Our Projects
About Rumah Whampoa
Rumah Whampoa is a travelling exhibition visiting community centres, RCs and void decks near you! Featuring stories and photography by the senior residents of Whampoa, come get to know the people who live in your community and what makes them call Whampoa their home. Visit facebook.com/rumahwhampoa for more details.
The exhibition schedule and locations:
| No. | Location | Schedule | Location |
| 1 | Whampoa CC | May 20 – May 24 | Foyer |
| 2 | Whampoa Drive | May 27 – May 31 | Blk 22A Jalan Tenteram Precinct Hall |
| 3 | Whampoa Gardens | June 03 – June 07 | Blk 115 Whampoa Drive |
| 4 | Whampoa View | June 10 – June 14 | Blk 94A Whampoa Drive precinct hall |
| 5 | Whampoa Lorong Limau | June 17 – June 21 | Blk 76 Lorong Limau precinct hall |
| 6 | Rajah Court | June 24 – June 28 | Blk 107 Jalan Rajah |
| 7 | Kallang CC & Bendemeer | July 01 – July 12 | Kallang CC |
| 8 | Boon Keng | July 01 – July 12 | Blk 25 Boon Keng Rd |
| 9 | McNair | July 15 – July 19 | Blk 111 McNair Road |
| 10 | Towner | July 22 – July 26 | Blk 105 Towner Road |
| 11 | Boon Keng | July 29 – August 02 | Blk 6 Boon Keng road |
| 12 | Whampoa CC | August 05 – August 09 | ComSA Centre, 3rd Floor |
About Tangible Stories
Tangible Stories is conceived and led by Thomas Kong. Over a two-month period starting in October 2016, Whampoa senior residents will be asked to share a unique story related to an object or objects they possess.
The project is based on the premise that objects serve more than just our needs. They are bearers of personal histories and meanings. For many senior residents of Whampoa, the objects they collected or made in their lifetimes are also memory anchors in a fast changing society.
By documenting these objects and stories, and presenting them in April 2017 as a traveling exhibition within Whampoa, senior residents will be able to share their stories to a larger audience while at the same time, offers the public an insight into their lives and memories.
Project duration: October to December 2016
Click here for more details.
About Photovoice: Everyday Whampoa
The aims of the Whampoa Retrospective Project are:
- 1. To mine the heritage of Whampoa.
- 2. To create an art and photography driven pathways for successful aging and encountering intergenerational relationships.
- 3. Making participant centered art and photography encounter able in Whampoa.
Over several sessions, participants will be guided by mentor photographers in the basics of visual storytelling. Mentor writers and/or artists will provide training in writing narratives to accompany the photographs. At the end of the project cycle, each participant will contribute a photographic or mixed media series that records his/her personal story and Whampoa’s heritage.
Project duration: December 2016 onwards
Click here for more details.
About Tangible Companions
The goal of the Tangible Companions project is to imagine contemporary companions for a number of old artifacts that Whampoa residents have fond memories of. From January to April 2017, participants will draw from the interviews and images curated from the Tangible Stories project to develop their proposals. By describing the outcome as a companion, the project aims to encourage a multi-scalar and an interdisciplinary spirit of inquiry grounded on an empathic design response to the artifact’s history, qualities as well as its affective relationship with the owner. The project is carried out in collaboration with students and faculty from the Department of Visual Arts at the School of the Arts, Singapore (SOTA).
Project duration: January – April 2017
Click here for more details. (36MB)
About Social Archiving
Social archiving is a new model of safekeeping of and caring for objects and documents that carry cultural and heritage value. Social archiving differs from current institutional model of archiving in the following ways:
- 1. It relies on the interest, passion, care and housing offered by a community of volunteer archivists instead of an institution.
- 2. It promotes social interaction, both digital and in real time in the archival process.
- 3. It encourages active and creative re-interpretation of the archived objects and materials that extends beyond the passive role of offering a storage space.
- 4. It uses social media as the primary means of maintaining contact between archivists, between the original owner and the archivist, and in the organization, dissemination and sharing of the archived materials.
- 5. It permits the transferring of the archived materials if the new archivist agrees to the role and expectations.
- 6. It is a scalable process that can range from an intimate social setting to a large, community level interaction.
Project duration: January – April 2017
About Rumah Whampoa EATS (‘Elders and Teens Sharing’)
EATS presents the fabled food heritage of Whampoa, as curated by the elderly participants of Curating Whampoa and students from Bendemeer Secondary School. Together, they re-collected, documented and guided the visual display of six-home cooked dishes of personal and collective significance to them.
EATS continues the travelling exhibition of Rumah Whampoa, the showcase of Curating Whampoa, which was jointly conceived by the Tsao Foundation and Professor Thomas Kong, and supported by the Hong Kong-based Community Museum Project, with co-funding by the National Heritage Board. The project empowers active ageing by equipping its elder participants with heritage curation skills and handing them the reins to shape their ‘living museum’.
It also seeks to transform attitudes towards older persons and the ageing process by raising their engagement and visibility. Curating Whampoa comes under the aegis of the Tsao Foundation’s Community for Successful Ageing (ComSA).
Exhibition schedule:
Whampoa Community Club – 28 April 2018 to 3 May 2018
Blk 22 Bendemeer Road – 5 May 2018 to 10 May 2018
Click here for more details.
