A visit to the exhibition, Magic - The Science of Illusion

On 19 Dec 2008, I spent a day at the Science Centre Singapore so as to visit the exhibition titled Magic - The Science of Illusion.

Prior to visiting the exhibition, I have often marvelled at what people refer to as magic. How does magic work?

I shall not reveal too much about the science behind the various 'magic' and illusions that are used by professional magicians. However, to entice readers to consider making a trip to the Science Centre Singapore to catch this very exhibition, I shall attempt to share about a few of the interesting exhibits that one can find at this exhibition.

Look carefully at the photograph right below. Did you notice that the boy appear to have no body. Yes, look at the next photograph below, and imagine a disembodied head on the metal plate. How does a magician achieve the illusion of a disembodied head? I now know the answers, but you would have to visit the exhibition to find them out for yourself.






Did anyone of you watch those magic shows where someone sits on a heavy chair like the one that you see in the photograph below, and strangely, the chair has the power to lift itself and a person up even though there was supposedly nothing underneath the chair? I witnessed a boy being lifted up while sitting on the chair. The chair was floating. See, there was nothing underneath the chair. What is the science behind this illusion? Go figure it out yourself.





Lovers of Mathematics may like to try their hands on the "magic square". The task to obtain a magic square is to arrange the numbers "1" to "9" such that it will add up to 15 whether vertically, diagonally, and horizonatlly. It may seem to be an easy task but it is not, unless one knows the secrets behind. Try it for yourself.




For visitors who love watching magic performances, I recommend that they check out the schedules for the magic performances. These shows are free for all ticket-holders to the exhibition, Magic - The Science of Illusion.

Magic - The Science of Illusion is held at the Science Centre Singapore from 22 Nov 2008 to 28 Feb 2009. For more information about the Science Centre Singapore and the various exhibitions at the Science Centre, please visit: http://www.science.edu.sg

FOYers Gathering on 31 Oct 2008

31 Oct 2008 happened to be Halloween but Halloween has no significance for me. I do not celebrate it anyway. Yet, 31 Oct 2008 was a meaningful day because that evening, Friends of Yesterday.sg met at 8Q sam.

I was looking at the archives of Yesterday.sg and found that the earliest post in the archives date back as early as 3 Aug 2005. It was Love Me Love Me Not at the Singapore History Museum posted by Shaun Wong. It's rather commendable that Yesterday.sg has come so far.

Compared to the Singapore Art Museum building along Bras Basah Road, 8Q sam is a comparatively unfamiliar place to me. I've only managed to find out that the four-storey building that 8Q sam occupies was formerly the primary wing of the Catholic High School.

I took the first photo found on this post (see above) at least an hour before the gathering started. If I am not wrong, the white building in the foreground was formerly the secondary wing of the Catholic High School? Look further into the background, and you would see a building in shades of orange and red. That's the 8Q sam building.

To be very honest, I have no particular memory of the 8Q sam building. Even though I used to frequent the Bras Basah and Waterloo Street area very often, the building had only struck me as an unfamiliar building. After it was recently converted to Singapore Art Museum's new wing for contemporary art did I realised that it was formerly the primary wing of the Catholic High School. As such, I shall point readers to a few online articles which may help you better appreciate the building's past:

- 8Q sam - formerly Catholic High Primary School by ordinary guy
- Queen Street, By Thulaja, Naidu Ratnala written on 2003-03-29, National Library Board Singapore.




Back to the gathering, it was held from 7.30 p.m. at Octo Room of the 8Q sam building. As I usually have dinner much earlier in the evening, by the time I was at the gathering, I was already full from a light dinner. No matter how appetizing the food was, I have only room to sample some of the food. The food was good. Anyway, I simply have to have my dinner early else I fear I may get gastric problems eventually.

