Responding to the shifting rhythms of Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD), Momentary Pulses invites Singapore-based artists to create works that slip into the space between buildings and pedestrian paths, offering moments for listening and reminiscence. These quiet interventions fold into the rhythms of daily routines, drawing attention to the subtle irregularities of urban time and textures that surface when we pause.
The CBD in Singapore has undergone several key phases of development since pre-independence days. Within this urban landscape, different moments in the city-state’s history sit side by side, visible in the material traces that remain. Civic buildings from the late 1950s and 1960s such as the Singapore Conference Hall and Trade Union House (now Singapore Conference Hall) and the first Singapore Polytechnic at Prince Edward Street (now Bestway Building) still stand, a witness to Singapore’s independence and burgeoning industralisation. The sprouting of high-rise buildings in the 1970s through 1980s changed the skyline and extended the footprint of the CBD to Tanjong Pagar through the establishment of government buildings such as the Ministry of National Development, Monetary Authority of Singapore, The Treasury and CPF Board.
As global expectations for an attractive business environment shift, recent rejuvenation plans have emphasised mixed-use development, with work-life integration and sustainability at their core. From being the first port of call for traders to a high-density commercial belt, the urban forms of the CBD today are the result of continual transformation. Each key phase of development reflects not only the island’s economic aspirations but also the changing profile and rhythms of its workforce.
It is this layering of forms and textures that Momentary Pulses is interested in. The CBD’s shifting workspace trends continue to reshape how its spaces are used and felt. The movement of bodies through the district reveals the embodied character of the place and its hidden memories.
The earthy material of the ceramic tiles in Catherine Hu’s A fountain when it rains juxtaposes with the glass-and-steel building it fronts and mirrors the row of trees the sculptures face, insisting on the natural amidst the built. Sweet Water by Finbarr Fallon acknowledges an architectural style which, in its time, denotes a certain modernity. Yet, the references to street vending and cultural symbolism instil in architecture a social memory.
If a city embodies life, it is manifested in Teow Yue Han’s and Federico Ruberto’s creation of thusspoke.baby, a digital entity that develops a personality as it draws from daily information exchange, absorbing and projecting the city’s consciousness. This encounter with a digital other invites an awareness of our self as absorbed by and immersed in the daily workings of a business district. Likewise, Immanuel Koh’s Neural Panoptic Black is an invitation to keenly observe the urban landscape and respond through the active agency of looking and imbuing the material city with our human intentions.
It is in this landscape that we navigate, alongside thousands of users of the district through new buildings and streets standing in place of the old, along link bridges of all shapes and design and across reclaimed lands extending paths and roads in often bizarre ways. We might ask: what sort of rhythms exist in a business district where time is of the essence and moving through it demands quick decision and deft navigation? The two works, LOOP – The Resonance of Motion by Zul Mahmod and Clock of the Everyday by Yang Jie, offer different interpretations of CBD’s pulses: the former a score synchronised with its daily movements; the latter a keeper of time out of sync with everyday habits.
As we explore the CBD as a site of constant change and adaptation, Song-Ming Ang’s Still Afloat speculates on a future landscape in which the fears and resilience of a future working population are emblematic of cyclical development. We ask: what holds a business district?
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