student currently studying at the Diploma of Social Sciences in Nanyang Polytechnic. Starting at the tender age of 14, he has contributed to the society by helping the less fortunate in many different ways. From volunteering at Ren Ci Community Hospital where he spent time with elderly patients, to giving out food rations and cleaning houses in rental flats. He was even one of the organisers for a programme called Youth Voluntary Involvement Programme (YVIP) under the Student Voluntary Corps in Singapore. He taught youths aged 14 to 20 on how to volunteer and equip them with the necessary skills through an annual three day two night camp.
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Having experienced some unfortunate times in the past, he felt that he could understand the needs of the less fortunate and would like to help them as much as he could. Be it working with the low-income families, people with special needs, he knows that putting their needs before his own makes a great difference in their day.
Besides, his course of study, Social Work, helps provides him with better resources and connections, giving him multiple opportunities to fuel his passion to help the community. Lee believes that the people that he assisted gave him so much more than what he can offer to them in return. The life lessons he learnt. The whole process of meeting new people and dedicating his time to make them happy is priceless.
“Social Work is a profession for people with the passion to work with people and give them aid first hand.” BASIC.
People. He values genuineness and “it may hardly come by nowadays, but the clients I work with are always sincere with their emotions be it from a good or bad volunteer experience.” he says with a smile on his face.
“AS YOU GROW OLDER, YOU WILL DISCOVER THAT YOU HAVE TWO HANDS, ONE FOR HELPING YOURSELF, THE OTHER FOR HELPING OTHERS”
Of course, volunteering is never an easy job. It takes time and patience to understand them and a strong determination to never give up. One of the challenges that Wayne faces would be working with new volunteers. “Social Work is a profession for people with the passion to work with people and give them aid first hand.” he says. Lee says he hopes to specialise in the field of special needs or in the correctional setting in the future if he were to get into the social work industry. He feels that ex-offenders often struggle in life after imprisonment and should be given more opportunities to help them choose the right choices while people with special needs require more resources, so that they will be able to get vocational training and proper education, allowing them to lead a more manageable life. “I feel that these two groups are highly neglected in society. Therefore, I would want to work towards improving the services catered to them.” Lee says fiercely. ••••••
-AUDREY HEPBURN BASIC.
BY: NICOLETTE LIM
FEBRUARY 2015 11
Our Opinion...
Who let the
It all started with the online web backlash between Ada Ong and Alison McElwee. Ong saved a seven-month-old puppy, Tammy, and gave it to McElwee, however she put down the dog without informing Ong.
As affluent Singaporeans have the ability to purchase the pets, they tend to take adopting or purchasing of pets lightly. Most of them bought the pets without hesitation, but only realise the troubles that come with it.
There is definitely a growing trend of pet abandonment among the affluent Singaporeans and I must say that it is not right to do so. Many affluent Singaporeans are treating our furry companions as a disposable item and do not think about the commitments that might arise in the long term.
In a way or another, social media is the accomplice for the increasing trend in pet abandonment. Pet lovers love to brag about their pets on social media and publicise how wonderful their pets are. Singaporeans who are able to afford a pet will likely be tempted to buy one as the pets are adorable and fun to be with. In the end, they are just viewing the pets as if they were their toys but not a lifetime companion.
I’m not trying to say that all affluent Singaporeans abandon their pets, there are also plenty of pet lovers among the affluent Singaporeans. Some of my friends even complained that they are worse off than some well-groomed dogs. However, it is also undeniable that as Singaporeans’ purchasing power increase, they tend to give in to temptation more often and make many impulse buys, and pets are one of their favourite impulse buy.
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There are pet owners that do not know how to train their pets and end up leaving these pets on the streets, or giving them to the shelter. If the pet owners really loved their pet, they should not be abandoning it no matter what problems there are.
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dogs... die? By: Soong Check Eng & Daniel Yap
In order to deter the act of pet abandonment, the media should be publicising the importance of thinking twice before purchasing or adopting a pet as taking care of it may not seem to be as easy as one think. The government could also implement stronger regulations on adopting or buying pets.
Our Opinion...
Over 3 million dogs and cats are killed every year because shelters are too full and there aren’t enough adoptive homes. Can you imagine the number of lives ruined due to those impulsive purchases? As mentioned earlier, social media have major influence over many people and we should make use of it to create awareness among the people around us. Even every small effort counts, so why not share with your friends about the growing trend of pet abandonment and create greater awareness now? ••••
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FEBRUARY 2015 13
Our Opinion...
