Tales Under the Neon Trees
2021 · Our Tampines Hub, Festive Plaza

In 1989 a watermelon appeared in Tampines Central Park. Concrete, tiled, sliced open, with a slide running out of it. It was built as a nod to the fruit farms that stood on that land before the flats did, and it became the thing people in Tampines pointed to when they described where they were from. I played on it as a child. It has since been named as part of Singapore's playground heritage.

Before playgrounds and before screens, people gathered under trees and around fires to tell each other stories. That is the oldest form of the practice, and the watermelon was doing the same work in concrete.

Tales Under the Neon Trees rebuilt it in neon. A walk-in installation in the shape of the playground, sited in the middle of a town centre, holding stories made by students from Ngee Ann Secondary School. Animated videos of imagined realities, some of them overrun by dragons and meteorites. Masks you could try on through augmented reality. Photographs of the neighbourhood as the students see it now.

The original was made for children who lived there. This one was made by them.

Part of Arts in Your Neighbourhood 2021.

Visit the digital exhibition →

Credits:
Commissioned by National Arts Council

Led by A'shua Imran, in collaboration with Shauna Goh, and Jaxton Su.| Participants: Students of Ngee Ann Secondary School | Guest artists: Nicholas Ong, Talya Jane Shelley | Assistant facilitator: Pamela Ng | Workshop support: Bernice Thong | Fabrication: Baremetalco | Digital platform: Xctuality
Soundscape: Dominic Teo | AR filters: Megan Chia, Claudia Tay | Neon lights: KC (Wit's Lighthouse), Alan (Klosh) | Photography: Shian Bang
Installation assistants: Jay Ho, Cheryl Tan, Divyam Raghunath, Tan Hui Ru | Venue: Our Tampines Hub, Festive Plaza | Special thanks: Samantha Fong and team