Bravo, Goethe-Institut Singapore, for responding so generously to the need for more physical spaces for the arts in Singapore! 136 GOETHE LAB is a new project space housed in the former library and reading room of their building at Neil Road.
Their inaugural show, Soft Realities is a response to an open call inviting participants to activate the space with a group proposal.
Entering the darkened labyrinthian space created by artists Ong Kian Peng, Finbarr Fallon and Fiona Tan, one is overcome by a sense of disorientation as ambient sounds and flickering shadows fill the room.
The work is inspired in part by the allegory of Plato’s Cave, which describes a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all their lives, unable to look around except at shadows cast upon the wall in front of them. The sounds of people talking echo off the walls, and the prisoners believe these sounds come from the shadows. Although the the shadows are reality for the prisoners, they are not accurate representations of the real world.
Scroll through the pics for an impression of the “cave” created by the artists. The work really needs to be experienced in person, though. Soft Realities is on now till Friday 29 October (closed on Mondays). Find out more on Goethe-Institut’s Facebook Event Page for Soft Realities at https://facebook.com/events/s/soft-realities/184659810462168/.