Sweet tiramisu. Photo credit: acroamatic

Pizza. Photo credit: acroamatic

I have the pleasure to meet a few of the Friends of Yesterday.sg for the very first time. Budak seemed to be fairly interested in contemporary arts, and he was recommending that I could check out Donna Ong's The Caretaker. While striking a conversation with Budak, I realised that I had caught a glimpse of The Caretaker a few weeks ago. While it may seemed rather eerie at first, I had found myself gradually intrigued by its use of dim lighting and its subtle hint of a sinister mood.

There was quite some time to catch up with various Friends of Yesterday.sg. Admittedly, I was pretty excited about sharing concepts of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) with Ivan. It often excites me when I get to talk about topics that interest me, and MBTI is one of it. I spoke briefly with Preetam about Ang Mo Kio. I also had a chance to coax Modcentric and Homesafe to consider checking out the Singapore Biennale exhibition site at City Hall. I attempted to do so by sharing about my recent visit to City Hall. I hope that would get them excited to visit City Hall before it undergoes major conversion into the National Art Gallery.




The most formal part of the event was probably the presentation by Walter which he and his team had put together. There were quite a lot of interesting and constructive discussions going on.



And eventually, all good things will come to a closure, at least temporary. Nevertheless, it had been a fruitful gathering afterall.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8Q_SAM
http://www.singart.com/8qsam/about.html

**
Related posts by other Friends of Yesterday.sg:
SAM 8Q: Latest NHB museum on the block by Ivan.
Friends of Yesterday.sg by otterman.

Glimpses of City Hall building at Singapore Biennale 2008

The City Hall, Singapore. I do not know about you, but this was one of the places that I was out with my ex-classmates to take outdoor graduation photographs, wearing our graduation robes. I believe quite a number of people had also taken their outdoor graduation photographs at the main entrance of the City Hall building?

Other than being the place where I had taken outdoor graduation photographs at, the steps leading to the main entrance of City Hall were where I had sat on a few occasions, simply to watch time passing by and to sketch. It was a lovely place to be at, especially on a breezy and cloudy day. From those steps, I could have a pretty view of some of my favourite places in Singapore: The Victoria Concert Hall, the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, and the open spaces of the Padang.

A sketch that I did.

City Hall was built originally in 1929, and was then known as the Municipal Building. This neoclassical building was designed by Municipal Architech A. Gordo and Assistant Architect F.D. Meadows. In 1951, the Municipal Building was renamed as City Hall, when the town of Singapore was proclaimed a city of the British Commonwealth by the Royal Charter granted by King George VI.

In the year 2005, City Hall was decommissioned. Subsequently, its spaces were used for the first Singapore Biennale in 2006. I remember that I had an enriching time viewing the various exhibits of Singapore Biennale 2006 when I was at City Hall two years ago.

A couple of days ago, I visited City Hall so as to view the exhibits of Singapore Biennale 2008. It was with nostalgia that I shall share some of photographs of City Hall that I had taken during my most recent visit to City Hall. The thing is that after the Singapore Biennale 2008, City Hall and the adjacent Supreme Court building will be converted into the National Art Gallery. I wonder how the Supreme Court and the City Hall would look like when they open their doors as the National Art Gallery sometime around 2013? Anyway, I believe my memories of City Hall will last for a long time. Would yours too?

If you should have the chance to, do find time to check out the Singapore Biennale 2008, particularly the following two exhibition venues: City Hall and the South Beach Development. The Singapore Biennale 2008 ends on 16 Nov 2008.

This room was formerly City Hall's restaurant.

In City Hall's former restaurant: Han, Jong-Gun's "Evolutional Mythology". 2007.

City Hall's former restaurant.

Previously one of the Judges' Chambers.

Previously one of the Judges' Chambers.

The corridors.

Another former Judges' Chambers.

