Art Garden at the SAM

I was clearing the last of my childcare leave last week and made full use of the time to bring Christian out since his holidays are drawing to an end.

Our first outing was to the Art Garden at the Singapore Art Museum.

It’s an annual event which exhibits arts suitable for children, and they also included a screening of short films and animation. I had lost my car keys and was a little hesitant about bringing Christian out after he woke from his nap at 3.30pm, but decided to just do it. Taking public transport meant we reached there at 5pm, which was rather late, but the upside of that was the almost-empty museum.

Christian & I had such a great time!

The first exhibit “Echoes-Infinity-The Forest” was not such a hit, but the “Everyday Wonders” where we guessed which part of everyday objects like clothes pegs and keys were used to make imprints on clay flowers was interactive and allowed us to join in the creativity. The museum even gave a clay flower magnet to every visitor, for us to have a try at making our own artwork with paper clips etc.

Christian also enjoyed the Activity Room, where he engaged in some stamping and coloring.

The Moving Image Gallery  where the movies were screened, was on the 2nd level. I loved how there were two couches, and a wide open place with very broad gentle steps for children to sit on. It’s a place where toddlers can view a show in a dark room without fear of being ‘shushed’.

I had to coax him out of the Moving Image Gallery with the promise that we’d be back. (It was getting late and I wanted to ensure that we viewed all the exhibits first!) We proceeded to the 3rd floor where there was an interactive installation of recyclable cardboard boxes. We took 2 small cardboard boxes out of the exhibit, I drew a picture of Christian and Mama whilst he made some scrawls which he insisted was a fish, and we put the cardboard boxes back.

The “Dress Me Up” room was a hit with Christian. There were panels with an outline of a Boy/ Girl/Man/Woman, and we were to take a selection of heads, shoes, and clothes and stick it on the wall panel. It was such a creative take on dressing up and reminded me of the paper dolls I used to play with.

My personal fave was the “Let’s Dance” work by Emilie Fouilloux cos I got to be silly with Christian! We were first directed to a small white room where a facilitator played some funky dance music and we boogied for a minute. After the minute was up, we walked out into the larger dark room where our moves were projected on the wall alongside videos of other participants. Christian was thrilled and had such fun trying to track our video amidst the ever-changing collage of videos. F-U-N!

I also thought the “Reactive Wall” was brilliant. We were invited to step in front of a microphone, facing a wall of images and icons projected on a screen. The images would move when sound was captured by the microphone. The greater the volume, the larger the images. Christian kept repeating “Lightning McQueen” when I prompted him to say something, and amused the museum guide so. I sang into the microphone to demonstrate how the images would get blown up, until another group of visitors came by.  

The last exhibit we visited was the “Grow the Garden in the Dark”, where a museum guide taught us to fold a paper morning glory, and we got to stick it in the room where the fluorescent inked paper flowers and leaves glowed. It was like a surreal secret garden.

We tripped back to the Moving Image Gallery to catch the last of the animated screening. Christian was so intrigued by the last film that was showing then – Lost and found by Philip Hunt of the UK..I wished we could have caught more of the films.

Since the Art Garden runs till 12 August, perhaps we’ll return another day just to catch the animation. At $9 for an adult ticket (after a 10% discount for NTUC members) and given the free admission for children below 6 years old, I think it’s a great place to visit when we have a few hours to spend.