Unveiling of the National Gallery Singapore's brand and vision

Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, Chairman, National Art Gallery

Ms Chong Siak Ching, CEO

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

1. I am very happy to join you for the unveiling of the Gallery's brand and vision. I am sure that you are all as excited as I am about this milestone, which brings us one step closer to the Gallery's grand opening in the later part of next year, 2015, which will coincide with our 50th anniversary celebrations.
   

2. I want to start by recognising several people who have been critical in making this Gallery possible: 

   a) Dr Lee Boon Yang, who is here with us this evening – he initiated the project when he was then Minister in charge of the arts, and was instrumental in securing this historic site of the City Hall and former Supreme Court for the Gallery. So we have him to thank for making this project possible. He mentioned to me just now that he started it in 2004, so it has been 10 years, and we are now at the final stage of the project as the Gallery opens next year.

   b) The late Dr Balaji Sadasivan, who was then Senior Minister of State, and chaired the steering committee overseeing the gallery's implementation. He also played a key role in leading the team in its early stages of implementation, and we want to recognise his efforts. 

   c) Mr Koh Seow Chuan, who was the first Chairman of the Gallery, and provided much useful advice and guidance to the team. Mr Koh now serves as Chairman of the board for the Visual Arts Cluster, which is a new cluster that we have formed that brings together all our visual arts institutions – namely the National Art Gallery, the Singapore Tyler Print Institute and the Singapore Art Museum – so that together, all three visual arts institutions will come under one cluster and so now we have synergies across all the institutions, and we have an advisory board which Seow Chuan now chairs. We will continue to benefit from his experience and expertise.

3.  So these are all the three pioneers who have helped to make this project possible. So thank you very much to all of you.

4. The National Art Gallery Singapore has been a working title all along for this project.  Because it's a long name, several acronyms have been used – TNAGS initially, which was not such a good acronym, but it took the letters from 'The National Art Gallery Singapore', and later evolved into NAGA. But neither the working title nor the acronyms were satisfactory in conveying the brand identity and positioning of the Gallery. So over the past few months, the board and management team have been discussing with stakeholders and working out the Gallery's brand, logo, as well as its curatorial vision.

5. The Director of the Gallery, Dr Eugene Tan, will be sharing more about the Gallery's name, logo and vision later, so I don't want to steal the thunder. But because I will be talking about the Gallery later on in my speech, I will have to tell you what the official name of the Gallery is. It is just a shortened version of what the working title has been the official name, which is short and simple, and it will be known as the National Gallery, Singapore. I think it is a good name and we don't have an acronym for it – which I think is a good thing, because we probably have too many acronyms in Singapore already. So just as we have the National Museum as our key icon for heritage; we now have the National Gallery as the national institution for modern and historical visual art.

6. The National Gallery aims to put Singapore firmly on the global visual arts map, and position Singapore as a thought-leader in Southeast Asian art. It will be the world's first museum to focus on the research and exhibition of Southeast Asian art from the 19th century onwards.

7. We can look forward to more than 18,000 square metres of gallery space set aside for this. There will be special exhibitions, archives and resources for academics and the public to learn more about Singapore and Southeast Asian art.

8. I am confident that the Gallery will be a wonderful new addition in our cultural landscape – yet another crown jewel in our string of cultural pearls. It could not have come at a better time because we are see growing interest in visual arts in Singapore.

9. We had a successful Singapore Art Week in January this year, which many of you would have attended.  Private art fairs like the Art Stage and Affordable Art Fair are growing in popularity amongst Singaporeans. We are seeing more visual art in our streets, and there will be more to come with the setting up of the Public Art Trust which will commission public artworks in Singapore. The recent Singapore Biennale also saw a record high number of visitors.

10. In fact, some of you may recall the exhibition A Changed World, which was held in tandem with the Biennale. It focused on Singapore art, from the 1950s to the 1970s.

11. We had as many as 90,000 visitors for that exhibition alone and it was a number that truly exceeded our expectations by quite a sizeable margin.

12. But more than just the numbers alone, we received very positive feedback from many Singaporeans about the show. So clearly, there is healthy public appetite for Singapore visual arts. And this is also in line with the broader trends that we have been seeing – a growing audience base with much stronger interest in the arts.

