Voyage Night Festival 2011

This is my first time visiting museums at night. This year is different because the event festival will last for two weeks, from 26th August to 3rd September 2011. Different performances will be scheduled on 2 weekends. Do download a copy of the programme guide from National Museum of Singapore if you do not wish to miss out any good shows.

Exhibitions at SAM are much light hearted and colourful. You will first be greeted by several Volvo cars at the front lawn of SAM, flashing rhythmic lights through the frosted windows. It’s a pity sound design has not been considered. It would be a great medium to use with light.

Curiosities are glowing jellyfish light installations floating around 2 sides of SAM courtyard. These jellyfishes are relatively big and fascinating against the dark sky. Definitely a great spot to take a photo with.

IMG_1345Curiosities, Courtyard at SAM

I would recommend SAM for kids as there are galleries and activities suitable for them to participate in.

Walking over, to National Museum of Singapore, you will first see 12 large bright helium balloons when you enter the Rotunda. Artist tries to address her dilemma in search for her identity in foreign land. Did you read that? Probably take a closer look at the facial expressions of the gloomy brown figurines juxtaposing against carefree balloons.

IMG_1382A Dozen of Those, Rotunda at NMS

If you are a photography lover, you must visit Abbas, 45 Years in Photography exhibition located at National Museum of Singapore’s basement Gallery 2. These black and white photography are curated with concerning themes such as wars, countries, day-to-day life and religion. Every picture you see makes you ponder what kind of life these people are living in, what are their stories, what exactly happen back then. This exhibition shall be ongoing till 18th September 2011 (Sunday).

I ended my visit of the night with Corazon de Angeles in Paradise performance, in front of National Museum, and also the highlight of the night. Roads are blocked for audience to stream into the temporary open space. This Belgian theatre company brings the emotion to the peak with their singing, acting, video screening, dance, theatrical props and lights, all performed LIVE. A full 45 minutes experience which transport you to their cinematic world.

IMG_1478Corazon de Angeles in Paradise, Entrance of NMS

IMG_1499Corazon de Angeles in Paradise, Acrobatics

IMG_1479Corazon de Angeles in Paradise, Singer

Note: Within the month of August 2011, admissions to most museums are free. But late night free admission is only applicable to National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, SAM at 8Q on 26 August (Fri), 27 August (Sat), 2 September (Fri), 3 September 2011 (Sat), from 6pm to 2am. The Peranakan Museum and The Substation will only open till 2am on 26 August (Fri) and 27 August 2011 (Sat).

Nothing Less

About 2 weeks ago, Lester and I participated in a voluntary project, Nothing Less, organised by Infocomm Accessibility Centre (IAC) and supported by Tribal DDB. IAC provides various IT trainings across all disability types, including physical disabilities, visual impairment, hearing impairment and developmental disabilities.

In this Nothing Less campaign, volunteers deliver 40 netbooks to the homes of people with disabilities, assisting them to connect to the world through social media platforms such as Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter and Skype.

To top it off, Tribal DDB is offering internship to them. They would need to submit an entry as a video of no longer than 1 minute, or as a short write-up of no more than 500 words. More details can be found in the FAQ Page.

We arrived promptly at 9:30am on our mission day. Our client is a 8 years old girl, Cheong Leng, who needs a computer for her school work. We are overwhelmed by the friendly mother who serves us green bean soup before we even started.

Ready for mission
Ready for mission

Ready for mission
Ready for mission

Delivering the netbook
Delivering the netbook

I am glad Lester is with me because he is the technical guy who assisted in setting up the Internet dongle. To begin with, we have created simple flash cards to show her what the respective social media platforms are for.

Self-made flash cards
Self-made flash cards

Lester setting up Internet dongle
Lester setting up Internet dongle

Some considerable time is spent to engage Cheong Leng to talk to us, to type and to choose her login name. Everything else move smoothly. We only encounter minimum age issue, minimum 13 years old, to register for a Facebook account. Therefore, we have to tweak her year of birth in order to proceed.

Mummy getting Cheong Leng to start
Mummy getting Cheong Leng to start

Introduction to Facebook
Introduction to Facebook

Sending her first friend request message
Sending her first friend request message

I believe Cheong Leng is more excited as we move on to Skype. She makes video call out to IAC staff  and me (I used my iPhone). Live demonstration and interaction indeed works better for her. Cheong Leng also loves to communicate with Skype emoticons!

Through onsite observations, Lester and I decided change the last social media component: from Twitter to YouTube. We believe YouTube can bring more beneficial information and entertainment to a girl of her age. She has learn how to make a search for videos, loading them, play and pause, and watch them in full screen.

YouTubing her favourite Mr Bean
YouTubing her favourite Mr Bean

We’ve never done a 1-to-1 house visit before. This experience is indeed special. Special in the sense that we are able to pass on our IT skill to someone in need. We do hope this visit makes an influence to her in future.

Mission accomplished
Mission accomplished

Written by Lester Chan & Lay Hiang