Kim Gyung Min's sculpture Shopping with the Family at Bedok Mall greets the public at the mall's entrance and blends into the everyday lives of the community
Korea artist Kim Gyung Min’s sculpture Shopping with the Familyat Bedok Mall greets the public at the mall’s entrance and blends into the everyday lives of the community

The month of September 2015 marks a few firsts for Art @ CapitaLand: the first time that a book on Art @ CapitaLand is published; the first time that an online Art @ CapitaLand Showcase is launched; and the first time that a talk on Art @ CapitaLand - a joint initiative between CapitaLand and National Library Board - is held. In this one month, the efforts of my colleagues and I in promoting community engagement of Art @ CapitaLand – other than through the physical artworks themselves – have truly begun to bear fruits!

Art @ CapitaLand Book – a rich array of artworks on paper

The 144-page full-colour book titled ‘CapitaLand: The Art of Building Communities’ was published in celebration of Singapore’s Jubilee Year. It puts together 28 feature articles of our art pieces in Singapore, with an introductory chapter on the story of Art @ CapitaLand. These articles, which first appeared in this magazine were written over two and a half years. When put together in a book, they present a rich array of artworks in our properties on paper, presenting the different perspectives through which to understand and appreciate them – be it the unusual context of a piece’s commissioning, the struggles of an artist, an outstanding artistic concept, a special medium, the challenges in a piece’s making, or the often overlooked and seemingly mundane yet important aspect of maintenance that keeps an artwork in top form.

‘CapitaLand: The Art of Building Communities’ is not for sale. Instead it is given to any member of the public who participates in our Art @ CapitaLand community engagement activities (see Art & CapitaLand talk and tours below). Remarked one reader: “I enjoyed reading the book.More important, I now know that the public who goes to CapitaLand’s developments is able to enjoy these artworks - some thought-provoking and some simply delightful. Public art plays an important role in humanising our built environment.”

Art @ CapitaLand Showcase - celebrating beauty and connection in cyberspace

The Art @ CapitaLand online showcase was created as an additional channel to engage communities through art. For a start, we only featured artworks displayed in CapitaLand’s Singapore properties, and have included more pieces online than in the book.

Connection is our priority in the design of the showcase; every art piece shown is not only connected to other pieces by the same artist in our collection, but also to the property where it is displayed. Viewers can click and open another window to view the property. They can also see what other artworks are displayed in the same property. If an article has been written on the piece in this magazine, a link to the article is provided. From there a viewer can read it and other Art @ CapitaLand articles as well. Fascinated? Click through to art.capitaland.com to check out our artworks. You can even share your thoughts about the art pieces using the ‘comment’ feature.

Art @ CapitaLand talk – close encounter with the community

One Saturday afternoon in September, over 100 people turned up at the Central Public Library to attend a talk titled “Wonderful Stories of Art @ CapitaLand. During this one-hour session, the audience was treated to stories of seven of our art pieces. They also participated in a Q&A; session, and took part in a quiz with the winners walking away with CapitaVouchers! The audience must have enjoyed the session tremendously, judging from their laughter during the talk and their radiant faces as they left with complementary copies of ‘CapitaLand: The Art of Building Communities’. Their feedback was encouraging: “the talk is fun and informative, and shows that art need not be ‘ chim’” – a colloquial word meaning “profound”. And indeed that is what we hope to do – to make our artworks easily accessible, inject fun into art appreciation and to remove any inhibition on the part of viewers in enjoying these works.

Upcoming Art @ CapitaLand tours: experience our artworks “live”

Seeing our artworks on paper and on the screen is good but nothing beats experiencing them “live”. So we are happy to invite you to sign up for one of two Art @ CapitaLand guided walking tours to appreciate up-close the unique art pieces at Capital Tower and CapitaGreen, during the coming year-end school holidays. You are most welcome to bring your family members and friends to the tour. Click on these links for more details:

www.nlb.gov.sg/golibrary/Programmes/Arts/64429/Art___CapitaLand_Tour

www.nlb.gov.sg/golibrary/Programmes/Arts/64433/Art___CapitaLand_Tour

See you in November!

This article is contributed by CapitaLand Chief of Art Management, Francis Wong Hooe Wai