Find out more about the artists and inspirations behind each of our public pianos. Check out the locations of these pianos here and on Google maps.
Title: Mellow
Artists: Lim Chu Hwai
Location: Tanjong Pagar Centre, Urban Park (located near #01/17-18)
Listen not only to the music, but see within this piano the instrument that creates the melody;
Love not only the appearance, but reach beyond to find that inner beauty to fall in love with.
About the Artist: Lim Chu Hwai
Chu Hwai graduated with the Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts (Architecture) (1st class Honours) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2012. His interest in architecture focuses on social phenomenon and experimental design, and he constantly explores new ideas and approaches in design and architecture.
Upon graduation, he has been practicing architecture with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and is also actively involved in regular home building projects for the needy communities mainly with the EPIC Homes and other self-organized initiatives.
Over the past few years, Chu Hwai has committed and involved in building more than 12 houses for the needy communities in rural settlements in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. He spent much of his weekends and annual leaves joining the EPIC Homes initiative to build sustainable homes in rural Malaysia together with the prospective homeowners and other volunteers. With proper engagement and empowerment of the local communities and beneficiaries, this initiative aims to meet both physical and emotional needs of the underprivileged.
Chu Hwai believes that small actions like his individual enthusiasm and will be able to influence and inspire more people to participate in this collective effort in driving social change and improving the needy communities.
Title: Tōru
Artists: Billy Soh
Location: Tanjong Pagar Centre, Urban Park (located near #01/17-18)
Of forests, streams, mountains and water, it is inspired by everything beautiful.
The cyanotype photography on rice paper imitates everything that inspired the works of Tōru Takemitsu, and this instrument is thus christened in memory of the ethereal beauty sought by the composer.
About the Artist: Billy Soh
Billy Soh (b. 1979) is a multi disciplinary artist with many different areas of practices that ranges from photography, paper making, sound and installation art.
Graduated with a Diploma in Visual Communication in Photography from Temasek Polytechnic in 2000, he completed a multimedia final project combining video, photography and audio. His educational background from the Temasek Design School provided him with the versatility to work with a wide range of mediums and materials resulting in some permanent public installations.
Billy is one of the co-founders of Play it Forward Singapore.
Title: Home
Artists: Students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School of Design & Enviroment
Aung Khant Myat, Erna Nalesha Bte Mohamad Laili, Leo Shao Jun Lionel, Muhammad Raihan Syahmi B A H, Na Yong Teck Johnathan, Nur Amirah Bte Azman, Tang Wen Yu, William Yoko
Location: Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School of Design & Environment (Blk 34), Drop Off Plaza
This piano artwork is inspired by the building blocks of Singapore’s heartland, the HDB flats. Under one roof, each flat has its own unique story. This artwork captures these stories by carrying out various activities. As you play the piano and enjoy this artwork, recall your fondest memories of your home, family and the community.
In collaboration with Play it Forward Singapore, this artwork is designed and completed by students from theSchool of Design & Environment, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Title: Tomorrow
Artists: Kenneth Lee
Location: Kaki Bukit Community Centre
Music is a piece of Art.
With fluorescent colors flowing on top a matt black piano, “Tomorrow” is a piece that reflects the youth of today. Like music, the work has a life of its own. Using the force of gravity and the movement of the body, every color is painted by distinctive individuals into a harmonized piece.
Inspired by the American painter Jackson Pollock, “Tomorrow” is a collaboration with teenagers from the Interact & Learn Club for PAssionArts.
About the Artist: Kenneth Lee
Kenneth Lee envisions the marriage of art and architecture, challenging their conventional notions by blurring boundaries and focusing on new approaches to visual expression. His projects and works span across art, architecture, design, and photography.
Title: Memories . 回憶
Artists: Pang Calvin
Location: Bethesda Care Centre (Please call 6340 4161 to make appointment to play)
The conceptual approach for this piano artwork is informed by the philosophy of Bethesda Care Centre’s Friendship And Mind Enrichment (FAME) Club, whose aim is to integrate mentally-challenged individuals back into the community through a safe and assured manner. Understanding this, my hope through this project is to reinstate a form of autonomy for the FAME Club members, through their engagement in this creative process. They will be the artists behind the artwork for the piano, and I will take on the role of a facilitator-of-materials, only white washing the piano to provide the ‘canvas’ for them to work with. I decided on using paint and stencils for the artwork to maximise their mastery (of an art technique), taking into consideration the limited time frame we are working with.
The imagery that inspired the colour scheme and stencil motif is from my memory of a porcelain rice bowl that my late-grandfather used. Throughout the art making process FAME Club members, together with youths from the centre supported one another, working on the entire piano, while I have the privilege of bearing witness to see Memories being created.
