Open House at National Museum
Thursday 25 December 08
Christmas Day
10am 5pm
Tuesday 27 Jan 09
Chinese New Year Open House
10am 5pm
Enjoy free admission to all galleries, thematic activities and free gifts on Chinese New Year! Look out the special highlights specially tailored for you and your family!
Dont miss An Interactive Guided Tour for Children aged 5 to 9 years History Alive! and enjoy various fun-filled activities organized for your whole family.
So remember to mark the above Open House date in your family outing calendar!
Exhibitions & Events
WEAPONS OF MASS DESIRE
Design and Consumption in the Aftermath of WWII
Now till Sun 4 Jan 2009
The Canyon, Basement
Free Admission
Technological development during WWII made killing and destruction more efficient and effective as compared to human conflicts of the past. New technologies and synthetic materials were harnessed and modern warfare employing planes, tanks and ships took the conflicts off the land and into the sky and sea. In the aftermath of the war, production shifted from military hardware to consumer production and wartime technologies became channelled towards the consumer market. Many of the advanced technologies that were to transform our daily lives in the sixties including television, transistors, automation, nuclear power and new plastics became available in the 1950s.
Weapons of Mass Desire aims to provide visitors with a fresh perspective into war and its legacy by looking at post-WWII design and consumption. The exhibition will examine how ideas and technologies initially employed for violence were adapted by designers and manufacturers for the postwar peacetime improvement of everyday life, first globally and then in Singapore.
DOUBLENESS: PHOTOGRAPHY OF CHANG CHIEN-CHI
Part of the National Museums Season of Photography
Now till Sun 4 Jan 09
Exhibition Gallery 1, Basement
10am - 6pm, daily
S$5 / S$2.50 concession
Award-winning Magnum photographer, Chang Chien-Chi, reveals his fascination for human relationships and human conditions in his unadorned photographs. Not keen on just making good single images, he uses methodical repetition to express latent alienation and overt connection in his acclaimed works Double Happiness, China Town and The Chain. For him, repetition is not about repeating two identical things but adding another layer to the theme using visual means and intensifying our experience of the whole appreciation process.
Born in Taiwan, Chang Chien-Chi joined the prestigious photo agency, Magnum, in 1995 and now resides in Taipei and New York City.
Free Gallery Guided Tours
Weekday tours (Monday - Friday)
12.30pm daily
3.30pm (Monday & Wednesday only)
Weekend tours (Saturday & Sunday)
11am & 2pm daily
Free tours start at the entrance of the Exhibition Gallery 1, admission fee applies.
Limited to 15 participants per session, on a first come, first served basis.
Please note that tours are subject to the availability of volunteer guides.
Estimated duration: 1 hour
VOOM PORTRAITS Robert Wilson
Part of the National Museums Season of Photography
Now till Sun 4 Jan 09
Exhibition Gallery 2, basement
10am - 6pm, daily
S$10 / S$5 concession
Brad Pitt, Zhang Huan and Princess Caroline of Monaco. What do a Hollywood Superstar, a Chinese artist and a Princess have in common?
Robert Wilson -- One of the worlds foremost masters of drama and light.
Drawing inspiration from movies, art and history, along with design, dance and contemporary popular culture, Robert Wilson has collaborated with his varied subjects to produce a groundbreaking series of videos called VOOM PORTRAITS, to be exhibited for the first time in Asia.
What is of interest to the visitor is that the video portraits are looped with no discernable beginning or end, running endlessly as a framed work of art, hence, resulting in the visitor mistaking them for still photographs. It is only through closer inspection that Wilsons heightened language of minimal movement, choreographed gesture and precise timing are revealed.
VOOM PORTRAITS have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles and Moscow and will make its debut in Singapore.
SPOT & SHOOT 2008: FEAST ON THE PAST! WINNERS SHOWCASE
28 Nov 2008 4 Jan 2009
10am 6pm, daily
The Atelier, Level 3,
National Museum of Singapore
Free Admission
This showcase features selected photographs from the winning teams of Spot & Shoot 2008: Feast on the Past! Competition. Giving the exhibition a twist will be photographic artworks inspired by the winning pictures. These artworks are by the students from Temasek Polytechnic, Raffles Design Institute and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
COME-IN
Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany
Wednesday 21 January 09 Sunday 12 April 09
10am 6pm, daily
Exhibition Gallery 2 & Canyon
Free admission
Come-in showcases an all-star group of artists working at the intersection between fine art and applied design. They approach the design of furniture, ceramics, textiles, interior architecture and publishing from a contemporary art perspective through a range of media - from drawings, installations and sculptures to models, photography, and videography.
At first glance, the mobilia, objects and interiors appear to possess an "obvious" identity as "furniture", "luminaries" or "interiors". At second glance, however, they are too uncomfortable, colourful and eccentric, all too clearly geared to our perception or a situational communicative event. They represent ideas, projects, scenic reinterpretations of situations conditioned by certain furnishing and architectural elements. The interior spaces chosen by many of the contributing artists form links between aspects of contemporary history and their own biography and critical aesthetics.
An international touring show of the Institut für Auslands-beziehungen e. V.
Jointly presented by National Museum of Singapore and Goethe-Institute Singapore.
Art-On-Site
Storm by Jinnie Seo (Korea)
Now till 13 Jan 2009
10am 8pm, daily
Glass Atrium, Level 2
Free Admission
From different angles, perspectives or positions from the museum whether inside or outside, the work will look different. Visitors of the museum will become audience and be part of this play along with the glass atrium environment, creating an intimate yet monumental space.
National Museum Cinémathèque
World Cinema Series
A Programme of the National Museum Cinémathèque
Co-presented with the Singapore Film Society
Tue 9 Dec 2008 & Tue 13 Jan 2009
7.30pm
Gallery Theatre, Basement
Free Admission for Singapore Film Society members
S$8 / S$6.40 concession
This series charts both the significant and less discovered territories of cinema from the early silent era to underground films, and new wave film movements around the world, by some of the greatest mavericks and artists of film.
Discover the wonders and possibilities of the art of cinema on the big screen. World Cinema Series is shown every second Tuesday of the month at National Museum of Singapore.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday 9 Dec 08
Hunger / Sult
Director: Henning Carlsen
1966 / Denmark-Norway-Sweden / 112 mins / 35mm / Ratings to be advised
In Danish with English subtitles
A celebrated but by now largely forgotten adaptation of the Knut Hamsun classic, Henning Carlsen's icy 1966 film chronicles that entropic spiraling out of a literally starving would-be writer (Per Oscarsson), semi-deranged by hunger and humiliation, dying for a meal but too proud and pretentious to accept it via charity or dishonesty. Hunger could be taken as an examination of the ego of the artist, obsessively firing odd thoughts into an unconcerned world out of some heightened sense of self-importance, never bothering.to take in any ideas for fear that they would pollute the genius already hiding within them.
Regardless, the film is fascinating and a visual marvel, breathtakingly shot and ceaselessly intriguing.
Tuesday 13 Jan 09
Macunaíma
Dir: Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
1969/Brazil/105min/35mm (restored)/Ratings to be advised
In Portuguese with English subtitles
With its over-the-top, farcical acting, its frequent nudity and its hang-loose, anarchic vibe, Macunaíma, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's 1969 Brazilian picaresque, survives as a gloriously demented artifact of its time. But underneath it all, the comedy, adapted from a 1928 novel by Mário de Andrade (no relation to the director), is a meditation on the riddles of Brazilian identity and the agonies of Brazilian politics.
In the first scene, the playful hero, Macunaíma, drops fully grown from his mother's belly onto the dirt floor of a hut in the Amazon. There he is raised alongside two brothers, one black and one white. Eventually, Macunaíma, who is born black, turns white himself, in a spring he encounters. The hero then finds his way to São Paolo, where he dresses in marvelously (or hideously) bright clothes and takes up with a sexy, urban guerilla before returning home to his mother. In the course of his odyssey, he encounters witches and giants, episodes that turn Macunaíma into a raucous and hallucinatory fairy tale.
Cannibalism pervades the film, as a guiding force behind its message. It is synonymous with exploitation, especially the exploitation of underdeveloped Brazil by the international capitalist system. Ultimately, it is the films infectious craziness that stays in your mind like a novelty pop song that, after a while, starts to sound like a classic.