13. I read through some of the feedback that we received recently, and let me quote one visitor, who said: “A Changed World strikes me as a superbly curated and designed show […] It is not anything I have ever seen in Singapore before. It seems a great shame that there is no permanent […] display of this kind in town.”

14. I agree fully with this sentiment. And I would like to assure this visitor (and others who feel the same way) that the Changed World exhibition is not a one-off show.  It is really a foretaste of quality Singapore artworks which will be permanently featured in the National Gallery and in the DBS Singapore Gallery.

15. The Gallery will showcase Singapore's rich artistic legacy and pay homage to our pioneering artists, such as Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng and Georgette Chen.

16. On top of this, significant resources will be allocated to the Gallery for new acquisitions. Last year, I announced that we had set aside $62 million over the next five years toward building up and managing our National Collection. I'm glad to share that over $21 million, or more than a third of this amount, will go to the National Gallery. I believe this will help start them off on the right foot as a new museum, seeking to assemble a quality collection.

17. While the Gallery will have the intellectual depth and breadth to cater to art historians, experts and scholars, we also want it to be a Gallery for all Singaporeans – including those who are relatively new to the world of art. 

18. As many of you know, I had announced free entry to museums last year – which will include the National Gallery when it opens –  for all Singaporeans. Since then, we've seen more Singaporeans coming to our museums and visiting our heritage institutions. But beyond free entry, we want Singaporeans to have an enjoyable and enriching experience when they visit our museums. 

19. So our priority this year is on the visitor experience.  We've initiated a revamp of two of our existing museums, namely the National Museum and the Asian Civilisations Museum, and both will be ready in 2015 together with The National Gallery. The National Gallery is starting new, on a clean slate. So it has a wider canvass to work on, to experiment, and to try different ways to engage visitors and leave them with a deep and lasting impression. As Siak Ching said, she wants all of you, when you come to the Gallery, to have a 'wow' effect. So that's the challenge to the team, and I know that they are working hard to achieve this.

20. In particular, I look forward to the opening of the Keppel Centre for Art Education, to be housed in the Gallery. It will be a sizeable space – over 1,000 square metres – and the first dedicated art education facility of its kind in Singapore.

21. The Centre expects to reach out to over 250,000 children, youth and families every year, to ingrain a deep-rooted appreciation for the visual arts in the DNA of our younger Singaporeans and their families.

22. Let me also add that we want Singaporeans to be more than just passive visitors to the Gallery – all of you can be a part of the effort to build the National Gallery into a museum for all Singaporeans and a world-class cultural institution. For a start, the Gallery has plans to train more than 200 docents to conduct tours and enhance the overall visitor experience to the museum. So I encourage everyone to sign up as a guide or a volunteer with the Gallery. 

23. Before I close, let me thank all those who have partnered and supported the National Gallery so far. I am especially heartened to hear about the generosity of DBS Singapore and Keppel Corporation in giving to the arts.

24. In so doing, DBS and Keppel Corporation have left an indelible mark on the future of Singapore arts and culture.  Indeed, this is very much in line with what we envision for the arts and culture scene in Singapore – a partnership between the Government, corporations and individuals. We want a healthy balance between state support, corporate and private giving in developing this essential component of our culture and collective identity. We started a Cultural Matching Fund, where the Government matches all private donations on a one-to-one basis. So the Keppel Corporation and DBS donations will be matched by the Government, as will any of your donations to The National Gallery. So please give generously and contribute to the arts in Singapore.

25. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the National Gallery team, led by Siak Ching and Eugene. Both of them joined the team last year, and they have hit the ground running literally, because there is so much to do. There are also many others who have started with the project earlier, and have been quietly working behind the scenes. I thank all of you for all your hard work and contributions. We are at the last stretch, and I know that these final efforts will pay off as the Gallery opens next year.

26. I am sure that the National Gallery, under the stewardship of its Board and the efforts of its talented team, will be a well-managed cultural institution that all Singaporeans will be proud of.

27. Thank you very much and have a pleasant evening.