National Gallery Singapore’s newest exhibition pays tribute to a building with a long and colourful history, the City Hall. Since its completion in 1929, City Hall (formerly known as the Municipal Building), has borne witness to key moments in Singapore history, from serving as a bomb shelter during the Japanese Occupation to housing Singapore’s first Public Complaints Bureau. Today, it forms one wing of the National Gallery Singapore.
City Hall: If Walls Could Talk is held in conjunction with the Singapore Bicentennial commemoration. The immersive multimedia experience celebrates the building’s rich history by combining art with stories inspired by key events that took place in the grand City Hall chamber.
The new exhibition is part of the Gallery’s ongoing efforts to delve into the two national monuments the museum is housed in. This is further supported by a visual display at the nearby Singapore Courtyard. Titled Memories of City Hall, the display features a selection of oral history interviews and archival materials that capture the unique stories and memories of people based in City Hall from the 1960s to 1980s. The exhibition opens its doors to the public on September 1, and is slated to be open for two years.