A civilising influence
August 12, 2009 Wednesday, 06:45 PM

Niki Bruce enjoys the cultural offerings at the Asian Civilisations
Museum.

ONE OF the things I most enjoy about living in Singapore is the easy
access to the wide variety of cultural offerings the city has to
offer.

In recent years Singapore has gone out of its way to spend money on
art galleries, museums, exhibition spaces, public art and free
cultural events of all sorts, from music to dance performances.

Yes, there are the specific cultural activities that occur during the
various religious and cultural festivals that are held every year, but
the established venues are just as interesting, whether holding
special exhibitions or simply their usual displays.

One of my favourite places to visit is the Asian Civilisations Museum
at Empress Place, on the riverside, just opposite Boat Quay.

Surely just about everyone in Singapore has visited this excellent
museum at least once, right? Apparently not. A straw poll among
friends and colleagues – both local and expat – found that not many of
them had bothered.

Which is a great shame. This museum is a microcosm, not only of the
region, but more importantly, also of Singapore’s own culture.

The five main galleries in the Empress Place Building – a beautifully
restored former colonial office – cover the major civilisations of
Asia; China, India and South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia or the
Islamic societies.

Originally established at Armenian Street – now home to the Peranakan
Museum – ACM is the first museum in the region to combine pan-Asian
cultures in one place, and this is what makes it so interesting.

Usually, museums feature displays from one particular culture or place
rather than a combination. But it makes sense in multi-ethnic
Singapore for all Asian cultures to be showcased.

The Empress Place site opened in 2003 and according to their very
comprehensive website, the ACM covers 4,000 square metres, housing 11
galleries with over 1,300 artefacts.

The artefacts come from a variety of sources, from private donations
to the historic Southeast Asian ethnographic collection of the former
Raffles Museum. The museum also houses a number of visiting
exhibitions from around the region and rotating special shows from
their archives.

When I visited recently they were in the process of changing their
special exhibition over, but there was still plenty to see.

For visitors to Singapore, the Singapore River Gallery on the second
level offers an insight into ‘old’ Singapore; the Singapore of
godowns, coolies, clipper ships and colonialism. Uniquely viewers can
stare out the windows to the river itself, now fringed with towering
office blocks – although the surviving shophouses of Boat Quay add a
touch of authenticity.

On show are items from archaeological digs on the riverbanks,
including some bits and pieces of 14th century Chinese ceramics that
were actually found near the Empress Place Building, and a series of
historical photographs.

My favourite space is the Southeast Asian gallery, also on the second
level..

This large, dark space is filled with a huge variety of artefacts from
all around the region. There is everything from massive stone Buddha
sculptures and enormous wooden totems from Borneo to tiny, intricate
carvings of buttons and religious icons.

The Mary & Philbert Chin gallery on the side includes some beautifully
preserved items of dress and a large collection of swords, parangs and
kris from the Malay archipelago. There are also a small number of
Peranakan decorative items and some fantastic fabrics, including batik
and ikat.

The Kwek Hong Png China gallery is not exhaustive, but it does carry
some interesting pieces from the region, particularly some
characteristic ceramic work and a few examples of detailed embroidered
garments. There’s also some nice pieces of furniture.

A recent addition since my last visit some years ago, is the West Asia
or Islamic Gallery. There is an extensive display of decorative and
historical Quran’s from both India and further afield including Iran,
Iraq and what was known as Persia. The gallery also explains the
various prohibitions about recreating living things and reproducing
the words of Allah.

Rounding out this gallery are some lovingly carved mosque screens and
other architectural items.

On the first level, actually kind of in the basement and quite
difficult to find, is the South Asia gallery with some substantial
pieces from India and the subcontinent.

Most of the artefacts are related to the various religions of the area
with some absolutely stunning Buddha carvings and detailed Hindu
sculptures. There are also some really fantastic pieces of metal work
from the region including stuff from the Mughal period.

If you go slowly and truly look at every thing in the ACM, you could
easily spend a day there. You can also take some time out to listen to
all the interactive videos that dot the galleries – each one featuring
a Singaporean of a particular ethnicity explaining something about a
cultural practice related to a display.

The museum is very dark, with each display case lit from within,
showing the items off like gems – there are also drawers where you can
have a closer looks at some items.

Each time I visit the ACM I discover some new thing that I haven’t
seen before, and the quite hush lulls one into an almost dream-like
state so that you can almost imagine you’re a part of history.

A visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum is one of the most relaxing
and interesting things you can do in Singapore.

Current exhibitions Hunters and Collectors: The Origins of the
Southeast Asian Collection runs until September 21 and covers the
islands of Indonesia and Borneo and the people who ‘hunted’ down the
artefacts that are currently in the museum’s Southeast Asia
collection.

Seeing The Invisible: An Insight to Conservation runs until December
13; it tells you more about the people who look after museum
artefacts. Details The Asian Civilisations Museum is located at 1
Empress Place. You can take the MRT and get off at Raffles Place stop
before crossing the footbridge outside the Fullerton Hotel. ACM is
open all week, from 1pm-7pm on Monday and from 9am-7pm Tuesday to
Sunday. It is also open until 9pm on Friday. It costs $5 to enter;
this lets you into all the galleries but special exhibitions can cost
more. There is a shop with lots of very nice products =80` but they
are expensive – as well as a riverside cafe, a restaurant and bar. You
can also hire the venue for events – my friend actually got married
there.

Tags: asian civilisations museum, history, museum, singapore

/a-civilising-influence

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress