Featured Artworks - Mapletree Culture City Culture Scape

Featured Artworks & Artefacts

Dan Graham

b. 1942, Urbana, Illinois, United States
Elliptical Pavillion, 2017

Pavilion: two-way-mirror glass, stainless steel
L573 x W665 x H240 cm

Elliptical Pavillion explores the relationship between artwork, viewer, and landscape. The two-way-mirror glass surface, a material which, relative to sunlight, is simultaneously reflective and transparent, superimposes images of the spectators and the landscape onto each other. The images merge and a “mirage” of overlapping bodies and landscape is created, making the pavilion both a device for a shared perceptual experience as well as a “fun-house.” Dan Graham’s glass and mirrored pavilions are instruments of reflection, both visual and cognitive, and highlight keen observations of elements of design in the built world. Poised between sculpture and architecture, the pavilions draw attention to buildings as instruments of expression, psychological strongholds, markers of social change, and prisms through which we view others and ourselves.

Tomás Saraceno

b. 1973, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
Stillness in Motion – 3 Airborne Self-Assemblies, 2017

Installation: steel frame, reflective panels, steel wire
L2375 x W1600 x H1150 cm

Taking architecture as representation of human inhabitation, Stillness in Motion – 3 Airborne Self-Assemblies is a response to the growing inhabitability of the earth. Inspired by the structure and functionality of a spider web, the work “fosters imagination towards airborne living and habitats of the future.” These utopian trajectories, informed by the fields of art, architecture, and science, catch and redirect the visitors’ gaze towards a myriad of reflective patterns, mirroring and echoing the environment. With its airy feature and suspended character, reflective layers and transparent components, the work aims to be a point of observatory where gazes of visitors and passers-by are caught and redirected towards a myriad of reflective patterns, mirroring and echoing the environment.

Yinka Shonibare CBE

b. 1962, London, United Kingdom
Wind Sculpture I, 2013

Sculpture: steel armature with hand painted fiberglass resin cast
L340 x W80 x H610 cm

Wind Sculpture I examines how history and trade influence culture but also how the elements, such as wind, still have an impact on our activities. The fabric pattern used on the work has a complex history in its trade routes: originally designed as an Indonesian fabric and produced by the Dutch, it was sold by the British to the African market in the 19th and early 20th century, “a perfect metaphor for multi-layered identities.” The work, in the shape of the sails, captures the wind to produce something tangible out of the intangible. Here, “something as insignificant as a breeze is turned into something monumental, while a historical time period is made universally ambivalent,” alluding to the countless headless monuments that portray a larger historical moment.

Zulkifle Mahmod

b. 1975, Singapore
Sonic Pathway, 2017

Sound installation: copper pipes, 512 solenoids, microcontrollers, speakers
L1000 x W250 cm; L900 x W450 cm; L900 x W450 cm

Sonic Pathway engages sound as a medium for representing urban conditions in flux. The installation consists of copper pipes and an orchestration of sound made by more than 500 pieces of solenoids (electromagnets that generate a controlled magnetic field) hitting on the pipes. Accompanied by ambient sound recorded and remixed by the artist, the resulting composition corresponds to the acoustic of the pathway, travelling from one end to the other. A kind of anonymity reverberates through the piece – it is a borderless territory designed for listening. Bodies and movements along the pathway intervene with the aural architecture, becoming both the transmitter and transmitted, creating a dialogue with the space. The passage becomes live and interactive.

Fullerton Lighthouse

Built by Stone-Chance Ltd, Crawley, England
Commissioned on 14 December 1958

Dia. 220 x H460 cm

First installed atop the Fullerton Building at the mouth of the Singapore River, the Fullerton Lighthouse served as a navigational aid to guide ships into Singapore’s harbour. With a revolving beacon of 540,000 candelas, light from the Lighthouse could be seen by ships up to 29 kilometres away. Commissioned on 14 December 1958, the Fullerton Lighthouse was built to replace the Fort Canning Lighthouse whose view was obstructed by the growing Singapore skyline. 20 years later, on 30 November 1979, the Fullerton Lighthouse was itself decommissioned as it was similarly obstructed by tall buildings along Singapore’s waterfront. With its mechanisms and exterior restored to its former glory, it now sits as an elevated exhibit at the entrance of Mapletree Business City II, welcoming visitors into the business park.

This artefact is part of the maritime collection owned by Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd.

Merryweather Pump Escape Fire Engine

Merryweather & Sons Limited, London, England
Built in 1938, restored in 2018

A fire engine evokes a myriad of emotions for everyone from the young to the old. This Merryweather fire engine was one of two purchased in 1946 by the Singapore Harbour Board (the precursor to the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) for its in-house fire brigade. It has a petrol engine and a three-speed transmission at 60 horsepower, as well as wooden bodywork. It is one of two Merryweathers found in Singapore – the other being a Merryweather Fire King displayed at the Singapore Civil Defence Force Heritage Gallery.

Interestingly, this Merryweather Pump Escape was operational until 1977, and Mr Lloyd Valberg was the engine’s last fire chief. Thereafter, it continued to be used as a training vehicle by PSA till 1981. Years later, it was found at the nearby Pasir Panjang Distripark by Mapletree Investments. Mapletree saw it fitting to restore this old dame as an art piece to showcase a glimpse of its former glory. See also the original fireman helmets used with this Merryweather on display.

This artefact is part of the maritime collection owned by Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd.