Celebrating SOTA's 10th Anniversary - Monuments and Memories
As part of SOTA’s 10th Anniversary celebrations, students and staff were invited to propose monument projects that they would like to create, honouring the school’s history, identity and aspirations.
The Seed
Derived from the motif of the Angsana tree seed, 'The Seed' art installation at SOTA's West Plaza steps draws its inspiration from the old majestic Angsana tree at this very site, also affectionately known to the SOTA community as the “Tree of Knowledge”, or “SOTA Tree”. The SOTA community bade farewell to the tree on 21 January 2018 when it was removed due to extensive decay.
Proposed by Visual Arts teachers, Zainudin Bin Samsuri and Luis Lee, this commemorative art installation encapsulates the precious moments of SOTA’s students and staff both present and past, as represented in its characteristic disc-like pod form with flat, thin wings.
Made of fibreglass, 'The Seed' is also symbolic of the next lap in SOTA’s history as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. In the same vein as the old tree that battled harsh weathers and thunderstorms over the years, SOTA has grown from strength to strength since it was set up in 2008.
Illuminating in its bright green coat, the artwork celebrates the SOTA community’s shared hope to continue nurturing artistic and creative youths in Singapore, and achieve its vision of cultivating creative citizens for the future.
Probable Art
Proposed by Math teacher Ms Kit Lee, the Probable Art monument project is a 2D artwork creation using probability. Combining the spontaneity of decision and the uncertainty of chance, Probable Art reflects the response of students and their unlimited future. This project was included in the Year 2 Math curriculum work.
How to create 'Probable Art':
The student artist will either throw a pair of dice or draw a card and throw a die to form a pair of coordinates. After plotting over 11 points (therefore over 11 pairs of coordinates) on the grid paper, he/ she will join all the points to form a polygon. Every polygon produced would be different, depending on probability.
He/ she will then remove (cut out) the inside area of polygon out from the grid paper and design the space that remains uncut on the grid paper. The cut and designed grid paper will then be placed over photographic images to provide new and interesting viewing perspectives.
Decagon
As part of SOTA's 10th Anniversary celebrations, Math teacher, Mr Chan Wei Chee, who is also a dancer, mooted an idea to bring together 10 batches of dancers to reflect upon some physical spaces that were meaningful to them.
Under his guidance and the guidance of two dance teachers (Ms Foo Yun Ying and Ms Germaine Cheng), 9 dancers ( 1 from each cohort and 3 alumni) spent some time over the June holidays to reflect and improvise at some specific locations in school to create a dance piece at each location.
These dance works were then recorded as a series of dance films, titled 'Decagon', by videographer Tommy. Students and staff were invited to the screening of 'Decagon' on 21 August 2018. During the session, the dancers, teachers and videographer also shared their thoughts and experiences in creating the films. Watch the films HERE.
Standing from left to right:
Videographer Tommy, Jo Felicity Edwin (year 1), Lindsey Chua (Alumni), Pamela Khiu (Alumni), Soh Yixuan (year 2), Jovaan Tan (year 3). Ms Foo Yunying
Seated from left to right
Natasha Tan (year 5) , Eunice Sim (year 4), Ms Germaine Cheng, Mr Chan Wei Chee.
TENtative - A SOTA 10 Years Journey Photography Exhibition
To commemorate SOTA's 10th Year Anniversary, the Year 5 Photography Crew members curated a set of aesthetically pleasing, and meaningful photographs, from a huge photo library the school has amassed. Titled, 'TENtative', the exhibition aims to showcase the school, its people, culture, and spirit; as well as to capture the school's progress throughout the years.
Resting Ground
‘Resting Ground’ is a site-specific dance monument project created by Maybelle Lek from Class of 2014 in her attempt to trace back her footsteps as a student in SOTA. The interactive performance saw Maybelle responding and improvising to the cues that students read out to her. Inspired by the Angsana tree and the architecture of the SOTA building, the piece was performed on Level 5 during lunchtime on 13 and 14 September 2018.
SOTA Memories
Filmed and produced by one of SOTA alumni, Nishok, the 'SOTA Memories' video featured alumni, current and former staff members. In the video, they shared past memories of their time in SOTA, how the memories have left a deep impression on them and how precious it was to be part of the SOTA community. Watch the video
here.
