A Home for the Arts (1–30 Nov 2016)

25 years ago, The Substation declared itself a home for the arts. A place where all art and artists were embraced. We want to know what this idea of ‘home’ means in today’s cultural economy.

Founded in 1990, so much love, grit and sweat has been given to make space for artists, activists, filmmakers, musicians, punks and other people who felt they didn’t quite belong in Singapore. For all these people who didn’t have space, we made space. Their art, their songs, their stories still haunt this place. We are a home for the arts. We say “A” not “The”, because ultimately, our dream is that the home for the arts in Singapore: open, plural and willing to embrace those who don’t fit in.

Archive of Home Page

Related programmes

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Recreation

What good is the arts? That philosophical question is very different from measuring the value of the arts.

What if we embraced the logic and operations of how the State measures the arts as a public good, and pushed it to its limits – make art work for us, make it functional, make it measurable, what would this kind of home look like?

Index and Artwork Pages

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Armenian Clinic

Your job sucks? Early mid-life crisis? Heart stolen or broke? Endure no further.

Armenian Clinic is a free weekend clinic for all ages that prescribes films are alternative medicine for the soul. Ten Singaporean filmmakers are your shrinks-in-residence to treat your various crises.

Index and Therapist Pages

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School of Uncommon Knowledge

Who teaches and who is taught?

The School of Uncommon Knowledge is an open school where we celebrate an exchange of knowledge. It is common space where the boundaries between teachers and students are blurred. By those same principles of how we share and exchange knowledge, the school does not accept monetary compensation. We run only on barter and exchange of services.

Index | 01-06 / 07-12 / 13-18 / 19-24 / 25-30 / 31-35

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Performing Home

Experience a unique encounter with an artist through their intimate and personal responses to The Substation.

Over the years, countless artists have found a home here. What stories about the space can they tell? Through encounters as varied as a re-imagination of archives, a performance lecture, and one-to-one music performances, artists reflect upon the significance of The Substation as a site for artistic practice.

Performances 01-07 / 08-13

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Rock The Sub

For this special edition of Rock The Sub, Timbre and The Substation are proud to bring together both emerging and established musicians.

Featuring:
Faux Pas, an NAC NOISE 2015 mentee; KOJI, a band that was recently featured in Timbre’s Singapore Original series, and Hanging Up The Moon, whose frontman, Sean Lam, used to also front Concave Scream, one of the pioneering indie bands in Singapore who used to play regularly at The Substation Garden.

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