Culture City. Culture Scape. Public Art Trail at Mapletree Business City II

Dan Graham is an influential pioneer of conceptual art and performance-related video art. His multi-disciplinary practice, spanning across curating, writing, performance, installation, video, photography, and architecture, aligns itself with popular culture more than contemporary art. His work is informed by a social awareness, often working with hybrids that oscillate between quasi-functional spaces and installations to expose processes of perception, of which his freestanding, sculptural structures called Pavilions are an example. NTU CCA Singapore collaborated with Mapletree to permanently install Elliptical Pavilion (2017) at Mapletree Business City II.

Formally trained as an architect, Tomás Saraceno draws on art, architecture, natural sciences, astrophysics, and engineering in his practice. His floating sculptures, community projects, and interactive installations propose and explore new, sustainable ways of inhabiting and sensing the environment. Over the past decade, he has initiated collaborations with renowned scientific institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Max Planck Society, Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, and institutions of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group. For many years, Saraceno has studied the methods by which various species of spiders construct their webs and has incorporated this knowledge about their functionality and aesthetics into his own artistic practice. He was the first person to scan, reconstruct, and reimagine spiders’ weaved spatial habitats, and possesses the only three-dimensional spider’s web collection in existence. In January 2020, as part of the global art initiative “CONNECT, BTS”, Saraceno launched his project “Fly with Aerocene Pacha”, featuring the first-ever fuel-free hot-air balloon, above the Salinas Grandes salt flats in Jujuy, Argentina, achieving the world’s first manned solar-powered free flight and setting six world records. His major commissions include Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City (2012) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the permanent installation In Orbit (2013) at Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Saraceno was also a participating artist in the 53rd and 58th Venice Biennales. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin; among others.

Zulkifle Mahmod is a sound-media artist. Formally trained in sculpture, Zulkifle has expanded his practice to include sculpted sound and live sound performances. Zulkifle’s practice investigates the audible attributes of physical space to explore the emotional responses of its inhabitants. Zul is one of the participants for the 52nd Venice Biennale in Italy for the Singapore Pavillion in 2007 along with three other artists. Zul‚ practice signals an encompassing and expanded visual arts sensory experience.

Between February and June 2016, Zulkifle was Artist-in-Residence at NTU CCA Singapore, where he explored the aural relationship between ready-made sound sculptures, and the architecture of space, and examined the sonic characteristics, forms, and textures of everyday objects.

Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (Mapletree) focuses on delivering value to its stakeholders through its business model that maximises capital efficiency. In executing a business
strategy that combines the roles of real estate development, investment, capital and property management, Mapletree has generated consistently good returns to its stakeholders, and established a track record for building award-winning development projects across various real estate classes.

As at 31 March 2020, Mapletree owns and manages S$60.5 billion of office, retail, logistics, industrial, data centre, residential, and lodging properties. The Group manages four Singapore- listed real estate investment trusts (REITs) and six private equity real estate funds, which hold a diverse portfolio of assets in Asia Pacific, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). The Group also has an extensive network of offices in Singapore, Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, South Korea, the Netherlands, the UK, the US, and Vietnam.

Mapletree’s portfolio includes award-winning properties in Singapore such as VivoCity, Mapletree Business City, and STT Tai Seng 1, as well as mixed-use developments in the region such as Nanhai Business City in China.

Mapletree has always placed great emphasis on implementing sustainability initiatives as part
of our property development and management. Mapletree also adopts sustainable designs for its developments to reduce negative environmental impact and to ensure the health and safety of its buildings’ occupants. Sustainable design principles that Mapletree has employed include optimising site potential, minimising non-renewable energy consumption, use of environmentally friendly products, and continually optimising operational and maintenance practices.

For more information, please visit www.mapletree.com.sg

Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, an artist of African descent, was born in London and grew up in Nigeria, returning to London only in his late teens. His work explores issues of colonialism and postcolonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation, as well as race and class. Mixing Western art history and literature, he questions the construct of collective contemporary identity and its meaning within cultural and national definitions. Shonibare has participated in major international art exhibitions, including the 52nd and 57th Venice Biennale and Documenta11. His works are in prominent collections, including the Tate Collection, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome; and VandenBroek Foundation, the Netherlands. In 2004, Shonibare was nominated for the Turner Prize, the most prestigious annual art prize in United Kingdom, and was awarded the decoration of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). Fifteen years later, in January 2019, Shonibare was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). That same year, he held a solo exhibition at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, Trade Winds: Yinka Shonibare CBE, which featured works connected by their use of Dutch wax fabric and a major installation that celebrates the contributions of immigrant and non-immigrant Africans, The African Library.