018 | Edinburgh

Do you pronounce "Edinburgh" as 'eh-din-bruhhhh' or 'eh-din-buur'? Anyway, I went there during reading week. It was a really short day trip. It honestly felt like I was planning an entire getaway because it was a whole new city. But in reality, it's really quite near. It's like, 1.5 hours by bus.

Travelling has always been such a huge thing because it was more difficult to do in a lot of ways back in Singapore. But this trip made me realise that it's actually fairly accessible and not that out of reach here. (That means I'm probably going to travel more hehehehehehe)

Okay, so, anyway, here's a round up of the trip.

I went to the Scottish National Gallery, and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Good stuff, cool place.

the place

the works

Undies all day, errday : part III : Water Fun

I couldn't decide if I wanted to post all the film photos together, or to separate the Adventure Cove images from the pool images. But I decided to post them all together. The pool was brilliant. It was for everyone from that hotel, but no one uses the pool so it's essentially a giant private pool. And Adventure Cove was pretty fun so, no complaints. Except for the group of guys that were making a lot of noise. But it's all cool.

Undies all day, errday : part I : SEA World Aquarium

It’s the second time. But if anything, I was probably more amazed by the creatures there than the first time. They changed the route and I thought the first route was better, but that’s not the point. The point is, these are some images taken there that I would love to do a jewellery line about but I don’t see that happening anytime soon so I’ll stick to dreaming it up for now.

Kid: Why is the fish not swimming?
Dad: Becaue he's old.

This fish was big. It's probably about my size and 3 times my weight.

One more gif of more jellyfish cos well, they're so pretty.

And this is a preview of what happened in the toilet of our room in RWS. More in part 2, stay tuned.

Water Adventures and Staying in Singapore

It's a really long photo-heavy post. Just so you know what to expect.

Ugo Rondinone

My first experience of the works of this Switzerland-born artist was at the Art Gallery NSW in Sydney. It was..unsettling. His works seem to have a very strong ability to make you feel so alone and it's as if you turn 'inside-out' and look into yourself. Or at yourself.



The first work I saw was the clockwork for oracles (above). Done in 2011, this work consists of 52 windows, representing the 52 weeks of the year. The video after this paragraph will explain it a lot better than I can because it's the artist himself explaining it. As I walked down the stairs into the gallery, it was so quiet (I was the one of the first few in the gallery that day) and I stopped to just stare at my reflection in the window. I didn't want to stop. It was just something about the reflection and the windows that made me stop. Stop and think. I don't even remember what I was thinking about. I just remember staring, captured in the reflection of myself. On hindsight, it was a pretty drawing experience. And that frightened me a little. But that was only just the beginning. There was another exhibit by the same artist that was even more overwhelming. More on that after the video.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn8DPTBOrFQ]

The second exhibit that wowed me was actually not one, but three different works put together. They are:


what do you want? 2002 wood, mirror, plaster, speakers, sound if there were anywhere by desert. wednesday 2000 fibreglass, paint, clothing all MOMENTS stop here and together we become every memory that has every been 2002 plexiglass (below)



This one was just..eerie. Like, zomg. I have a phobia of clowns and that didn't do anything other than make it worse. Although these works were individual works, they blended and added to each other to create a whole new experience and to send a clear message about a relationship that is filled with loneliness, doubt and miscommunication. I felt that the exhibit was collapsing in on itself and that is, in my pinion, what the relationship of mistrust and loneliness would unavoidably lead to.

Sydney Streets

Having been in Sydney for the past week, going around museums and whatnots, I have amassed a large amount/number of things I would like to share. Since I am still figuring out how to go about categorising the different things and making a video out of photos and making it loop automatically on the blog, I shall start with something I think I can manage more easily. I would like to talk about the street art and street performances I saw while I was in the city.



The very first performance I saw was at Pitt Street Mall. It's a street in the middle of Westfield Sydney (a huge shopping area). It was a pleasure listening to this guy, really. And over the course of all the other days I walked along that street, there were many other performers and performances. There was a group of young girls playing various wind instruments. That was quite impressive. And there was a band who was selling CDs (which I totally regret not buying because the lead vocal sounded really good). Then there was a middle aged lady singing opera! She too sounded good. She knew how to hold the microphone in ways that would make her sound good (as in, not pitchy or too loud or anything like that). Then there is The Rocks Market which takes place every weekend at The Rocks. The stuff they sell there is really authentic and it's something that I don't think you can find any place else. Anyway, there were performers there too. This lady and this guy sounded so damn good and it really added to the atmosphere of the place.



Okay, this is the last performance. Along the Commissioners Steps, between The Rocks and Circular Quay, there were various performances taking place. There was a man in dressed like an aboriginal playing the didgeridoo. My mom was evidently quite impressed. And there was this contortionist. I think she could really talk. As in, she could entertain the crowd as she set up her 'stage', do her warm ups and stuff. Not everyone can do that. She warmed up and after doing a few 'introductory' contortions, she did this:

Woah right? That is a 16" x 16" box from Ikea. She said that, not me. Anyway, moving on. I saw this graffiti/mural (for the difference, please click this link) at some small street while walking to the Sydney Jewish Museum. I should have taken more photos of it. And there were many others along different streets which I didn't take photos of.







Finally, I call this The Attack of the Bunnies. Upon peering at it up close, I realised it is printed paper stuck on the wall. Someone created the images and printed these bunnies to be stuck around the city. The first on is on the side wall of the entrance to St. James Station and the second one is on the stand of one of the Friendly Billboards found in Hyde Park for the Art&About festival (more on that in another post). Loving the bunnies.





Sydney is so rich with so many artists around. I'm most definitely sure that there are even more to be uncovered and discovered. It's really a pity how street art isn't exactly practiced here. There's so much potential.