CRAZY, RICH, FUN AND ASIAN AT ART SG

New kid on the art block Singapore pulled off a crazy, rich, fun and Asian art week this January capped by Art SG, touted to be the biggest art fair in the region.

- LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL

It also happened to be the 60th anniversary of the founding of Singapore, which makes it kid sister to Indonesia’s 12th-century Majapahit Empire — and Spanish Manila in 1571.

Nevertheless, 60 years was cause for celebration for this glittering city. UBS, a major sponsor of the fair, unfurled a 60-meter-long tapestry of “indigenous weaving” — really, several tons of recycled T-shirts cut into strips and woven together by the population. There was a live demo of the process at Art SG, which featured Singapore’s officaldom joining in the warp-and-weft action.

Singapore is uniquely poised for spectacles such as Art SG. It has the infrastructure, the money, and most important, the political will. This is all apparent from the seamless touchdown at Changi Airport to the precision drive down long, manicured avenues (designed by Filipinos working for international firms), to the colossal convention center that includes designer boutiques and restaurants from all over the world and most importantly, to a national agenda that prioritizes (and rightly so) culture and the arts as a true economic force.

The epicenter for Art SG was the luxurious Manila Bay Sands, an offshoot of the famous Las Vegas Sands casino, which dominates one end of Singapore. In truth, however, Art SG sprawled throughout the entire city.

It seemed like a river of art flowed through the center, past the harbor and its docks, through the homes of private collectors (who threw their doors open for fellow art-travelers), and to dozens of galleries and exhibition spaces that had all collaborated for this one single art event. In the nooks and crannies around Orchard Road could be found a Botero retrospective at Opera Gallery as well as a tantalizingly titled show, “Secret Singapore.”