Arts Picks: Ocean dive, Tang Da Wu, Altenburg Arts new season
Ocean: Diving Into The Unknown is at Alliance Francaise de Singapour.
Ocean: Diving Into The Unknown
The race to space during the Cold War is well established in popular consciousness, but less familiar is the competition into the deep.
In 1960, oceanographers Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh reached the then deepest-known part of the oceans aboard the vessel Trieste, setting a new record at 10,916m below sea level. Since then, humanity has inched a mere 11m farther.
Visitors can discover this pioneer achievement and others at Alliance Francaise's second-floor gallery exhibition, Ocean: Diving Into The Unknown.
Alliance Francaise de Singapour cultural manager Mathieu Gomez says: 'There was a race to both ends. It was thanks to this early dive that institutions could develop autonomous prototypes that can be guided remotely and specifically.'
A collaboration between the French organisation and the Paris National Museum of Natural History, the small-scale exhibition seeks to revive the allure through the lens of myth-making. Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea is an early science-fiction classic, and a manatee model reminds visitors that these were the prototype mermaids.
Dappled blue lights submerge the rooms. Two virtual-reality sets, when worn, transport visitors into real footages of deep sea excursions, anemones wriggling underfoot.
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The 130 sq m space means artefacts are few, though two shark jaws on loan from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum intimidate, chosen as their species were discovered by Frenchmen.
Gallery assistant Claire Canceil busts the myth of the anglerfish: 'One thing Finding Nemo got wrong was that females measure just 20cm and males 3cm. It unnecessarily traumatised generations of kids.'
Where: Level 2 Alliance Francaise de Singapour, 1 Sarkies Road
MRT: Newton
When: Till Aug 30; Tuesdays to Fridays, 1 to 7.30pm; Saturdays, 9am to 5.30pm; guided tour timings, film screenings and talks on website
Admission: Free
Info:
str.sg/93Am
Who Care? 1&2, You & Me
Performance artist Tang Da Wu rehearsing for his show.
PHOTO: COMMA SPACE
Performance art rock star Tang Da Wu has a new solo exhibition at independent art gallery Comma Space in Bishan. The 82-year-old continues his preoccupation with mud and his penchant for the ephemeral gesture.
Details of his exhibition are scant, though in the lead-up to the weekend, he was building a ladder in preparation for a site-specific presentation. Paper and plaster are used to fashion boots and sacks that he heaves onto his back.
He is expected to fling mud directly onto the gallery walls, as when he live-painted a snake constricting a boat at ShanghART Gallery in 2023.
One of Tang's recent outings was during Singapore Art Week 2024 at Gillman Barracks. The pioneer artist directed 20 young volunteers to enact a performance involving woven threads and fighting over parental milk, inspired by the Teochew opera image of a goat kneeling before its mother.
This time, he focuses on the issues of what it means to care and, more fundamentally, who the people who care are.
He remains driven by the ethos of 'Don't make art, make questions' – insisting that art returns to its primary function not as wall decoration, but a force for reflection.
Where: Comma Space, 04-02, 51 Jalan Pemimpin
MRT: Marymount
When: July 5 to 12; July 5, 6 and 12, 1 to 6pm; July 8 to 11, by appointment only; July 5, 3 to 4pm (performance)
Admission: Free
Info:
str.sg/nRXX , RSVP
art.commaspace@gmail.com
Altenburg Arts New Season
American pianist Kit Armstrong.
PHOTO: JEAN-FRANCOIS MOUSSEAU
Independent classical music presenter Altenburg Arts has launched the first half of its 2025-2026 season, with five piano recitals by international artists spread across the next six months.
On July 6, American pianist Kit Armstrong takes to Victoria Concert Hall to play the lyrical dance music of French composer Camille Saint-Saens.
The immersive large-scale concertos have been distilled into miniature gems by the protege of Austrian pianist and poet Alfred Brendel. This whirlwind tour will kick off with the fiendish Danse Macabre.
The other pianists scheduled are Russian Zlata Chochieva, Briton Benjamin Grosvenor and legendary South Korean maestro Kun-woo Paik, the latter proving that excellence can be built only on mastery of the basics with the 'easy' Sonata In C Major by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
It culminates in December with a concert played by the winner of the 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The competition is held in October.
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