More about the release1 Notes
Happy Hows!?
Designers: Van Lim & Ween Research Assistants: Gaetan Boisson & Nabs Lukman Curator: Mama Magnet
Artists: Anastasiya · ArunDitha · Chris Sim · Chok Si Xuan · Clarrot · Cybercesspool · Eduardo Enrique · Emma Chan · Empyreal · Eric Foenander · Gen Yip · Grace Hong · Gracie McCubbin · Hause · HAFI · Highnunchicken · Hilary Yeo · John WIP · Juan Qi An · Juls · Likefireatsea · M4IM (Music 4 Interrupted Minds) · Maria Clare Khoo · Masuri Mazlan · Michelle Underground · Natasha Hassan · New World Plaza · Ozy Kozy · Peng · HelloPigu · Reza Hasni · Rin Tachihara · Siah · Shaiful Risan · Shivram Gopinath · Speak Cryptic · State.land · Sui Yao · Van Lim · Yadin Moha · Zhou
Over 10 days in January 2022, 12,888 people attended Happy House at Tanjong Pagar Distripark for Singapore Art Week. Featuring multimedia experiential installations that combined creative outputs from artists as well as the public, Happy House invited visitors to consider whether there was happiness in their pursuit of it.
Co-curated and produced by the late Eileen Chan (Cats On Crack) and Tulika Ahuja (Mama Magnet), driven by a shared curiosity of Singapore’s complicated relationship with the H-word. Happy House called on the famous observational joke with its origins in the 90’s, that Singapore’s markers of happiness, often conflated with materialism, could be boiled down to a handy 5 Cs - Cash, Condo, Credit Card, Car, Country Club.
As part of the exhibition, visitors were asked to fill in ‘departure cards’ with what 5Cs they associated with their own happiness. The answers ranged from curry to car sex and everything in between. 1802 entries were received.
Data has been cleaned, sorted and visualised with responses from 40 artists and designers. And ready for your eyes as Happy Hows!?
Is cash still king? Do condos and country clubs feed our soul any more?
Release Notes (1)
For dearly departed, Cats On Crack
This book is dedicated to Happy House co-founder, Eileen Chan, who's idea it was to have ‘Departure Cards’ for visitors to fill in. Maybe it was the irony of being stuck in Singapore unable to travel at the time of designing. We were interested in manuals because they attempt to answer this question of “how” that was central to our investigative journey into Singapore's relationship with happiness. Now, with E's departure, we are left with a recipe for present and future warriors of culture and creative freedom. We’re publishing the findings so the trends can be shared, inspiring those who need inspiration, offering solutions to the curious ones, and putting the messages out in the wild.
| Category | Publishing, Art, Culture |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 20 November 2024 |
| Catalog Number | N/A |