Chaos in Furthermore, just because she is an artist, it doesn’t mean that she can place her art anywhere she wants.
Does creativity really require all this chaos?
I don’t think so. While I was reading articles about this case, I felt that Samantha Lo should have thought about the consequences of her actions and the aftermath before going around Robinson and Maxwell roads to display her works. She should have known that in Singapore, the laws are very strict and are heavily enforced. Thus, instead of placing her art in public places, she should have gotten permission from the authorities first. 14 FEBRUARY 2015
However, I also felt that the reason why she went to public places in Singapore to put up her artworks was because she wanted an outlet to express her creativity. These creative works were actually humorous and amusing and I believe that there were many people who thought so too. These works were of no ill intention and were only parodying Singaporean culture and Singlish. What she was doing is a form of art, so I feel that Singaporeans should learn to appreciate her work and also other creative works that are similar to hers. On top of that, she could have been trying to create more awareness of street art in Singapore as the general art scene in Singapore is not as big as compared to other countries. Moreover, due to the lack BASIC.
Creativity
Our Opinion...
By: Cheryl Lim
From this case, I think that this heated discussion among Singaporeans about this whole issue shows that the graffiti art scene in Singapore has hope as more I felt that the netizens had actually played people are slowly opening to the idea of graffiti. I hope that in the future, a role in this case and have somehow aspiring artists would not get faltered by influenced the final decision of the this incident and continue on spreading sentence that was given to Lo. Certain art in Singapore but in a legal way. May netizens felt that what she did was just be through art exhibitions. street art and see it as harmless while others felt that it was a case of vandalism •••••• and should be punished. of artistic platforms in Singapore, many artists are unable to display their ‘legal’ works.
There was an online petition that was created by the people who were supportive of what she has done. The petition gained a lot of attention and although it didn’t go through and gain enough signatures, I still think that it created an awareness of the graffiti art scene in Singapore. Which may resulted in the less harsh sentence given to her, from charges of vandalism to charges of mischief. However, I do feel the final charges were reasonable as it’s not right for anyone to just do what they want in a public area. Rules are rules and they must be followed.
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Movie Review
See You... On the 29th!
The Leap Years Movie Review
BY: MEGAN KHAW
You’d think that love stories are cliché (and they probably are), but this is a love story that will make you rethink that. The quest to find love took four days with a whole lot of waiting. The Leap Years, a local film, based on the novella by Catherine Lim, Leap of Love, produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures and directed by Jean Yeo, star Wong Li Lin as Li Ann and the dashing Ananda Everingham as Jeremy. The movie starts with Li Ann as a teenage girl going to a fortuneteller after much persuasion by her friends to find out what her love life would be like. Though after the visit she doesn’t tell her friends what the fortune teller told her and brushing it off as no big deal, but over the years, she holds on to the fact that her one true love and soul mate will come someday and patiently waits for this day.
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On her 28th birthday, the 29th of February, Li Ann asks a total stranger, Jeremy, out on a date, after some heavy lecturing by her mother and friends about not finding a boyfriend or husband to settle down with yet. Jeremy and Li Ann go around Singapore, sharing insights and stories about each other. They both then agree to meet again after that night, with Li Ann hoping to start a romance with him. Li Ann and Jeremy’s story plays out in just only four days and it is a wonderful movie for those who believe that true love is the only thing you need to take on the world. It takes us on a spin of adventures on the emotions of the characters and their outlook on life.
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Movie Review This movie is a rare delight and break from the comedies produced locally in English. The scenes were beautiful – well thought out and the whole flow of the movie was spectacular. The whole movie is set in Singapore and the scenes are very picturesque, portraying just how beautiful Singapore is, showing how much can happen in this little red dot of ours. Overall, this is a definite “must-see”. Remember to bring your tissues, as it will have you crying buckets with its beautifully crafted plot and insistence on love being the only constant in the mess and chaos of life. Li Ann and Jeremy’s patience and kindness for each other through everything is a kind that cannot be explained until you see it for yourself, as their love definitely survived through all kinds of terrors that met them along the way. To quote the Bible, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” Make sure to catch The Leap Years as you’ll be in for a real treat. ••••••
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