If you know where to look, you’d find plenty of amazing street art and graffiti in Singapore – most of which are lurking behind backstreets and alleys, waiting to impress anyone who’s adventurous enough to seek them out.
With One Kampong Gelam‘s latest graffiti Hall of Fame initiative, street art and graffiti are about to take front and centre stage on an unprecedented scale for the first time.
Launched on 28 April, Southeast Asia’s first official graffiti Hall of Fame is set to be the country’s largest open-air gallery and one of the most prominent street art experiences in the region.
17 Singapore-based artists have kicked off the Hall of Fame @ Kampong Gelam, with large scale murals spanning prominent five-metre tall walls over a collective 230-metre stretch along Bali Lane and Ophir Road.
Originally erected as noise barriers for ongoing construction works, the metal canvases will
become an evolving stage for the best muralists from Singapore and eventually, the world.
Committed to keeping the precinct lively and full of fresh appeal, One Kampong Gelam representative and Blu Jaz owner Aileen Tan says, “The ongoing construction work has impacted some businesses and shopfronts. That’s why we are working with the stakeholders to mitigate and transform the noise barriers into a public art space instead.”
“Artists are the best people to visualise stories of adversity turned opportunity,” she shares.
Hall of Fame Celebrates Singapore’s Urban Artists
Prolific street artists ANTZ and Didier ‘Jaba’ Mathieu present stand-alone murals on Bali Lane, as well as a collaborative piece on Ophir Road with Hegira, Singapore’s pioneering representative to the international street art scene back in 2003.
It is the first time that the trio are painting a collaborative piece together, drawing deeply from the essence and charm of Kampong Gelam. Constant Elevation is their fictive imagination of the precinct, replete with friendly street cats and red-roof shophouses.
Ophir Road will also see The Journey, a mashup of the precint’s past and present. A collaboration between duo artists Studio Moonchild, Dem, KILAS and Boon Baked, the murals are inspired by the five artists’ personal memories of Kampong Gelam.
On Bali Lane, visitors are treated to a light-hearted piece from AshD and NOEZ23, who reimagine graffiti artists as contemporary pendekars (martial arts masters) equipped with bright-coloured spray-cans.
While Has.J‘s playful, abstract mural mirrors pedestrians on the street are communicating how we each walk the line in our own unique ways.
Full-time tattoo artist Sei10 sprays the environmentally-charged Tamotori Hime (The Pearl Diver), seamlessly marrying Japanese folklore with the precinct’s Batik heritage to tell a story of the state of our current world.
SingapoReimagine: Co-creation Across Borders
The Hall of Fame also welcomes its first cross-culture collaboration, taking place remotely between popular Indonesian muralist Stereoflow and Singaporean artist ZERO.
As part of the SingapoReimagine campaign, which aims to spark conversations to reimagine the future of travelling, the duo will present one holistic narrative across borders titled ‘Under the Same Sun’.
ZERO’s signature style will be remixed and presented as part of the Hall of Fame on Bali Lane while Stereoflow will paint his signature remix at M Bloc Space, Jakarta.
More Activities Await at Hall of Fame Microsite
QR codes will accompany the murals, allowing visitors to access the Hall of Fame microsite, which comes complete with artist information and artwork descriptions.
The artists will also be joining forces in a three-episode mini-series Street Art in Kampong Gelam, which covers topics like the evolution of Singapore’s urban art scene and the role of public art in society.
Catch the first episode on the microsite now at hof.visitkamponggelam.com.sg/videos.
Meanwhile, there’s a ton of related activities and urban experiences to come to Kampong Gelam. Connect with this urban art precinct through curated self-guided walking tours, artist-led spray-painting workshops, and refreshed neighbourhood adventures.
For more information, visit hof.visitkamponggelam.com.sg.
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