Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum Alan Chong shares with Melissa Gail Sing interesting details about the ongoing revamp of the museum, which will unveil its new face in October this year.  

Strong government backing for new museums, home-grown institutions to nurture industry practitioners, art events of international standard and appeal catering to different interest groups, a growing private gallery scene that offers artists a livelihood, and a greater population of highly affluent individuals with the financial means to collect and invest in art have translated into a burgeoning art scene in Singapore. But what will it take for Singapore to truly become an international art hub – one that’s not just commercially-driven but a community that is truly art-loving at its core? Melissa Gail Sing finds out. 

Tell me about your role at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM).
I am director of the Asian Civilisations Museum, which also includes the Peranakan Museum, and at the same time, I am the chief curatorial director for the National Heritage Board. It sounds like a lot but basically I am responsible for the museum’s positioning and research, and it’s a very exciting time for us, because we are now moving into a new phase. We are trying to refocus our mission, grow our collection, and carve out a different role for ourselves within Singapore’s museum landscape.

Fortunately, we have been granted some of the resources to not only build a collection but also improve the museum facility. We are creating a new entrance that will open onto the Singapore River, to realign the museum towards this historic centre of Singapore which gave us our identity as a trading nation. We feel that more life, more public access and a livelier sense of the civic district is the future for the next few years in Singapore and we want to take advantage of that. For Singapore’s 2015 Jubilee Celebrations, there will be a greater emphasis along the River. In what I call a “realignment of the city of Singapore”, we want to move a little bit away from the car, a little bit away from mass transportation and turn this into more of a pedestrianised, family-friendly walking destination. For ACM, what this really means is that we will slowly revamp it, renovating the galleries, creating learning centres and allowing greater public access. By October 23, 2015, we will have a relaunch of the new ACM with the new entrance, new restaurants and cafe, and the beginning of our new galleries. This will mark the completion of the first phase of the project.

What are some of the old impressions about ACM you’ve tried to change since becoming its director?
I think my predecessors have done a beautiful job setting up the ACM. It has occupied a historic building in the centre of Singapore for the past 12 years, and it has done a fantastic job. If there’s one small misperception, it’s that the museum is not open to all. We are free to all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents and we are family-friendly. The museum is really a gathering place for everyone. It’s not for an elite or highly educated people and it’s not for small groups. It’s really for everyone. It’s just this message that we need to keep reinforcing.

And I think all museums need to go through change. Every five to 10 years, they need to renovate to take advantage of the latest technologies and research and  new ideas, and make their galleries more accessible. 

How does social media factor in the museum’s revamp?
All institutions are now part of social media, the internet and the wired age. Many people discover things instantly on the web, but social media also changes very quickly, meaning that the latest app and device is going to shift within a year so we need to evolve to take advantage of that. Institutions with physical products, whether it’s a shopping mall, cinema or museum (I don’t like to group us in that category, but it’s a fact of life), need to constantly reinforce the visit, that there’s something special about coming. What I’m very conscious of is that it is very trendy to talk about the internet and social media as the new wave, but it will never replace the museum. It would be a big mistake to think otherwise.

It may well be that when people want to find out about Asian art, they’re not going to go to the ACM website first but to Wikipedia or a hundred other places that will show up on a web search. However, what we provide here at the museum is the authentic experience. It’s where you could meet other like-minded people with similar interests, and interact with a guide, fellow visitors, your friends and with the museum. So, core values are very important to us – it is a physical museum, and experiencing a real work of art, be it a Buddha sculpture or a beautiful piece of porcelain, is something that cannot be duplicated with a photograph in a book or on the internet. It comes close, but what we have is something real. And I think there is a craving for authentic heritage, something I have witnessed in the four years that I have been in Singapore. There is a growing interest in the past, in the heritage of Singapore, of old buildings, of sites and monuments. Some of it is just nostalgia, but I see that there is a deep awareness that our history is important. It is important for Singaporeans to see their past but also that the country has a role to play in the world in preserving heritage. That sounds very grand, but being a cosmopolitan city, a mixed city that isn’t one religion, or one ethnic group or one language is really something to treasure.

Singapore’s art scene has quickly burgeoned over the past two decades, but what will it take for Singapore to truly become an international art hub--one that’s not just commercially-driven but a community that is truly art-loving at its core?
It is already, you know. It has a lot to be proud of: big museums; the new National Art Gallery that will open in November; Art Stage Singapore now has an established track record; Gillman Barracks and its programmes. So, we are an art hub. We’ve accomplished a great deal and made a good start but it’s really the maturity of the environment and the museums that is important. It’s a case of continual investment; you can’t just erect a building as a one-off investment and say it is finished. It’s not like that, even in business or in a hotel. Just as a good hotel needs to renovate and update, a good museum needs to renovate every five years or so and it needs to collect. The museums here did not inherit great archaeological or royal collections, so we have to keep building our collections as the market allows us to. We’ve also made a good start in the private sector and practising artists. Schools like La-Salle and School of the Arts (SOTA) are essential in establishing a creative economy, the livelihood of artists. I’d say the next big phase is design. We need to constantly encourage designers and photographers beyond their traditional strengths in architecture and urban planning. We need to encourage these other areas of design to really nurture homegrown talent. Then you complete your creative economy.

When you look to Hong Kong, Tokyo and even Taipei, they have long traditions in art, not only in terms of galleries but also in terms of practising artists. In comparison, however, Singapore museums are now stronger than, say, museums in Hong Kong which have taken a much slower growth path due to government reluctance to invest in museums. It’s about making sure these initial investments are sustainable – not only in terms of the practising contemporary artists but also that the art market, that the private galleries have a flourishing environment and with the museum sector completing the picture. They all go together and I think we have made a fantastic start with many new initiatives, art fairs and ideas emerging all the time. So, it’s all about sustainability.

You were raised in Hawaii, majored in art history at Yale, worked in the US and are well travelled. What’s the best museum experience you’ve had?
I’ve heard that the Asian Civilisations Museum is quite good so I try to drop by once in a while. But setting aside the big, famous museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Louvre, the National Gallery of London or the British Museum, sometimes small museums create very intense, moving experiences with just a very carefully designed room and a few works of art carefully chosen and well placed. One of my favourite museums in the world is the John Soane museum in London. It’s a beautifully preserved museum by renowned 18th century architect, John Soane, who designed the Bank of England and gave expression to the iconic British Red Telephone Box. He left his house to the nation as a museum. It’s a quirky combination of ancient sculpture, 18th century paintings, furniture, his library and living room but is also full of objects very creatively displayed. He designed the rooms himself, so they have quirky idiosyncratic features, with beautiful light everywhere. Over the years, contemporary installations have been added to give a new take to this museum. I find it a very quiet, relaxing and rewarding experience to visit.

Credits
Photography: Lionel Lai/Acepix; Grooming: Benedict Choo

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