In Singapore, where graffiti is banned, young creatives have taken over an abandoned mall, spray painting colorful murals and holding art workshops to bring the space back to life.
About half a century old, Peace Centre is scheduled to face the wrecking ball later this year, but fans say it has provided a rare space for self-expression.
Permission from authorities is required for any kind of street art in the Southeast Asian country.
Photo: AFP
In August last year, PlayPan, an initiative cofounded by entrepreneur Gary Hong (洪逸凡), convinced developers to postpone the mall’s demolition.
The answer the initiative’s backers received was that they could go ahead and use the space for “a social experiment to bring [the] community together,” Hong said.
They were given the space to host performances and workshops for several months, allowing artists, students, charities and small businesses to set up shop for free or at heavily discounted rates.
The eclectic mix of pop-up stores, art tours and musical performances has transformed the once lackluster mall into an unexpected art haven. However, at the end of this month, the mall is to close definitively, bringing an end to the art project.
Peace Centre was once a popular mall, but lost its shine to glitzier shopping centers that mushroomed over the past few years.
In the past two decades it was mostly known for its printing shops and seedy karaoke lounges.
Since its revamp into an art space, young people have attended graffiti workshops, coloring shuttered shopfronts with spray cans while punters browsed through second-hand clothing stalls and exhibits.
“It’s not something you do on a normal weekend, less so inside an indoor area, in a mall,” said Darryl Poh, a 29-year-old sales trader who took part in a spray-painting workshop.
The bathroom walls and mirrors were splattered with graffiti, while a Rage Against the Machine song blared from one of the pop-up stores. Craft cocktails were served on the ground floor and nearby, death metal CDs and trinkets were on sale.
Such spaces are uncommon in Singapore.
“I think you just got to know where to look. The government can curate things, but people are still going to do their own thing,” said Ning Fei, 34, who was selling typewritten poems.
The outer walls were plastered with flyers advertising activities from ukulele classes to pebble painting, while a futuristic mural welcomed visitors arriving at the main entrance.
Gabriel, a 43-year-old photographer who asked to be identified only by his first name, set up a booth to take portraits of passersby for charity.
“The energy here was really exciting. There were a lot of things you don’t typically see in Singapore malls,” he said, describing the vibe as “very non-Singaporean, very organic.”
“I’m going to miss this community very much. I’m glad to have plugged in and participated in this swan song,” he said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including