Common Grounds will be back again this weekend!
Read on to see what National Gallery has in store for you!
I was invited to attend National Gallery Open House (Common Grounds) two weeks back which was the Gallery’s upsized weekend festival. Having informed that it will feature a wide variety of exciting activities, I decided to bring le fiance along as well.
About National Singapore Gallery
National Gallery Singapore is a new visual arts institution which oversees the largest public collection of modern art in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The Gallery is housed in two national monuments—former Supreme Court and City Hall—that have been beautifully restored and transformed into this exciting venue in the heart of the Civic District.
Reflecting Singapore’s unique heritage and geographical location, the Gallery will feature Singapore and Southeast Asian art in its long-term and special exhibitions. It will also work with leading museums worldwide to co-present Southeast Asian art in a wider context, positioning Singapore as a regional and international hub for the visual arts.
Common Grounds, the Gallery’s community open house, offers a fun day out for family and friends. With captivating performances and exciting art activities happening throughout the day, there’s something for everyone.
I met Ms Beverly who has kindly invited me to the event to receive my Media pass and package, which includes three lovely cards and food vouchers!
At the entrance, there is a table of activities at certain timings of the day so you can be sure to check out which activities interest you. Nontheless, I was pretty keen on Lindy Hop dance which was happening at that point of time and off we went to watch the performance. There are many other performances like Kulcha, Ensemble and drumming performances which we did not manage to see because of different timings.
Performance area
Lindy Hop is a vibrant dance that fuses jazz, tap, breakaway and the Charleston.
Along the way, we were approached by friendly staffs who encourage us to take picture with the painting on the wall, passing us the fish props to pose as well.
There are many other paintings which you can pose with and even 3D paintings are there to get you to do some creative poses!
Going up, we saw a few push carts which certainly brought me back to my younger days where I rememeber eating Kachang Puteh which was quite common in the past My favorite was always the sugar-coated peanuts which I was glad to see that the push cart selling that! And of course, we use our food coupons to buy 3 cones of Kachang Puteh. Yummy!
Kachang Puteh is a snack where wide ranges of nuts can be choose from to put into a paper cone. It was a common snack in Singapore olden days.
Old sweets
Bento stall
There are 5 levels for explorations. Map will be provided at the information counter:
The lower levels consisted of many activities ranging from taking photos at art exhibitions along the walls to kids activities where these invite parents and children to interact creatively through art making. There are also products displays which are up for sale .
Children’s artworks
Children’s artworks
Local art merchandises
Loving this style of painting by Sandra Lee
Beautiful notebooks
Hungry? No worries! National Gallery also has a cafe for you to eat and chill as well!
The upper levels contains mainly art galleries which display excellent varieties of artworks and scultptures by various artist including famous artists like Picasso.
Here some of the pictures taken at the galleries:
Like some of their artworks? You can also create poster of their artworks and send it to your own email using the interactive table DBS Singapore Gallery 2 (Level 2).
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It is happening again this weekend!
Picture credited to National Gallery Singapore website
Right now, National Gallery Singapore will be bringing back Common Grounds for a second edition in celebration in welcoming 1 million vistors since their opening in November. Enjoy a fun day out with family and friends at the Gallery’s community open house. There will be activities like Art Alive! consisting of life-sized 3D artworks which are great photo poses, fun filled activities which include free instant prints, community art, art explorers for children and playing old school games at basement chinatown streetscape as well as performances and dances.
For more informations of the activities, please visit: National Gallery Singapore – Common Grounds
Date: 25-26 June 2016 (Sat – Sun)
Time: 11am – 6pm
Venue: National Gallery Singapore
Price: Free admission
