The Substation’s heritage-themed competition winners

Singapore – The Substation has announced the winners to its two-heritage-themed competitions entitled Utterly Changed, The Substation Writing Competition and BIG4ENBLOC, The Substation Insta-Film Competition.

The Substation is Singapore’s first independent contemporary arts centre which was established in 1990 by the late Kuo Pao Kun. It is the goal of the centre to engage with the public through cultural conversations and to expose them to contemporary art that are meant to address larger questions about Singapore.

The theme for 2018 is an exploration of how and why heritage is an emotional and political topic for the public to be portrayed through film and written work. Social media platforms were exploited to reach a broader range of voices and to appeal to millennials.

Utterly Changed, Writing Competition

The winner for the writing competition is Diana Rahim, the editor of a blog called Beyond the Hijab which shares stories of Singaporean Muslim women. Her submitted work was entitled [Losing Farther, Losing Faster], an essay on the theme of change and loss in landscape, loved places and heritage that was written in such a compelling and poignant manner.

Out of 62 entries, Diana will be taking home the First Prize of $3,000 for her intricately sewn narrative and commentary.

The following is a glimpse of her opening paragraph:

“Everywhere, we live with this violence. Everywhere there are ghosts. It is as if our unpoetic government has taken Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry to heart: “The art of losing isn’t hard to master; / so many things seem filled with the intent / to be lost that their loss is no disaster.”

BIG4ENBLOC, Insta-film Competition

The short film competition on Instagram was presented in collaboration with the Singapore Heritage Society and supported by Goethe-Institut Singapore. The three judging organizations unanimously voted for Nadarajan Rajendran’s work which was an interview of a resident of Golden Mile Complex, an area in line for an en bloc sale.

Because the work of Nadarajan was so personal, polished and concise, showing the experiences of someone directly affected by the issue, his piece stood out among the 94 submitted entries.

Even though the entire film only had a 40-second limit, he was able to tell a complete story in a fast-paced yet unrushed manner.

The Grand Prize for this competition is $1,500 and a round trip to a German city, which was sponsored by Goethe-Institut Singapore.

The prizes will be given in a ceremony to be held on March 23, 2019, 2pm at The Substation’s SAD Bar along with the introduction to the forthcoming programme season called The Vanishing, or Time Goes Away which will start on March 2019.