Previously Viviane wrote about the President’s Young Talents (PYT) exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum at 8Q . Running till 27 Decemeber 2009, the exhibition has identified four local promising young artists to create and present their new artworks, helping to firm theirs’ and Singapore’s standing on the international art arena.

PYT inaugurated in 2001 and the series has since been jointly organised by the Istana and SAM, providing a platform to showcase upcoming Singaporean artists whose works are of top quality to represent Singapore in international art fairs and platforms. Yet on another level, they have the incredible knack of appealing to the masses like us, the group of us (myself included) who claim not to know art nor understand it.

The second and fourth storey of 8Q now houses creations by Donna Ong, Felicia Low, Twardzik Ching Chor Leng, and collective Vertical Submarine, each unique exhibit set to challenge your thoughts, perceptions and viewpoints of everyday issues that pulse through our lives. A recent trip to the exhibition with friends inked the apparent beauty of art – how each work brings out so many different interpretations and reactions from different individuals, and how our experiences in our lives shaped how we saw art through our own eyes.

As the national curator of Southeast Asian contemporary art, the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) has an instrumental role in raising the profile of Singaporean artists and the local arts and cultural landscape. One channel of audience outreach the museum has been particularly successfully in is its organising of late night events in conjunction with concurrent exhibitions. These late night events – parties if you will – resonate well with the very same young artists and young audiences venues such as Zouk and institutions such as museums want to attract. A marriage of art and music then makes perfect sense.

By virtue of the PYT’s significance in the local contemporary art circuit, I’d say a party celebrating local contemporary art forms and experience is well in place. Next Saturday, SAM is hosting ‘Inside Out – A PYT Party.’ The late night party will feature local musicians, DJs, artists and most interestingly, use the art gallery space of SAM at 8Q as a party space for the first time, effectively ‘flipping’ the museum experience inside out.

‘Inside Out – A PYT Party’ is a different and novel way of experiencing the museum and for this reason Museums SEE DIFFERENT is partnering the Singapore Art Museum for the event. Museums SEE DIFFERENT is the National Heritage Board’s ongoing youth engagement initiative that promotes a museum-going culture in youths by encouraging them to experience museums, culture and heritage differently themselves, working with youth and social media communities, and recruiting and cultivating young museum envoys to take on proactive roles at museum events and spread word-of-mouth.

And as part of this partnership, Museums SEE DIFFERENT is holding a promotion giving away five pieces of exclusive SEE DIFFERENT totebags. New Urban Male is also generously sponsoring five pieces of their limited edition museum series of tees and tank-tops. All participants need to do is simply log on to Facebook, join the SEE DIFFERENT Facebook Page and leave a comment on what one are the fun and different experiences one can find at museums.

Five exclusive SEE DIFFERENT Totebags to be won

And New Urban Male is sponsoring five limited edition museum series of tees and tanks. There are many more designs soon to hit the stores!

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‘Inside Out – A PYT Party’
Starts: 7.30pm, 7 November 2009, Saturday
End: 12.30am, 8 November 2009, Sunday
Location: SAM at 8Q – 8 Queen Street, Singapore 188535
Admission is free

The Facebook event page is here
The Facebook promotion page is here