Thursday 25 December 08
Christmas Day
10am 5pm
Tuesday 27 Jan 09
Chinese New Year Open House
10am 5pm
Enjoy free admission to all galleries, thematic activities and free gifts on Chinese New Year! Look out the special highlights specially tailored for you and your family!
Dont miss An Interactive Guided Tour for Children aged 5 to 9 years History Alive! and enjoy various fun-filled activities organized for your whole family.
So remember to mark the above Open House date in your family outing calendar!
Exhibitions & Events
WEAPONS OF MASS DESIRE
Design and Consumption in the Aftermath of WWII
Now till Sun 4 Jan 2009
The Canyon, Basement
Free Admission
Technological development during WWII made killing and destruction more efficient and effective as compared to human conflicts of the past. New technologies and synthetic materials were harnessed and modern warfare employing planes, tanks and ships took the conflicts off the land and into the sky and sea. In the aftermath of the war, production shifted from military hardware to consumer production and wartime technologies became channelled towards the consumer market. Many of the advanced technologies that were to transform our daily lives in the sixties including television, transistors, automation, nuclear power and new plastics became available in the 1950s.
Weapons of Mass Desire aims to provide visitors with a fresh perspective into war and its legacy by looking at post-WWII design and consumption. The exhibition will examine how ideas and technologies initially employed for violence were adapted by designers and manufacturers for the postwar peacetime improvement of everyday life, first globally and then in Singapore.
DOUBLENESS: PHOTOGRAPHY OF CHANG CHIEN-CHI
Part of the National Museums Season of Photography
Now till Sun 4 Jan 09
Exhibition Gallery 1, Basement
10am - 6pm, daily
S$5 / S$2.50 concession
Award-winning Magnum photographer, Chang Chien-Chi, reveals his fascination for human relationships and human conditions in his unadorned photographs. Not keen on just making good single images, he uses methodical repetition to express latent alienation and overt connection in his acclaimed works Double Happiness, China Town and The Chain. For him, repetition is not about repeating two identical things but adding another layer to the theme using visual means and intensifying our experience of the whole appreciation process.
Born in Taiwan, Chang Chien-Chi joined the prestigious photo agency, Magnum, in 1995 and now resides in Taipei and New York City.
Free Gallery Guided Tours
Weekday tours (Monday - Friday)
12.30pm daily
3.30pm (Monday & Wednesday only)
Weekend tours (Saturday & Sunday)
11am & 2pm daily
Free tours start at the entrance of the Exhibition Gallery 1, admission fee applies.
Limited to 15 participants per session, on a first come, first served basis.
Please note that tours are subject to the availability of volunteer guides.
Estimated duration: 1 hour
VOOM PORTRAITS Robert Wilson
Part of the National Museums Season of Photography
Now till Sun 4 Jan 09
Exhibition Gallery 2, basement
10am - 6pm, daily
S$10 / S$5 concession
Brad Pitt, Zhang Huan and Princess Caroline of Monaco. What do a Hollywood Superstar, a Chinese artist and a Princess have in common?
Robert Wilson -- One of the worlds foremost masters of drama and light.
Drawing inspiration from movies, art and history, along with design, dance and contemporary popular culture, Robert Wilson has collaborated with his varied subjects to produce a groundbreaking series of videos called VOOM PORTRAITS, to be exhibited for the first time in Asia.
What is of interest to the visitor is that the video portraits are looped with no discernable beginning or end, running endlessly as a framed work of art, hence, resulting in the visitor mistaking them for still photographs. It is only through closer inspection that Wilsons heightened language of minimal movement, choreographed gesture and precise timing are revealed.
VOOM PORTRAITS have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles and Moscow and will make its debut in Singapore.
SPOT & SHOOT 2008: FEAST ON THE PAST! WINNERS SHOWCASE
28 Nov 2008 4 Jan 2009
10am 6pm, daily
The Atelier, Level 3,
National Museum of Singapore
Free Admission
This showcase features selected photographs from the winning teams of Spot & Shoot 2008: Feast on the Past! Competition. Giving the exhibition a twist will be photographic artworks inspired by the winning pictures. These artworks are by the students from Temasek Polytechnic, Raffles Design Institute and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
COME-IN
Interior Design as a Contemporary Art Medium in Germany
Wednesday 21 January 09 Sunday 12 April 09
10am 6pm, daily
Exhibition Gallery 2 & Canyon
Free admission
Come-in showcases an all-star group of artists working at the intersection between fine art and applied design. They approach the design of furniture, ceramics, textiles, interior architecture and publishing from a contemporary art perspective through a range of media - from drawings, installations and sculptures to models, photography, and videography.
