SINGAPORE — Launching on Friday is an experience that puts happiness on display through brand new works from 17 emerging video and visual artists, animators, and musicians. ‘Happy House’ will take place as part of Singapore Art Week 2022, held from 14 to 23 January 2022, 11am – 8pm daily, admission is free. The multimedia installation is co-curated by Tulika Ahuja of art consultancy MAMA MAGNET, in collaboration with Cats On Crack of music agency, The Council.
Featured artists share their own understandings of happiness, alongside submissions of happy memories from the community, together inviting audiences to explore their personal relationships with the H-Word. By arranging inter-generational artists side by side, Happy House investigates what happiness looks like in Singapore. It also explores the question: Do we find happiness in the pursuit of happiness?
Video creator, New World Plaza (b. 1980, Singapore) remixes a blast from the past, sampling the Five C’s and ‘Singapore Smile Campaign’ (1998) to re-contextualise the present. His unique approach parallels materialistic values, and questions their place in our current time.
Transporting us to niche states of happiness derived from celebrity worship and pop culture is Clarrot (b. 1995, Singapore), who digitally renders the popular ‘BTS bus stop’ destination into a motion loop video. Washed in signature pastel-purple hues, the piece reflects on what’s yet to come.
Altogether, the artworks comment on happiness that comes from a multitude of sources and are presented to visitors as hacks for happiness in the modern-day.
A highlight is participative audio-visual installation ‘Kaleidoscope of Emotions’ by motion graphics artist Reza Hasni (b. 1982, Singapore) and audio producer Kin Leonn (b. 1995, Singapore). The site-specific experience is designed for audiences to lie down and look inward, giving attention to any responses that may arise from the immersive artwork. The transportive visuals in motion paired with the surrounding quadraphonic sound creates a meditative experience, calling for self-reflection.
Kin Leonn urges the importance of collective listening, with his work creating a “subconscious communal connection, as well as deeper bonding with ourselves.” His work guides the audience into their own memories, creating space through crescendos and instrumentation.
For Reza Hasni, “the body of work feels almost ceremonial as it combines sacred geometry, mystical diagrams, sigils, and healing symbols using colour, light, and sound.” His psychedelic projection guides viewers to another realm, showing the value of the journey, rather than fixating on a final destination.
Social withdrawal is now officially recognised by urban authorities as a major risk factor (Novotney, 2019, American Psychology Association), potentially leading to an array of illnesses. Happy House re-creates its environment in a way that encourages connection rather than isolation, and by co-presenting the works of artists and the community, our personal perceptions of happiness are brought to light.
Admission Details
HAPPY HOUSE
Where: Tanjong Pagar Distripark, #05-04, 39 Keppel Road; online (happyhouse.sg)
When: Jan 14 to 23, 11am to 8pm daily
Admission: Free
ARTISTS (A – Z)
Amanda Tan (Empyreal) (SG)
Clarrot (SG)
Eduardo Enrique (VE)
Gen Yip (SG)
Hahahafi (SG)
Highnunchicken (SG)
Kin Leonn (SG)
Izzad Radzali Shah (SG)
Joy Song (SG)
Juan Qi An (SG)
New World Plaza (SG)
Pat Toh (SG)
Reza Hasni (SG)
Rin Tachihara (SG)
State.land (UK)
Van Lim (SG)
zalindrome (SG)
For more information: Contact Tulika Ahuja (Curator) at tulika@mamamagnet.org
ANNEX – BIOS
Mama Magnet
Tulika Ahuja
@mama.magnet
An art programming consultancy strategising and producing multimedia art programming on accessible themes. We collaborate with our network of emerging artists, developers, and programmers to offer diverse perspectives that archive our time while creating encounters for the community to navigate unconventional futures.
The Council
@thecouncilsg
Cats On Crack
@catsoncrack
Dedicated to promoting arts & music from Singapore, Asia, and beyond — The Council has been instrumental in shaping the alternative arts & music scene since its inception in 2016. With its focus on programme consultancy, artist, and events management, The Council was born out of a shared desire to create experiences and memories that could last a lifetime. Whether it’s creating opportunities for joyous communion, or introspective zones for deep listening, The Council is on a mission to create new ways in which arts & music can be experienced.
Clarrot
@_clarrot_
Clara Lim is a moving image artist and designer based in Singapore. Working under the moniker _clarrot_, She creates mixed-media digital interventions and generative images from sampling open-source past, present, and speculative future visual culture.
Graduating with a BFA, Minor (Art History), her works are shown internationally and locally, highlighting her work at National Gallery Singapore, An Exercise of Meaning in a Glitch Season. Her visual projections have mapped The Gulbenkian, University of Kent’s Arts Center, ADM Gallery, NTU Museum, and was awarded NTU Global Digital Art Prize (2019).
New World Plaza
@neworldplaza
super efficiency creations high trends fashions future technologics first one sure why not wow okay Reza Hasni @reza.hasni A Singaporean motion artist and illustrator based in Berlin, Germany. Patterns of sacred geometry form core themes, along with influences of 90’s Internet pop and club culture.
Reza’s illustration and motion graphics practice feed into collaborations in music, installations, augmented reality, and fashion around Europe and Asia. These additional mediums add layers of interactivity to his work, allowing immersive experiences for audiences in the virtual and physical.
His first solo exhibition, Mystic Island, was launched at UltraSuperNew Singapore in 2017. In 2020, Reza with Mama Magnet, and collaborators launched ‘Centre for Altered Togetherness’, a second solo virtual exhibition that travelled to mihn 宀 gallery Hong Kong for a physical showcase in 2021.
His work has been featured on It’s Nice That, Vice, The Straits Times, Adobo Mag, and Neocha to name a few.
Kin Leonn
@kinleonn
Affectionately known as the “ambient boy from Singapore”, Kin Leonn is an artist, composer, pianist, and producer.
His creative nascence as a founding member of electronic act midst in 2015 established him as an exciting, versatile presence in Singapore’s indie scene. In 2018, he released his debut solo album as the youngest new artist under KITCHEN. LABEL – an avant-garde/neo-classical record label based in Tokyo and Singapore.
Since then, he has released a collaborative EP with Japanese sound artist Hiroshi Ebina, performed sold-out shows in both London and Singapore, and designed a 6-channel ambient experience together with Sean Gwee for London’s Architectural Association.
Kin Leonn is also a first-class graduate of the London College of Music, and a recipient of the Spike Stent Award for high academic achievement.
Singapore Art Week
@sgartweek
As Singapore’s signature visual arts season, Singapore Art Week (SAW) represents the unity and pride of a diverse and vibrant arts community. In its 10th edition, SAW 2022 will be a celebration of the Singapore visual arts in its decade of growth – in the practices of Singapore artists, in the formats of presentation, and in the spaces these will inhabit. SAW 2022 will run from 14 January to 23 January 2022, with over 130 events with art across the island and online, featuring new works, transnational collaborations, and virtual art experiences. Audiences all over the world can access and discover the exciting art in Singapore’s arts and cultural institutions and beyond, or engage in enriching discussions, talks, public art walks, and tours. A catalyst of creativity, SAW 2022 continues to be a spotlight, gathering, and launchpad for the arts community in Singapore.
SAW 2022 is a joint initiative by the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
