This January, Marina Bay Sands will be shining a spotlight on art across numerous facets of the iconic Integrated Resort (IR) in celebration of Singapore’s vibrant arts and culture scene.
Beginning today through to 15 January, visitors will get to explore new perspectives of Marina Bay Sands through a curated line-up of art-filled activities. From opportunities to get up close with renowned French-Vietnamese graffiti artist Cyril Kongo and award-winning local pastry chef Janice Wong, to the debut of Southeast Asia’s largest art fair ART SG, as well as art-inspired menus and public events, the week is set to fascinate all ages.
Paul Town, Chief Operating Officer at Marina Bay Sands, said, “We are excited to kickstart the year with our first ever art-themed celebration, which will see some of the most creative collaborations and biggest exhibitions in the region. By celebrating art in all its wondrous forms, we are committed to making it fun and accessible to the public and art-loving communities. This art-driven event is just one of the many initiatives we are rolling out through the year to enliven the Marina Bay cityscape and deepen the engagement with our visitors.”
Collaborations With Inspiring Artists From Different Disciplines
Marina Bay Sands will be inviting visitors to a world of art-filled experiences through unique collaborations with two prolific artists. From 11 to 13 January, look forward to witnessing a live painting demonstration on a six-metre-long panel by renowned French-Vietnamese graffiti artist Cyril Kongo (@cyril_kongo), as he shares his poetic universe of letters through his abstract works. Often reflecting transcendent messages of love and the joy of living through dazzling colours and contemporary lettering, Cyril desires to paint his love for street art with the next generation of aspiring artists
In the early evenings of 11 and 12 January, Cyril will be joined by young aspiring visual arts talents who are beneficiaries of The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) to paint the canvas. The completed masterpiece will be made available for auction, where proceeds will go towards BT BAF, enabling children and youth from financially disadvantaged backgrounds to learn, discover and nurture their potential in the arts. Fans and collectors will get to join in a special meet and greet session with the artist on 13 January, and purchase limited runs of his artwork on A2 posters (S$21.60 each) at the outdoor Rain Oculus and Marina Bay Sands’ gift shops at ArtScience Museum and the Hotel. These activities will take place at the Event Plaza alongside an art exhibition by Cyril that runs daily until 15 January between 10am and 8pm.
Chocolate lovers can dive deep into the world of culinary arts from 11 to 15 January, as award winning local pastry chef Janice Wong teams up with Marina Bay Sands’ executive pastry chef Antonio Benites to take over Renku Bar & Lounge’s dessert line-up, featuring a collaborative menu available daily from 12pm1. Crowned Asia’s best pastry chef twice by the prestigious Asia’s 50 Best among other culinary accolades, chef Janice will kick off the art week by making her signature chocolate wall live on 11 January. Available for members of the public to view up close at RISE, the three-metre wall will be filled with different types of chocolate paint.
Visiting Exhibitions At ArtScience Museum And Sands Expo & Convention Centre
Home to multiple unique and vibrant venues, Marina Bay Sands is pleased to play host to two first-to-Asia visiting exhibitions as part of the Singapore Art Week.
ArtScience Museum will be hosting the exhibition Pulp III: A Short Biography of the Banished Book by Shubigi Rao, commissioned by the National Arts Council, Singapore, for the Singapore Pavilion showcase at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (Biennale Arte 2022). Curated by Ute Meta Bauer, the exhibition marks the midpoint of the artist’s ongoing decade-long project Pulp, an examination of the history of book destruction and its impact on the futures of knowledge. Visitors will also get to engage with Rao’s work through daily screenings of her 90-minute film, Talking Leaves, as she depicts how books from a now-defunct archive of women partisans and genocide survivors are rescued from the perspective of those at the frontlines of saving books and libraries out of danger. For more information, visit marinabaysands.com/museum/exhibitions/pulp-iii.html.
Over at Sands Expo & Convention Centre, visitors are invited to the inaugural edition of ART SG, Southeast Asia’s biggest art fair launch in this decade. Running from 12 to 15 January, the fair brings together over 150 leading international and regional galleries from 30 countries to showcase artworks across different mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography and installations, as well as experimentations in the up-and-coming digital and blockchain art. Headlining acts include United States-based Gagosian, Pace Gallery and Lehmann Maupin; White Cube from London; and Axel Vervoordt Gallery from Belgium; as well as 19 Singapore based galleries including 39+ Art Space. For more information, visit artsg.com.
During the same four-day period, ArtScience Cinema at Level 4 of ArtScience Museum will be screening ART SG Film: Fabricated Realities, a compilation of recent film and video artworks made by artists from Southeast Asia and beyond. Selected by renowned Thai curator Gridthiya Gaweewong, the series features three programmes that address the complexity of current times, questioning the co-existence of humans as well as a variety of non-human species and the advanced technology that challenges the perception of history.
The films also address the complex connections between humans, nature and cultures and the changing landscapes from Mongolia to the South China Sea, as well as the fabricated reality constructed by Artificial Intelligence, games and Virtual Reality. For more information, visit marinabaysands.com/museum/events/artsg-2023-film.html.
Food And Drinks Meet Art (6 – 15 January)
Throughout the art-themed celebration (6 to 15 January), Marina Bay Sands’ signature and celebrity chef restaurants will serenade guests with their love for the arts through a series of dishes and cocktails inspired by some of the greatest artists of all time.
Sip on the Oriental Poppies (S$19++) at WAKUDA Singapore, which pays homage to American modernist artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s love for complex and abstract paintings of flowers. A twist on the Cosmopolitan with Belvedere Vodka and orange liqueur with Okinawan shikuwasa and acerola, this refreshing cocktail celebrates the artist’s groundbreaking painting Oriental Poppies in 1928, where she intentionally removed background from the painting’s composition to ensure viewers would focus on the giant poppies.
The tippling adventure continues at Renku Bar & Lounge with the Fiery Foliage (S$24++), a masterful combination of locally distilled Ichigo Cameron gin and Amaretto, shaken with house-made Morocco mint tea syrup, lemon juice and egg white, and KOMA Singapore with the Star of the Show (S$36++), an elegant champagne cocktail mixed with Brass Lion butterfly pea gin, saccharum syrup and yuzu sake, topped with an aromatic smoked bubble. Thereafter, head 57 storeys above ground to the award-winning Spago by Wolfgang Puck to discover vintage bottles from Château Mouton Rothschild. The acclaimed vineyard is an early pioneer of art labels and has commissioned artists like Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol to design its labels, which helps communicate its brand’s identity, personality and quality.
Let imagination take flight in the evening at LAVO Italian Restaurant & Rooftop Bar, as the restaurant reinvents its greatest hits through a special set menu (S$94++) available for dinner only. Here at LAVO, art takes shape in the signature 20-Layer chocolate cake, reimagined with layers of red velvet sponge smothered in multi-coloured cream cheese, and LAVO’s signature tiramisu, a classic rendition of the prized dessert. Complete the experience with the La Dolce Vita Negroni (S$25++), inspired by Federico Fellini’s lauded Italian film where Marcello Mastroianni enjoys the sunset with the beautiful Anita Ekberg and a glass of champagne in hand.
Discover Public Art Installations And More
In the same week and beyond, guests can explore lesser-known facts about the IR at their own pace through Marina Bay Sands’ self-guided art and sustainability trail. As one of the largest art commissions ever completed as part of an integrated architectural process, the trail features 11 large-scale art installations created by eight internationally renowned artists. At the heart of each art installation is a story that dynamically fuses shapes, moods and interior spaces, which guests can learn about through a brochure made available at the hotel, museum and retail concierge counters.
Capture the beauty of the sky and a portrait of the iconic ArtScience Museum through Sky Mirror (2010) by Anish Kapoor. A stainless-steel reflective artwork positioned at an angle of 30-degrees, it depicts an “oculus in the space” and appears to “bring the sky down to earth”. Then, observe 7,000 mechanical polycarbonate tipping water channels at Tippling Wall (2011) by Ned Kahn, located at the cooling tower adjacent to the entrance of Hotel Tower 3. Slow down and observe how water tips left or right like a seesaw and is recovered at the catchment area and re-circulated to the distribution trough.
Other must-see installations include Drift (2010) by Antony Gormley, a massive three-dimensional stainless steel polyhedral matrix suspended cloud-like in the air of the atrium of Hotel Tower 1, and Wind Arbor (2011) by Ned Kahn, the largest and most visible piece of the art path as it features 260,000 aluminum metal flappers that reflect light and cools down the building.
Round off the day at the Event Plaza by the waterfront to enjoy special nightly projections on the façade of Marina Bay Sands and ArtScience Museum. From 7.30pm to 12am daily, the property will be lit up with a splash of bold colours accompanied by delightful animations. Additionally, from 11 to 15 January, the Event Plaza will be enlivened with an elegant and artistic 20-minute Dress Show performance by four dancers on poles from Hovo Faber at 7pm and 8.30pm nightly.
For more information, visit marinabaysands.com/campaign/where-art-takes-shape.html. Join in the conversation on social @marinabaysands and #MBSWhereArtTakesShape.
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