At first glance, the mobilia, objects and interiors appear to possess an "obvious" identity as "furniture", "luminaries" or "interiors". At second glance, however, they are too uncomfortable, colourful and eccentric, all too clearly geared to our perception or a situational communicative event. They represent ideas, projects, scenic reinterpretations of situations conditioned by certain furnishing and architectural elements. The interior spaces chosen by many of the contributing artists form links between aspects of contemporary history and their own biography and critical aesthetics.
An international touring show of the Institut für Auslands-beziehungen e. V.
Jointly presented by National Museum of Singapore and Goethe-Institute Singapore.
Art-On-Site
Storm by Jinnie Seo (Korea)
Now till 13 Jan 2009
10am 8pm, daily
Glass Atrium, Level 2
Free Admission
From different angles, perspectives or positions from the museum whether inside or outside, the work will look different. Visitors of the museum will become audience and be part of this play along with the glass atrium environment, creating an intimate yet monumental space.
National Museum Cinémathèque
World Cinema Series
A Programme of the National Museum Cinémathèque
Co-presented with the Singapore Film Society
Tue 9 Dec 2008 & Tue 13 Jan 2009
7.30pm
Gallery Theatre, Basement
Free Admission for Singapore Film Society members
S$8 / S$6.40 concession
This series charts both the significant and less discovered territories of cinema from the early silent era to underground films, and new wave film movements around the world, by some of the greatest mavericks and artists of film.
Discover the wonders and possibilities of the art of cinema on the big screen. World Cinema Series is shown every second Tuesday of the month at National Museum of Singapore.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday 9 Dec 08
Hunger / Sult
Director: Henning Carlsen
1966 / Denmark-Norway-Sweden / 112 mins / 35mm / Ratings to be advised
In Danish with English subtitles
A celebrated but by now largely forgotten adaptation of the Knut Hamsun classic, Henning Carlsen's icy 1966 film chronicles that entropic spiraling out of a literally starving would-be writer (Per Oscarsson), semi-deranged by hunger and humiliation, dying for a meal but too proud and pretentious to accept it via charity or dishonesty. Hunger could be taken as an examination of the ego of the artist, obsessively firing odd thoughts into an unconcerned world out of some heightened sense of self-importance, never bothering.to take in any ideas for fear that they would pollute the genius already hiding within them.
Regardless, the film is fascinating and a visual marvel, breathtakingly shot and ceaselessly intriguing.
Tuesday 13 Jan 09
Macunaíma
Dir: Joaquim Pedro de Andrade
1969/Brazil/105min/35mm (restored)/Ratings to be advised
In Portuguese with English subtitles
With its over-the-top, farcical acting, its frequent nudity and its hang-loose, anarchic vibe, Macunaíma, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade's 1969 Brazilian picaresque, survives as a gloriously demented artifact of its time. But underneath it all, the comedy, adapted from a 1928 novel by Mário de Andrade (no relation to the director), is a meditation on the riddles of Brazilian identity and the agonies of Brazilian politics.
In the first scene, the playful hero, Macunaíma, drops fully grown from his mother's belly onto the dirt floor of a hut in the Amazon. There he is raised alongside two brothers, one black and one white. Eventually, Macunaíma, who is born black, turns white himself, in a spring he encounters. The hero then finds his way to São Paolo, where he dresses in marvelously (or hideously) bright clothes and takes up with a sexy, urban guerilla before returning home to his mother. In the course of his odyssey, he encounters witches and giants, episodes that turn Macunaíma into a raucous and hallucinatory fairy tale.
Cannibalism pervades the film, as a guiding force behind its message. It is synonymous with exploitation, especially the exploitation of underdeveloped Brazil by the international capitalist system. Ultimately, it is the films infectious craziness that stays in your mind like a novelty pop song that, after a while, starts to sound like a classic.
