Art And Craft

I went to the Singapore Art Museum yesterday. It was an interesting trip, with a bunch of new exhibits since I last dropped by. I didn’t know that they had an additional building (dubbed 8-Q, which I think is supposed to be some hip way to refer to 8 curators, or 8-Q-rate, as they put it) and I thought that the stuff there was great, if not for the sometimes large empty spaces and the overzealous receptionist.

I think the lunchtime promotion is a great thing. I’m surprised that so few people visit. It should really draw in more crowds.

I thought I saw this girl who lives near my place at the main block. It left me momentarily stunned as I tried to figure out who she was. I must have looked like a moron.

I have to say that some of the performance arts (do they call it that? because they always seem to be ‘performing’ exhibits and I must confess that this is sometimes not really my thing) don’t quite work for me. Some of them are too deconstructionist, or too meta, to the point where they question the nature of art and qualify their places in a museum by virtue of the uncertainty of whether or not they are in fact pieces of art, which seems to cheapen the thing for me a bit. And some of them just leave me cold, but I suppose there are always pieces specific to each person that won’t ever be understood.

That said, I thought I saw the effect of some pieces in my friends as they studied and surveyed and pored over the figures and paintings and pictures. I guess in some ways, it’s comforting to know that, even when it isn’t completely understood, art still manages to produce an effect on people.

The one piece I enjoyed the most was The Caretaker in 8Q. Slightly freaky.

So I just really wanted to tell you that I really like the Art Museum, especially since it’s free at lunchtime. I’ve enjoyed myself both times I’ve been there (in recent memory). Do drop by if you are so inclined.

F1 Madness

When you take a trip to town these days, you’ll find shops advertising F1 promotions. Yes, F1 promotions, meaning discounts that are somehow related to the impending F1 Singapore GP.

I get the relevance when it’s clothes, especially with all the Ferrari branding these days and the Tag Heuer faces. I get it too when Giordano cashes in with T-shirts featuring outlines of F1 cars. I’ll even buy into the story when you’ve got F1-themed perfumes. But restaurants? F1 set lunches? Really?

And then there’s… F1 promotions for jewellery? F1 promotions for… underwear? Lingerie? Japanese food? Beer?

Hmm.

Why isn’t Kinokuniya giving me a F1-themed discount period? They could call it Racy Books and it wouldn’t be horrendous enough to make me ashamed of the bad pun. I’d still spend hundreds there.

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