What a visual treat! All from the Malaysia Design Archive. Singapore should have one too!
Meanwhile, you can contend with a lesser archive of Singapore posters here. If you dig old graphics, you may also be interested in a article I wrote about Singapore’s public transport signage for the latest issue of The Design Society Journal #1. Look out for it in bookstores soon!
Take some time out on Sunday to catch the last day of Eccentric City: Rise and Fall, a paper city created out of a collaboration between Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami and Singapore design collective :phunk studio. This “eccentric” city was built out of paper buildings created using the traditional Japanese paper craft of “Tatebanko”, and each one of the buildings brings together the distinctive illustrations of the two collaborators and their vastly different cultural upbringings. On one side is Tanammi’s psychedelic works that are heavily influenced by his traumatic childhood experiences of World War II and growing up as part of the countercultural movement in the 1960s. In stark contrast, is the black and white work of :phunk whom depicted the technological city of Singapore they grew up in. Though the exhibition is small, the paper city is quite a sight to marvel at.
Besides the paper city with :phunk, Tanammi has also worked with local design agency WORK to produce two free issues of The Tanaami Times, a beautifully crafted newspaper that profiles all three collaborators and some of their work. The agency’s latest issue of its limited run WERK magazine, issue number 18, also features the work Tanammi as well.
Finally, here’s a video shot by the team that shows how each of the buildings in Eccentric City was built using Tatebanko:
A TATEBANKO (ECCENTRIC CITY : RISE AND FALL) from ferdi trihadi on Vimeo.
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Eccentric City: Rise and Fall
19 Aug – 19 Sep, 10am – 6pm
ICA Gallery 1, #B1-04, LASALLE College of the Arts
Could a city’s uniqueness be found in its most generic and banal spaces? This is what Generi-City, a project that I was recently involved in, attempts to investigate through a series of photos comparing six spaces in Singapore with similar ones in London. I worked together with London-based correspondent Chong Lingxiu to explore eating spaces in the two cities. The project is headed by Calvin Chua and Johnny Gao who I’m grateful for roping me in.
You can see the result of our investigation at an exhibition in London between 16 to 19 September 2010 as part of The London Design Festival. It might also travel to another gallery there before coming to Singapore in October as part of ArchiFest 2010. Do check it out if you’re free!