Clock of the Everyday by Singaporean artist Yang Jie was made with found items
One such piece is Clock of the Everyday, a kinetic sound structure inspired by Lau Pa Sat’s own clocktower, displayed at Exit E of Raffles Place MRT Station. It uses found objects to musically echo the CBD’s daily rhythms, with a glockenspiel-like chime as the sculpture shudders to life at its irregularly-set hours. “It functions as a timekeeper that does not tell the time,” says Singaporean artist Yang Jie.
Another artwork is Sweet Water by British artist Finbarr Fallon, which re-interprets Shenton House’s grid-like structure and mosaic crown as a brutalist pineapple. The largest pineapple stands at one rooftop corner of Shenton House, prominently visible from the street level, with its smaller companion pineapples placed on the street in planters along Shenton Way.
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Sweet Water by British artist Finbarr Fallon atop Shenton House
The name Sweet Water is a callback to a 1970 news headline announcing the discovery of freshwater in the early days of Shenton Way. Fallon, who is based in Singapore and London, says the pineapple references Singapore’s short-lived pineapple plantations — cultivation and export of the tropical fruit peaked in the 1920s for a brief period.
Pineapples are no stranger to the CBD either, Fallon explains, with pineapple slices once sold at Raffles Place for a single cent each.
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Members of the public can visit the large pineapple structure on the rooftop carpark of Shenton House
Today, Singapore has no more “pineries” — a poignant connection to Shenton House’s own fate as the last of the original “Three Sisters” of Shenton Way. While Shenton House still stands today, Robina House was demolished in 2007 to make way for One Shenton Way, and the original UIC Building was demolished in 2013 to become the 54-storey residential tower V on Shenton.
Sold to IOI Properties’ group CEO Lee Yeow Seng in November 2023, the 25-storey modernist Shenton House will soon join its sisters in memory. Lee plans to redevelop it into a mixed-use development comprising a Grade-A commercial office tower.
For now, Sweet Water rests soundly on top of Shenton House, drawing attention from busy commuters as they pass by 3 Shenton Way. “Sweet Water celebrates the enduring symbols and the memory of an ever-changing cityscape,” says Fallon.
Like the freshwater that burst forth at Shenton Way and the sharp scent of one-cent pineapple slices that used to fill the air at Raffles Place, this artwork reminds us of Shenton House’s eventual fate — where it will soon become a memory.
Photo: Belle Neo, Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore
