PUBLISHED August 27th, 2012 01:08 pm | UPDATED May 18th, 2020 04:34 pm
Let’s face it – Singapore is a nation which seems to be obsessed with all that is pop-up. Pop-up bars, restaurants, shops, parties; pop-ups which are really not pop-up at all. Just stick the word pop-up in front of almost any happening and we’re all bound to get quivering with anticipation and excitement. Unless like me, you hear the word ten times a day that it’s so ubiquitous you simply shrug your shoulders and think “so what?”
But put the words pop-up next to an art party…well then NOW you have my attention!
And so it was when I heard about Singapore’s first-ever secret pop-up party that I sat up to attention and thought a) well, well, well what’s going on here then? and b) now who might be behind it all?
On 31st August, an all-female artist collective going by the name of THE CHIOBU MOVEMENT, will be unleashing a party introducing photo, video and written works from within their collective and elsewhere. Now these sassy girls – Alvelyn Alko, Holly Grabarek (MTV VJ), Tiffany Tan, Priscilla Ang Geck Geck, Marilyn Goh Yun Jin, Samantha Eve, Eunice C. Arnaud, Natalie Chin, Tan Min Yi, and Anmari Van Nieuwenhove – are on a mission. Mission control please state your business…..to articulate and define an existing social phenomenon within contemporary youth culture in Singapore, put it within an art context, and encourage, inspire and give a platform for youths to express themselves.
Yes these broads have been obsessively documenting their friends, surroundings, emotions and themselves, and the culminating result will be unveiled on the 31st.
Of course, I wanted to get some answers to my two questions above, and so I had a little pow-wow with two of the visionaries within the group – Alvelyn Alko (photographer) and Samantha Eve (designer).
What does it take to be a Chiobu?
Well, it doesn’t take anything to be a “chiobu” honestly. You are only “chio” when you are entirely yourself, the way you are – as you are. Nothing is more “chio” than being yourself, expressing yourself free spiritedly as the way you are, from an artistic point of view.
How did the Chiobu collective come together and what inspired you to form it? Tell us a bit more about some of it’s members…
We were all friends, or friends of friends at least to say. We’ve been interested in these girls and the way they express themselves – their personalities, their pictures, their writings, their videos and crafts etc. We are a bunch of people who have our own unique voices and through various artistic means, we have been documenting our lives and through this process, exploring and discovering ourselves.
One day I thought hey, why dont we just do something together? It became quite certain to me that we want to encourage other girls to express themselves freely may it be through writings, visuals, music etc. We think it’s a beautiful journey to constantly document your life because at the end of the day when you look back – this is you, these were your experiences, these were your thoughts. You may cringe at somethings about yourself but this is you, as you are and ever since the rise of technology and social media we live in a whole new world of documenting our lives, sharing our thoughts online… We are thankful that we were given this opportunity to share and be heard so why not celebrate it?
We love a good old party at City Nomads, what excitement can we expect at the pop up?
Raw experiences through words and visual images in a total grungy raw concept, music, music, music, – we have a couple of DJs spinning from our collaborative partner ‘Heart of Glass’ from the KNIGHT RUNNERS. It’ll be a great time to meet people from all walks of life to just come down and celebrate the freedom of expression of our generation!
Tell us more about exactly what people can expect to experience and how the art is going to be integrated into the party?
We had an open submission from girls of all walks of life, to share their works for the art party itself – you can not only be expecting from the Chiobu Movement committee, but also works from the open call. It will be really interesting to take in other people’s writings and feelings. It’s like treating an empty wall into a diary/scrap book.
Why did you want to make it a pop up party? And does this mean there won’t be others? Or will there…?
We didn’t want to make it like a white wall, rigid sort of “exhibition”. We really wanted something like fun. Something everyone can have fun and relate to.We were also thinking about it as a long term plan, we are definitely interested in exploring something fun like this more often, and of course to provide a platform for other girls as well.
Where do you think this all fits in to the rapidly changing arts space in Singapore?
This art party is, well how do I put it, out of the traditional fine arts scene. We’re identifying a niche of artistic expression that has yet to be really defined. And there’s something about the informality of this project that we really love.
What else can we expect on the horizon from Chiobu?
We’re still keeping things in view as of now but we’re hoping that we can expand this! Or that we have planted a seed and encouraged every one to not stop what they’re doing and keep on doing what they really love!
IN CHIOBU WE TRUST: An art party by THE CHIOBU MOVEMENT is happening on Friday 31st August, 8.30pm. For more information on the event and location see here.
Written by Ms Demeanour