The history of Singapore dates to the 11th century. The island rose in importance during the 14th century under the rule of Srivijayan prince Parameswara and became an important port until it was destroyed by Acehnese raiders in 1613. The modern history of Singapore began in 1819 when Englishman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles established a British port on the island. Under British colonial rule, it grew in importance as a centre for both the India-China trade and the entrepôt trade in Southeast Asia, rapidly becoming a major port city.
During World War II, Singapore was conquered and occupied by the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945. When the war ended, Singapore reverted to British control, with increasing levels of self-government being granted, culminating in Singapore's merger with the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. However, social unrest and disputes between Singapore's ruling People's Action Party and Malaysia's Alliance Party resulted in Singapore's separation from Malaysia. Singapore became an independent republic on 9 August 1965.
Facing severe unemployment and a housing crisis, Singapore embarked on a modernisation programme that focused on establishing a manufacturing industry, developing large public housing estates and investing heavily on public education. Since independence, Singapore's economy has grown by an average of nine percent each year. By the 1990s, the country had become one of the world's most prosperous nations, with a highly developed free market economy, strong international tradinglinks, and the highest per capita gross domestic product in Asia outside of Japan.[1]
“Chia’s artistic identity is one that defies the artificial borders and boundaries of the modern nation state. Going beyond the notion of the individual simply as a constituent of a nation and its projected cultural identity, he bypasses the need for mass appeal or approval and instead subscribes to the independent nature that characterises folk – the resistance to a canon.” – June Yap
Marc Chia aka One Man Nation (b.1982, Singapore) is a musician with a background in media and sound art who graduated from the Piet Zwart Institute (Rotterdam, NL). He investigates social and psychological situations related to tradition and its progression, the future through the eyes of history, and spirituality in technology via the medium of sound and performance.
He currently splits his time between Europe and Asia where he is developing The Future Sounds Of Folk in collaboration with Steim as well as co-directing The UnifiedField collective and art space in Granada (Spain) with Marta Moreno Munoz.
Past and current collaborations include but not limited to Pierre Bastien, C-drik Fermont, Dr Truna, Kato Hideki, Hilary Jeffrey, Richard Scott, Machinefabriek, Alfredo Genovesi, Soopa Collective, Iman Zimbot, Bambu Wukir and has performed internationally at the Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), ISEA (Ruhr), Mapping (Geneva), Piksel (Bergen), MEM (Bilbao), STEIM Jamboree (Amsterdam), Makeart (Poitiers), Fete 0.1 (Orléans) and SummerLAB (Gijon) amongst others.
Opened in January 1996, the mission of the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is to preserve and present the art histories and contemporary art practices of Singapore and the Southeast Asian region. SAM has amassed one of the world's largest public collection of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian artworks.
Housed in a restored 19th century mission school, the museum draws from its collection and collaborates with leading international museums to present shows covering both local and international art practices, as well as cutting edge art expressions. Contemporary art of the region is given international exposure through the museum's travelling exhibition programme and collection loan.
Through strategic alliances with international arts and cultural institutions, SAM facilitates visual arts education, exchange, research and development within the region and internationally. The museum has forged partnerships with institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Museum, Shanghai Art Museum, Seoul National University Museum of Art, Stedelijk Museum, Bonn Art Museum, Centre of International Modern Art, National Museum of India, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Asia Society in New York, Fukuoka Art Museum and Queensland Art Gallery. With Singapore becoming a global city for the arts, SAM's international networks bring about a confluence of ideas, and create a dynamic arts scene invigorated by international flows of ideas, talents, knowledge and resources.
Community outreach continues to be an important area of the Museum's function. Through the Museum's exhibition programmes as well as its education and public programmes which cover a diversity of art trends and practices, fringe activities and public lectures, SAM Museum promotes awareness and appreciation of contemporary art and encourages the growth of an active and stimulating cultural environment in Singapore.
The museum's extension building, SAM at 8Q, was opened in August 2008, expanding the museum's contemporary art space to present fresh, multi-disciplinary, interactive and community-oriented programming. Today, SAM is a place where the public can directly experience the diversity of contemporary art practices ranging from painting and sculpture, to installation, film & video, photography, new media, performance art and sound art, experience the work and ideas of living artists of Southeast Asia, and relate to the region's unique aesthetic and social context.
SAM is also the organiser of the Singapore Biennale 2011.
Here is the link to the mythological theme park that we will visit on the first day, Haw Par Villa, built by the Tiger Balm brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par. And a small intro: The Tiger Balm brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par were born in Rangoon, Burma in the 1880's, to a herbalist, Aw Chu Kin and his wife, Lee Kim Peck. Their elder brother and father died when they were still young and they were left to run the family business. Tiger Balm was a simple ointment claimed to be a cure for almost anything. The original Tiger Balm formula was refined in the Aw's kitchen in Rangoon, but the business soon grew with their aggressive marketing tactics. By 1926, the headquarters of Eng Aun Tong 'House of Eternal Peace' had been transferred to Singapore.
