Hard News Story

Singapore Art Week injects art into daily life

Singapore Art Week (SAW) returns this year with a public art exhibition Bus.Stop.Art, running from Jan 21 to Feb 3. This involves artistic installations at bus stops along route 175, stretching from Geylang Bahru to Gillman Barracks.

The annual visual arts festival, SAW, returns in its ninth edition, threading across both physical and digital spaces of over 100 programmes - one of which is Bus.Stop.Art. This installation sees the involvement of 10 Singapore-based artists responding to the theme #ArtMovesUs and curated by artists, Mrs Amelia Abdullahsani and Mrs Merryn Trevethan. It aims to make visual arts more accessible to the public.

The exhibition serves the purpose of “Bringing art to where Singaporeans live, work and commute” as SAW found that by taking art out of the museums, artwork can be enjoyed by anyone at any time regardless day or night, which brings a sense of delight and wonder to the everyday lives of commuters.

Bus.Stop.Art. involves innovative installations and downloadable AR content activities that actively engages commuters and adds a much-needed sense of joy to the daily lives of commuters while they wait. It also brightens and enhances the surrounding environments of the heartlands to city centres of Singapore.

“I think the artwork is really interesting and creative as it is quite unique, considering that this is the first time that I have ever seen an art piece in a bus stop,” said Mr Amyrul Danish, 19, a second-year Singapore Polytechnic student.

Mr Amyrul adds that he was thrilled to have witnessed artwork outside of conventional galleries as he never had the time to physically attend art exhibitions - especially now with Covid-19 restrictions.

“This was a very memorable experience for me. Getting to see art at my local bus stops rather than the usual advertisements that are displayed gives us (commuters) the chance to appreciate art as we don’t get the opportunity to see something so unique and different like this in our everyday lives.”