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April 26, 2007
Singapore Art Museum expands
Singapore Art Museum (SAM) | Old Saint Joseph's Institution (SJI)
Originally uploaded by acroamatic.
I spent a happy month in Singapore (gosh - that was almost 10 years ago!) visiting my sister and her family. I made a few visits to the Singapore Art Museum - pictured here - for atmosphere and for art. I didn't realize how recent a renovation I was visiting - the article linked above tells us that the former St. Joseph Institution (a Catholic boys' school) was turned into the SAM in 1996 - it did certainly feel fresh.
I had the feeling in 1999 that Singapore was just beginning to climb on the historic preservation bandwagon. Older buildings were beginning to look very spiffy, which in Singapore meant very spiffy indeed. There were also some moments of Epcotting - recreation of what had been torn down. I forget the name of the neighborhood now (I'm sure a reader - like my sister or brother-in-law will tell us!) down on the river front where shop houses had been recreated, complete with cracks in the plaster work.
The collection at the SAM, what I remember of it, was interesting - lots of contemporary work from SE Asia, especially Indonesia and Malaysia. I believe that was from the permanent collection rather than a traveling show, but it has been almost 10 years.
Happy news for Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at April 26, 2007 7:02 AM