Short Takes
WHAT TREADABILITY IS ALL ABOUT?
When Ken Hickson decided to turn The Avenue for Creative Arts into The Art of Travel in March 2019, he wanted the magazine to have a distinct message. He invented the word Treadability.travel Responsibly for the Environment, Arts & Dreams. His first issue also quoted WB Yeats: “Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” and he acknowledged the best-selling book by Alain de Botton entitled, yes, you guessed it: “The Art of Travel”. Ken is delighted that The Art of Travel has moved into print with this edition of Asian Journeys.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON – BUT WHEN?
Just as Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was closed due to the plague a few hundred years ago, the coronavirus pandemic has shut down stage shows around the world - from the West End to Singapore, Broadway to Sydney. While many drama companies have resorted to virtual or online showcasing, it’s not the same as a real live theatre performance.two Singapore theatre companies – Wild Rice with An Actress Prepares and Singapore Repertory Theatre with Tuesdays with Morrie –finally took to the stage in November 2020 but with severely restricted audience numbers. There’s much more to come. Go to SISTIC to check it out and book.
MARY’S LAST DANCE VERSUS MAO’S LAST DANCER
The highly anticipated memoir of Australian ballerina Mary Li (formerly Mary Mckendry) and the long-awaited sequel to her husband Li Cunxin’s bestselling memoir, Mao’s Last Dancer, is out. Published by Penguin Random House, Australia, Mary’s Last Dance is seen more as a companion to her dance and life partner’s book rather than competition. Both are still actively involved in dance, more as mentors and trainers, but Li Cunxin has a major job on his hands these days, as Artistic Director for the Queensland Ballet Company, in Brisbane, with its 60th anniversary gala season now happening in 2021. www. queenslandballet.com.au
FROM THE ARCTIC TO THE ANTARCTIC, PLASTIC WASTE IS EVERYWHERE
Planet or Plastic? This is the Artscience Museum’s first exhibition since reopening after Singapore’s circuitbreaker earlier in the year. It shines a spotlight on the fragility of the natural environment as a result of the global plastic waste crisis. It raises awareness of society’s dependence on plastic by visually depicting the crisis and highlighting the innovative solutions to this urgent problem. Learn about the global plastic pollution crisis through more than 70 powerful photographs and videos in the exhibition by National Geographic. You can’t miss it, because the exhibition runs until 28 March 2021.
2020 PEFC PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Pictured is the winner of the 2020 PEFC Photographer of the Year, chosen from nearly 8000 photos from 12 countries, which had been submitted to ‘Experience Forests, Experience PEFC’ photo contest. The Award went to Keril Chairil, for his beautiful image ‘Morning Activities’, taken at Situ Gunung Lake in West
Java, Indonesia. The image captures the magical atmosphere at the forest lake in the early morning.
WOOD 4 GOOD: CHANGI CHAPEL AND MUSEUM
For the first time in Southeast Asia, a sophisticated supply chain traceability process has been used to identify the source of timber – in this case from PEFC sustainably managed forests in Austria and Slovenia – to be used on a building in Singapore.that was the work of Double Helix Tracking Technologies and Sourcemap. It also marks another first.the project by Architects SG and built with “Glulam” – glue-laminated engineered wood - by Venturer Timberwork, is the first certified Chain of Custody Project awarded in Singapore by PEFC, which in turn is recognised by the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC). We await advice from the National Heritage Board to tell us when we can visit the newly timbered structure on this historic site. The Changi Museum 1000, Upper Changi Road North, Singapore 507707 E: changi_museum@nhb.gov.sg
WHERE QANTAS STARTED 100 YEARS AGO
In November 2020, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services - better known as QANTAS - marked 100 years since it was founded in the Australian Outback. Three Queensland towns – Cloncurry, Longreach and Winton all claim to be its original home, but it’s at Longreach where the Qantas Founders Museum is located. It was on 16 November 1920, when two veterans of the Australian Flying Corps, Hudson Fysh and Paul Mcginness, together with local grazier Fergus Mcmaster, founded what would later become the national carrier and Australia’s international airline. This happened just 17 years after the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers, two years after the end of WWI and at the tail end of the last major global pandemic, the Spanish Flu. The new airline focused on conquering the “tyranny of distance” that was a major barrier to the growth of modern Australia. Initially carrying mail between outback towns, the airline was flying passengers to Singapore by the 1930s. Qantas is the oldest continuously operating airline in the world and the only one that (normally) flies to every single inhabited continent on earth. Planned centenary celebrations have been significantly scaled back due to the impact of coronavirus pandemic – but Qantas will still mark the occasion with a lowlevel flyover of Sydney Harbour on the evening of its anniversary.
UNESCO HONOUR FOR HAWKER CENTRES IN SINGAPORE?
Singapore is in line to get its Hawker Culture recognised by UNESCO on its intangible cultural heritage list.this will join the Botanic Gardens which was successfully inscribed as Singapore’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. The bid to get its Hawker Culture recognised was made by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the National Heritage Board NHB) and the Federation of Merchants Association. The 24 member UNESCO intergovernmental committee is expected to give its final verdict in December 2020, but press reports mid-november put Singapore’s Hawker Culture in a strong position to win this international prize.
TIMBER TRIBUTE AT BOTANIC GARDENS
They describe themselves as “ethical makers and mavericks who craft fine furniture and thoughtful objects.”that’s the nature and the style of the three sons of Roger Yeo, who do amazing things with trees and timber that would otherwise go to waste or be burned. They started their ‘Local Tree Project’ by collecting suitable cut logs at one of Singapore’s out-of-sight sawmills. Every part of the tree is utilised — a conscious effort to minimise wastage. Sawdust, shavings, and wood chips get a new life as fertiliser, packaging material, or to soak up spills. By using already-felled trees that have been legally cut down for urban development — instead of importing new raw materials — the project highlights an important issue while restoring the aesthetic pleasure these trees once provided for Singapore. One of their latest projects involved making signboards for the Singapore Botanic Gardens at the request of National Parks Board to show their thanks to corporations who have contributed generously to the Gardens. Rogers&sons – Morgan, Ryan and Lincoln – utilised wood from a number locally grown trees to provide an attractive timber tribute. You can see it alongside the gift shop close to the Tanglin entrance. You can also see more of the art and crafts in wood by Rogers&sons at their studio/ workshop at 115 King George’s Avenue, close to Lavender MRT station.