Cover Oh! Open House co-founder and executive director Alan Oei (Image: Alfonse Chiu)
Oh! Open House co-founder and executive director Alan Oei (Image: Alfonse Chiu)
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Transforming spaces with artworks offer audiences a chance to discover another side of Singapore
Growing up in Singapore, Alan Oei hated school. “I remember that I was not interested in anything that school taught me.” That is, until he went overseas to study in New York, where he received a liberal arts education. “I was so fascinated by the idea of history, which tells us about our past, and I wondered why I wasn’t interested in Singapore’s history back then,” says the co-founder and executive director of independent arts organisation, Oh! Open House.
“It began to dawn on me that Singapore’s history is quite monolithic—there’s one version, and that’s the state-sanctioned one. All the other ‘competing’ versions are not part of that story—and I think that got me very interested.”
Oei came back to Singapore in 2007, “and around that time, there was this air of change”. The artist and curator explains, “I felt that there were a lot of interesting things going on. There were artists, creatives, architects, all sorts of people, who wanted to do cool stuff—and there were actually opportunities to do so. The sense that you could be part of this moment of change was really exciting.”
Two years later, together with co-founder Oliver Bettin, Oei launched Oh! Open House, which tells alternative stories of Singapore through art. From art walks to art experiences, the organisation organises unique and diverse programmes to encourage the appreciation of art and heritage outside of museums and galleries. It works with artists to present art in surprising new ways and within unconventional locations, from strangers’ homes to underutilised public spaces, thereby creating opportunities for people to understand and connect with the everyday in a more meaningful level.
“When we first started, it was really out of [Oliver’s] house. We then started knocking on the neighbours’ doors and decided to do the entire street, calling it a block party,” says Oei. With that first edition, Oh! Open House put artworks in six shophouses along Niven Road and the nearby Wilkie Edge. The works were curated around the different interiors of the homes, which were owned by art collectors and practitioners, and placed alongside their existing art collections.
“It wasn’t just about putting artworks in people’s houses—and then showing [visitors], but the artworks began to open up the entire neighbourhood, its histories and stories, and a way to enter into creating portraits of specific neighbourhoods in Singapore,” says Oei.
“To be able to take stories that are not just crafted by us, but stories that come from people on the ground, whether they are staying in terraced houses or HDB flats, to be able to then celebrate and share these stories with other people—that’s the kind of interesting alternative sight [we want to create]. I think that the arts provide us with all the different shades of grey that [we often overlook].”
In case you missed it: How Oh! Open House is taking us back to school with its latest fundraising gala
Above Homeowner Uncle Lee (extreme right) hosting art walk guests during Oh! Potong Pasir in 2016 (Image: Richard Ong)
Homeowner Uncle Lee (extreme right) hosting art walk guests during Oh! Potong Pasir in 2016 (Image: Richard Ong)
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Last year, Oh! Open House launched its inaugural artist residency. Centred around the neighbourhood—people, places and stories—the first edition of the Associate Artist Programme (AAP) takes place in Kampong Gelam over a one-year period with five local and three international artists selected by an advisory committee.
“Kampong Gelam, for a long time, has been a place of contention. People have different thoughts about it, from those who lived there to the traders and shoppers. The URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) and STB (Singapore Tourism Board) are rebranding and pushing the idea of Kampong Gelam again. We would like to have a say as well, coming from the ground, coming from the artists, on our version of Kampong Gelam, through the different stories of people’s lives,” shares Oei.
Through AAP, the artists are encouraged to look into the colonial and pre-colonial history of the neighbourhood to tease out stories of heritage and community and unearth new narratives. Take, for example, Singaporean artist Jimmy Ong, together with his research-collaborator, Kelvin Soh, will facilitate test kitchens that situate bakeries past and present to relate with each other around Singapore's colonial history. Meanwhile, Thai painter and sculptor Mit Jai Inn will initiate a series of art activations with local businesses.
Since its start in 2009, Oh! Open House has curated encounters in various neighbourhoods, including Joo Chiat, Potong Pasir, Holland Village, Emerald Hill and Jalan Besar, reaching out to more than 25,000 people.
"We often think Singaporeans are not interested in art, not interested in civil society, or what’s going on in the community, but I think people do care. Just that sometimes, there are just lesser avenues for them to begin to approach these things. Through art, and having to knock on doors to ask [people if they] are willing to share [their stories], we are often surprised by the kinds of people who open up to us,” says Oei.
Take homeowner Uncle Lee, a crowd favourite of Oh! Potong Pasir in 2016. One of the first residents of Potong Pasir, best known as Singapore's longest-held opposition ward, Uncle Lee’s life seemed to be contained in one single shiny pink foil bag in the form of photographs, letters, old instruction manuals and boarding passes.
Through the work, All the Pictures of a Man (2016), Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui created an archive, destined to be incomplete, displayed in the public corridor. “Back then, when [Uncle Lee] was in his 70s, he greeted every single group that came through—and when it was dark and the corridor lights were not switched on yet, he would take out his torch light and wait for people at the lift landing. He would tell everyone about the artwork, and try to explain what it was about in a mix of English and Mandarin, even when we didn't ask him to,” shares Oei.
“At the end of the day, if we have opened up people’s minds, shown them new artworks, and given them new insights about places and spaces that they're familiar and comfortable with, then I think we’ve done our job.”
As Senior Editor of Tatler Singapore, Hashirin champions and refines the storytelling across platforms—curating and crafting compelling profiles, cover stories and features that spotlight visionaries shaping culture, business and impact. Driven by curiosity, she draws inspiration from the artists, changemakers and trailblazers she encounters through her work. Beyond the pages of Tatler, she is an avid supporter of local theatre and delights in seeking out art in every city she visits.
