All Shook Up

NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE has never felt more alive and kicking than it does now with the opening of a new exhibition titled Awakenings: Art In Society In Asia 1960s - 1990s. It showcases socially- and politically-engaged Asian art across the decades, and has the energy quotient of a supernova exploding - a sharp and spectacular contrast to its last major show Minimalism. Space. Light. Object.

From wall to floor to wall, many of the artworks brim with vigour and verve, delectably capturing the zeitgeist of the country in which they were made. Each work is a repository of a hundred stories of post-war transformation their respective countries underwent politically, economically or socially.

The 1960s to the 1990s was a volatile time for Asia. There were ideological conflicts and political uncertainties stemming from the Cold War, and waves of nationalistic sentiments and democratic reforms. Cities were undergoing rapid urbanisation and transformation, and capitalism and materialism were dazzling the world and changing the way we related to one anothe…