the art scene

The local art scene in singapore? cannot make it la


that's what you typically hear from any singaporean
typically

but why?
why do our people feel so bad about our own abilities at something that should be intrinsic, something that should be a part of life?
here's the thing, just because someone is bad at something doesn't mean it cannot make it.

think about it, if we felt that way towards everything that we were bad at, how would our major industries be?

soccer: it's about as much a national sport we will ever have. how many of you agree that local soccer is vibrant and youthful? those who answered no, watch a bit more news and read the new paper more.

then how many of you would agree that its' something we're actually good at? we don't have the capacity to go global, not now, probably not in 20 years. but have faith in that there will be people who are passionate enough to take that chance and push it all the way there.


now back to the art scene. no matter who you ask, people, young, old, student, office worker, they are going to say that our local art scene is boring and/or non-existent. if you ask them why, they will give a variety of reasons, like not enough culture, too much science and tech, not enough exposure, blah blah blah

excuses.

i am a very practical person. if i ever become head of any creative project, i will make sure that everyone is of a different nationality, or culture. i appreciate what other perspectives and viewpoints that only people who have been brought up differently can bring to the table. but under no circumstances will i give any preferential treatment, because then there's no point, might as well give him the director's chair and sit back.

If i could only pick one "artist" for the lack of a better word, i would pick locals, because we share the same heritage and it would do the community a favor to know that it is possible to make it in the art scene


but lets' tackle the reasons one by one,

not enough culture. really? our culture is everywhere from hdb to shopping malls, we just choose not to look because its' nothing fancy to look at. we have many traditions which are unfortunately dying with the previous generation. here's an example, have you considered this to be apart of the singaporean culture, malay weddings in void decks, followed by chinese funerals. or the wet market, selling all sorts of food we don't even know the names of. these are all parts of our heritage and yet the young are choosing to "disown" them. we always complain that they are not interesting, yet we spend hours upon hours googling whether we should call people -chan or -sama. why is it that we are so fascinated by other cultures that we frame them up and romanticize them, while letting our own deteoriate. Are we really helping anyone? we have this very strange attraction towards being high class, like wearing branded lolex and heavy necklaces. because we came from migrants, understandably, our traditions revolve around practicality and family, because that was the only thing that they had in the past. now our "traditions" revolve around materialistic goods and making a good impression. people gradually become somewhat disgusted by the ways of old due to its down and dirty nature and we become 'stuck up'. as a gentle reminder to those still unaware, not all culture is "high" culture

and you're complaining that we don't have enough culture, open your eyes

when has too much focus on science and technology ever been a hindering factor? if an arts-oriented little boy or girl, and by arts i mean fine arts like painting, grows up in a place like silicon valley or bangalore,india and wants to become a great artist, he/she will find no problems other than that which he sets on himself. remember the old adage, if you can believe it, you can achieve it? i don't see why that doesn't apply here. if little johnny likes to cook, he and hopefully his parents will find ways to help him be the best he can be, even if he is surrounded by people who only know how to knit sweaters. if little jane loves making movies, she too can do it, and nobody can tell her otherwise.

so then, why do we still have a "bad local art scene"? people aren't willing to take the leap, but not without a good reason. think about it, considering that he likes both equally, if a person has an equal aptitude in both dance and maths, naturally he will pick maths and take jobs like accountancy, because its more secure. its like if a person had aptitude in both medicine and politics, he will take medicine if assuming that everything else remains constant,(i.e ceteris paribus). our art scene remains shaky because people aren't willing to take that leap of faith. its' kind of like a vicious cycle. initially, the poor art scene makes it difficult and risky to make a good career out of it, then nobody joins due to the risk and it doesn't help the community, then lack of people joining means the scene won't improve and so on.

not enough exposure, another excuse people like to hang around their tongues. since the birth of the internet, this has become an obsolete justification for just about everything. click of the mouse and you will see results in the thousands. so why don't we have a booming art culture?
singaporeans not willing to give other singaporeans a chance. make sense? given the choice between an foreign musician vs a local musician, almost everyone will choose the foreigner, but yet mediacorp did a survey with a "blind" music test and found out that people are equally, if not more receptive of local bands. but yet the moment we realize its from someone from the same land, we suddenly reject it, even without listening to it first. did the chords become mangled the moment you realised that singaporeans produced it? no. are we really so "opposite-of-xenophobic"? ah but author, you must muse, aren't you a little hypocritical to say that since not a single song on your playlist is from a local band. actually that is true. but not for the reason you think? over about 4 years of listening to 987fm, i have quite a small collection of what i find are good local songs, unfortunately, being the rarities that they are, it was impossible to download just 1 single track like the others. and i don't like the idea of purchasing a whole album just for one song i will eventually put on loop.

i'm not really blaming anyone for this predicament that we're in. actually i'm blaming everyone equally so you shouldn't feel too bad about it. our art scene cannot be one where all the initatives are top-down. only when people start to initiate their own brand of art, then it becomes "sustainable" in a sense.

actually after all that, our arts scene isn't as bad as you think it is. aparrently Forbes,(or somebody, i can't really remember) thinks we are among the top 10 locations with a booming arts scene. many world class productions like cirque du soleil and avenue q are coming down to perform here and our artistes are going abroad to act. that's' a tall order for a country with only 40+ years of history.

so the next time you start romanticizing about the fashion scene in milan or the gourmet chefs in paris, why not contribute to your own society. maybe when you grow old and you look back, you can tell your grandkids, i helped to make it happen.


www.lightamillioncandles.com