If you open the keyboard cover to start playing, you will realise that the inside of the piano is left undone, with the peeling laminates left as-is. This is an intentional statement, to preserve what is left the old piano. In art therapy, we look for the individual behind a diagnosis; and in this work, I would like us to remember the person behind the mental disability
In conjunction with Archifest 2017
Check out the two winning entries from local design students in collaboration with Archifest 2017! Now located under the Esplanade Bridge from 7 October to 30 November 2017.
Title: A Fairytale Revealed
Artists: Jennifer Gautama, Russell Goh, Lim Hui Yee, Caleb See and Wang Xiao Tong (students from Singapore University of Technology and Design)
Location: Viva Business Park
Often, in the hustle and bustle of city life, we struggle to find some form of peace. Some of us do so by listening to the almost magical notes produced by the ever so beautiful and yet mysterious intangible element called music. In this piece, we hope to show you the secret behind the wonder making of these almost fairytale like sounds….
Artists: Nur Zafirah Binte Roslee, Muhammad Ridhauddin, Chua Xiang Xiang and Tham Xin Yi (students from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts)
Location: Sifr Aromatics (Available for playing during store opening hours from 11:00am to 5:00pm)
The concept of the Oo piano design is to reflect, acknowledge and signify the significant deeds and accomplishments achieved by the society in today’s context. The function of the piano is to convey one’s character and feelings. Thus with the reflection of individuals on the gold mirror, in together with the urbanized structures surrounding the piano showcase the nation’s progress from the past till present.
We incorporated the tinted mirror glass material into the design. In doing so, makes it a metaphor for defining the characteristics of individual self-identity. The color gold used on the piano can be seen as the modern touch to the classic and marks the golden age of Singapore.
“To:” (left) and “Re:minisce” (right)
Title: “To:”
Artist: Lim Chia May
Location: The URA Centre
The inspiration for the painting was drawn from one of my favorite piano solo pieces – Fantaisie Impromptu in C Sharp Minor Op. 66 by Frederic Chopin.
However, the title “To:” is a special dedication
to: my late mom who loved music and grew the music seed in me;
to: my beloved Tomoko who accompanied me by the pedals whenever I played the piano or cello at home.
May our story and memory last through the endless music from this piano.
About the Artist: Lim Chia May
Chia May has very keen interest and passion in arts and music since young, and with the support and encouragement from the family, she has picked up and mastered several musical instruments such as piano, violin and cello at young age of 17. With her enthusiasm and passion in music, she also undertook the role of the student conductor for the Chinese Orchestra in her secondary school, and has led the team in various performances and competitions nationwide.
Other than music, Chia May has also innate flair in arts and paintings which she spent much of her free time learning and exploring different styles of paintings through observations. In the process, she constantly learns and explores different approaches and interpretations to arts and design, of which she uses to expresses herself through the art of making, drawing and music.
Chia May graduated with the Bachelor of Business And Management from the University of West England in 2014. She has always been looking for platforms to practise both her interests in music and arts.
Title: Re:minisce
Artist: Lim Chu Hwai
Location: The URA Centre
That dreamy window I liked to watch on rainy days,
with sound of rain tapping on the pane,
leaving trails, blurred lights and smeary silhouettes;that Marriage D’amour I liked to play on rainy days,
with sight of rain droplets dancing to the rhythms,
reminiscing that nostalgic scenes of hurry souls and bustling street;
all beyond that rainy window which the old piano is still sitting beside at home.
About the Artist: Lim Chu Hwai
Chu Hwai graduated with the Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts (Architecture) (1st class Honours) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2012. His interest in architecture focuses on social phenomenon and experimental design, and he constantly explores new ideas and approaches in design and architecture.
Upon graduation, he has been practicing architecture with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and is also actively involved in regular home building projects for the needy communities mainly with the EPIC Homes and other self-organized initiatives.
Over the past few years, Chu Hwai has committed and involved in building more than 12 houses for the needy communities in rural settlements in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. He spent much of his weekends and annual leaves joining the EPIC Homes initiative to build sustainable homes in rural Malaysia together with the prospective homeowners and other volunteers. With proper engagement and empowerment of the local communities and beneficiaries, this initiative aims to meet both physical and emotional needs of the underprivileged.
Chu Hwai believes that small actions like his individual enthusiasm and will be able to influence and inspire more people to participate in this collective effort in driving social change and improving the needy communities.
For more information on Chu Hwai: http://archinect.com/LIMCHUHWAI
For more information on his volunteering works: https://www.epichome.org
Note: Chia May and Chu Hwai are siblings.
