Mass Rapid Transit :: SINGAPORE ::

Potong Pasir station

Located under Upper Serangoon Road, Potong Pasir station has three entrances serving residents of nearby Potong Pasir Estate. The three-level station also doubles up as a civil defence shelter, and will serve future developments that have been planned for the area.

Like other stations of the North East Line, Potong Pasir is designed with barrier-free facilities to enhance accessibility to the station and riding quality for a wide group of commuters including the elderly, the mobility and vision impaired, wheelchair users, families with young children and commuters with luggage or shopping bags. These facilities include lifts, ramps, wider fare gates, tactile guidance system and seats with armrests.

Matthew Ngui's work attempts to employ images, text, moving pictures and even granite signposts to communicate with commuters on different levels.<

Matthew sets out first to present what he describes as "ordinary images" such as a man at a bus stop or a block of flats. These images are rendered anamorphic by distorting and stretching them so they can be viewed as resolved images from one perspective. Upon closer scrutiny what appear to be textures on the images are revealed to be handwriting, typed text or images. In their textual statements, targeted groups within the community share their thoughts on their daily life and aspirations.

This fusion of images and text, or what the artist calls the "macro view of the images with the microcosmic perspective of the text", gives the work aesthetic interest and depth of meaning.

When you are physically close to the work, you are confronted by the detail of the contributed snippets of text and images which give a sense of the thoughts of the people behind them. And as you veer away from the wall to the resolution point of the anamorphic image, the overall image of the skyline, tree, bus stop or clock becomes visible.

This aspect of connecting with the viewer in unexpected ways embodies the essence of Matthew's work. This concept is about rendering the opaque transparent. The anamorphic images reveal an element of trickery in the processes of representation such as drawing. On the other hand, the text reveals the "truths" behind the images.

Matthew has proposed seven images altogether for Potong Pasir station which are presented from the ground level downwards. An image of HDB blocks is placed in a subway leading to the entrance on the junction of Serangoon Road and Potong Pasir Avenue 1; a tree image is situated at the north side of the concourse level and a bus stop image is located on the southern side of the same level.

The platform level showcases four images of clocks with their times set at morning, midday, evening and night. The accompanying text relates to activities relevant to those times of the day.

If the images of high-rise flats, a tree, a bus stop and clocks seem ordinary, it is because this is precisely what the artist intended. The images have been selected because of their ubiquity rather than for any special aesthetic concern. It shows aspects of daily life. It is the nature of their installation that becomes the point of interest as the public will be presented with these images quite literally from different perspectives - that is through the unusual integration of space, image and text.

In approaching his work for Potong Pasir, the artist was especially mindful of the LTA's call for "intriguing work that would engage the community". Going one step further, the artist wanted to engage the community in a meaningful way by inviting the people to contribute the text and images that would help shape the artwork.

One subject matter the artist addresses is the elderly, their feelings and their memories. Text and images related to the elderly, sourced through community centres and homes for the elderly, are integrated onto an image of elderly person waiting at a bus stop. The image was taken from an actual bus stop in Potong Pasir near the station.

In the same way, words and images embodying the hopes and dreams of young people are embedded in the image of a tree, chosen because it symbolises growth. The artist invited students from local schools to share their thoughts on growing up and the future.

This sense of the inner thoughts of the young and old are complemented by accounts of daily life recorded in the words of those who live and work in the area. These observations are part of the images of HDB flats on the concourse level and the clocks on the station's platforms.

While the images in vitreous enamel panelling form the backbone of the artwork at Potong Pasir MRT station, the artist prepared three other supporting elements to pull the work together. These include explanation panels situated close to the respective images, video images integrated into the plasma screen systems of the station and finally, granite floor pointers indicating recommended vantage points for the work.

Explaining the thinking behind his work at Potong Pasir, Matthew feels that it is about creating something that does not look like what it is, but only resolve itself when it is seen at a certain point of view.

Artist: Matthew Ngui Ming Fook
Born: Singapore, 1962
Education:
- LLB (Hons), 1988
National University of Singapore
- BA (Distinction), 1991
Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia
- Post Graduate Diploma (Visual Arts), 1992
Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia

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