When I was attending one of the guided tours of the Singapore Biennale 2008, the tour-guide shared briefly about historical significance of City Hall. I understand that it was right inside the City Hall Chambers that Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten accepted the surrender of the Japanese to the Allies in the year 1945. Many other historical events have also taken place at City Hall. For example, it was at City Hall that the then 'Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew proclaimed self-government for Singapore in 1959, and where he declared the merger with Malaysia in 1963 and then announced that Singapore was an independent republic in 1965'.

The City Hall Chamber.

I cannot fully explain why. When I was at the Singapore Biennale, the work by Pimkanchanapong, Wit's Singapore somehow got me into a reminiscent mood. In this work, the artist recreate a Google Earth image-map of Singapore to be installed as a wall-to-wall floor covering for the Cith Hall Chamber. Visitors are provided with stickers on which they could write information about specific places and attach these stickers onto the map. It was definitely an interactive piece of art. As I went around the City Hall Chamber searching for the location of several places in Singapore on the art-work-cum-map, I could not help but recall some of the good memories that I have had of the places and the people who have shared those good times with me.

In City Hall Chambers: Pimkanchanapong, Wit's Singapore.

Closed up of a section of Pimkanchanapong, Wit's Singapore.

I shall then end this post by sharing two photos that I had taken about a year ago at the Surrender Chambers of Fort Siloso, Sentosa. The life-size wax-models that you would see in the following two photographs reenact the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945 at the then Municipal Building of Singapore, now City Hall. I was not even born yet when that historical moment took place. Did you have the privilege to have witness this event in 1945?

Photo taken at Surrender Chambers of Fort Siloso, Sentosa. The actual surrender took place at City Hall.

Photo taken at Surrender Chambers of Fort Siloso, Sentosa

What memories do you have of the City Hall building?

Maybe it would be worthwhile to visit it soon, before it undergoes major conversion into the National Art Gallery.


References:
- G. Byrne Bracken. (2004).A Walking Tour: Singapore. Singapore: Times Editions.
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_849_2004-12-17.html
- http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_717_2004-12-28.html
- http://www.singaporebiennale.org/2006/venues-cityhall.html

Growing up in Ang Mo Kio: From bus interchange to AMK Hub

AMK Hub

AMK Hub is a building that houses the supermarket (NTUC Xtra), many retail stores, a food court, an intergrated Entertainment Centre on the 4th floor, and an airconditioned bus interchange.

Many years ago, before the year 2002, there stood a humble, non-airconditioned bus interchange approximately where AMK Hub now stands. There was a NTUC supermarket that stood just beside the non-airconditioned bus interchange but it was demolished around year 2002, I vaguely recall.

The humble bus-interchange back then had a simple canteen which I recall was on the second floor. There was an underground linkway from the bus-interchange to the Ang Mo Kio MRT station. I vaguely recall that when I was in Secondary School, I would wake up early every school-day, walk past the then non-airconditioned bus-interchange to take a bus to school. Early in those mornings (about 6.25 a.m.), there would already be a lot of commuters and bus-captains at the bus-interchange.

However, back then, I did not have an urge to take photograph and as such have no particular photo of the then non-airconditioned bus interchange to show you.

I only have a photo that gives a glimpse of the temporary bus interchange located nearby the Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic. The temporary bus interchange served commuters when the old bus interchange building was demolished sometime around the year 2002. Some residents would recall that there used to be a temporary NTUC supermarket just beside the temporary bus interchange. The temporary NTUC supermarket closed sometime after the NTUC Xtra supermarket was in operation.


The temporary bus interchange. Now demolished too.

If anyone enjoys seeing glimpses of the construction of AMK Hub, after the non-airconditioned bus-interchange located at Ang Mo Kio Central was demolished, here is a short photo presentation for your viewing pleasure:









I can't remember the date that the airconditioned bus-interchange within AMK Hub started its operation. However, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Mo_Kio_Bus_Interchange, it could be 28 April 2007.

Does anyone have any stories to share about their growing-up years in Ang Mo Kio? I would care to hear from you.

(This post was first published on Yesterday.sg on 1 Jul 2008.)