Art | Apa Kabar Bram

I know I haven’t been blogging for a while. It’s a combination of laziness and all other reasons I have stated beforehand. But after receiving news that Om Paman just received postcard which I sent through the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) recent exhibition (21 Century: Art in the first decade – which have received criticism from AGNSW). The news motivates me to blog again!

Here it is, another Bram Adimas’ piece on museum. This was a report compiled on my recent trip to Macau late last year. I love museum! But don’t ask me what city has what museums! Researching it beforehand sometimes spoils the fun of exploring a new city.

Macau Museum of Art is located in Macau’s Cultural Centre which consists of a science centre (that was the biggest science centre I’ve ever seen in my life – I didn’t enter it though), Handover Gift Museum (when Macau went back to China’s control, each Chinese provinves gave Macau gifts) and art museum just to name a few.

This is Macau Museum of Art building from the outside. Queensland Museum South Bank suddenly looks very small (but not Railway Workshop Museum!). While Macau residents live in small, cramped flats, their art collections enjoy a more breathable space. That sentence sure is debatable, isn’t it?

P.S.: On the other hand, Aussies live in big houses but their museums and art galleries are tiny (in size). 😛

Nice pathways, isn’t it? If you walk straight, you’ll find the Handover Gift Museum. I wonder why Hong Kong doesn’t have one. Anybody knows if perhaps it is named differently in Hong Kong’s case? Yes, HK isn’t all about shopping. I like it as a museum city.

澳門藝術博物館 as they prefer it to be written. Old version of the Chinese characters. As for Indonesian local languages, in particular the language used in my hometown, do you use the Latin version of anacaraka or the one with ‘cecek’, ‘taling’ etc?

Call me racist if you want, if you don’t know what’s ‘cecek’ or ‘taling’, learn Balinese language. Perhaps our Sasak, Javanese and Madurese brothers/sisters may have a glimpse of idea. 😀 Call it a hopeless language with no future and I will ignore you for the rest of my life (even if the language dies before I die!)

There I go ranting off topic.

The staircase is used as a platform to advertise one of its ~~then~~ current exhibition.

I forget how much does it cost to enter but it was mostly free. You do need to pay for certain exhibition. Unfortunately, my family is not really into art museum so the only exhibition we viewed was ‘Serigrafia Portuguesa’.

At the time this photo was taken, the exhibition upstairs was a ticketed event which requires you to pay. And as I stated earlier, my family is not into art museum, don’t ask me what they (the art museum) were exhibiting.

As for me, any museum will do. The most important thing is you haven’t seen that exhibition before and curiosity. If a certain exhibition is a travelling exhibition, seeing once is enough. Don’t bother about going to another city just to see the same exhibition you have seen in your city/town.

That’s all from me for now. More stories coming up your way. 😀

Last Sunday, August 02, 2009, Singapore’s Istana held an open house ahead of the National Day which took place one week after the open house (August 09). So I took the opportunity to visit the Istana. After four years staying here, I’ve never been there before.

Long queue outside the Istana

Visitors to the Istana would be given a booklet printed by NHB’s Singapore Art Museum about what events going to take place inside.

The park opposite to the Istana has been decorated with Singapore theme ahead of the National Day.

The queue behind

It’s not the end pf the queue yet.

Police guarding the Istana

To enter the Istana that day, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents need not pay a single cent whereas foreigners must pay S$ 1.00 each. What made the long queue was actually a security check using an x-ray scanners and metal detectors. And Indonesia, my homeland, please learn one thing, in Singapore, you need to tale out your laptop from your bag for x-ray scan as well just in case terrorists hide their explosives there. I have experienced that lots of times in Singapore’s Changi Airport. This is one reason why Jakarta’s JW Marriott became a target for the recent bombings.

Once entered Istana, steps after the security check, visitors would be greeted by thousand umbrellas decorated by students from various levels of institutions in the country.

Inside the brochure I told you earlier, in case of wet weather, please do not use the umbrellas. Why? Is the painting still wet? Or may be scared the colourings would ruin your clothes? Anyway, I did not manage to take shots of the umbrellas, time limit and memory limit.

Last shot before going further inwards

I know they won’t put up this sign if there is an official visit from other country.

Some Orchard Road skyscrapers could be seen from the Istana.

There were five booths of NHB to promote their museums to children. They are National Museum of Singapore (NMS), Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM), Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Singapore Philatelic Museum (SPM) and Peranakan Museum. I♥Museums is the slogan used.

NHB organised an art competition that day, there was also a performance from a military band and lastly is the unpredictable weather. See the dark clouds gathering but it was still a stuffy day.