Title: Oasis
Artist: Lee Wan Xiang
Location: National University of Singapore, University Town
The drawings depict a paradise filled with life, where flora and fauna gather and make their home. A visual representation of what music does – drawing us to a place where life springs and thrives.
About the Artist: Lee Wan Xiang
Wan Xiang is an artist and illustrator. Her practice involves the act of drawing as a form of discovery, and a recording of what unfolds in a particular season.
Her influences include comics, the bible, found images, plants, animals, and photographs she takes. She is fascinated by bodies and their relation to other entities, as well as the inner states of our beings expressed through the various forms of drawing.
Wan Xiang’s works therefore tend to reflect her state of mind. Each drawing is an observation and learning of the self that she’s born with and is still growing into. More recently, organic shapes and plants have been a main motif in her drawings, which seem to signify a season of growth, malleability and hopefulness, stemming from understanding her being in the greater realm.
Title: Melissa
Artist: Kenneth Lee
Location: National University of Singapore, University Town
With absolutely no background in music, the artist struggles to find meaning to the Piano. Deconstructed, stripped apart and reinterpreted to reveal its rawness and inner workings, “Melissa” is an apparent Steam Punk meets Art Deco poster that is nonetheless still an instrument of nature. An inanimate object, bare, until someone gives life to it through music. Something seemingly so plain that can evoke so much in an individual.
“I wonder what delight nature must feel when we open our hearts and express our god-given talents. The sound of approval rolls across the universe, and the whole world abounds in magic, wonder fills our hearts, for what we’ve glimpsed, for an instant, the playfulness of life.”
– Michael Jackson
About the Artist: Kenneth Lee
Kenneth Lee (@knltk) is a Singapore-based artist and designer with a Bachelor of Environments (Architecture) at the University of Melbourne. Having apprenticed under PHUNK and practiced at DP Architects, Kenneth envisions the marriage of art and architecture, challenging their conventional notions by blurring boundaries and focusing on new approaches to visual expression. His projects and works span across art, architecture, design, and photography.
Title: Sky Music
Artist: MaryAnn Loo
Location: Bukit Panjang Community Club
There are a group of penguins who live in the world of the clouds. Penguins in reality are not creatures of flight, but these ones have found their way to live in the sky, which is a symbol of limitlessness and possibilities. Known collectively as the Dreamers, these penguins symbolize dreams coming true, and live in a world of love, happiness, and freedom. This artwork features a row of dancing penguins and row of music makers. It is a piece about freedom in self-expression, and spreading love and joy to all.
MaryAnn Loo, also known as PenguinGirl, is an emerging fine artist in Singapore. She is best known for her whimsical mixed media paintings and illustrations that tell stories of penguins who live in the sky, as a symbol of possibilities and dreams coming true. Since her first self-made solo exhibition in 2013, MaryAnn has curated and organized 2 group exhibitions, sold over 100 paintings, illustrated 4 children’s books, and exhibited in South Korea. In 2016, she was commissioned to produce one of three designs for the 2016 National Day Special Edition EZ-Link Cards, and also exhibited in Affordable Art Fairs in Seoul and Singapore. Besides working on her artworks, MaryAnn also enjoys bringing others together to have fun in activities such as drawing from one’s imagination and creative doodling. She also loves writing, contemplating the meaning of life, and chocolate.
Title: Sweet Dessert
Artist: Zacquine Miken
Location: Bukit Panjang Community Club
A co-effort by Mushi Mushi – the all-girl Ukulele and Piano music duo, the “Sweet Dessert” theme was designed by Zacquine Miken and assisted by Audris Ho.
As musicians and singers, both Zacquine and Audris believe that music is sweet and comforting, just like comfort foods and desserts that make people happy. Hence, desserts were chosen for this theme. Both music and food are food for the soul, and help to improve on one’s mental being and wellness. Zacquine Miken majored in traditional Japanese and Western anime and underwent apprenticeship under Mahiro Maeda (director of the anime series “Blue Submarine No. 6”). She fuses Western and Asian elements in her art, which are evident in her illustration works in music videos like “Drawn To You” (artiste: Zacq & Mari), “Wurdalak” (artiste: Megalomania) and “Your Little Angel” (artiste: Audris Ho).
About the Artist: Zacquine Miken
Zacquine Miken majored in traditional Japanese and Western anime and underwent apprenticeship under Mahiro Maeda (director of the anime series “Blue Submarine No. 6”). She fuses Western and Asian elements in her art, which are evident in her illustration works in music videos like “Drawn To You” (artiste: Zacq & Mari), “Wurdalak” (artiste: Megalomania) and “Your Little Angel” (artiste: Audris Ho).
Play it Forward Singapore: Public Piano Movement in Singapore 