Art and creative direction for OH! Open House: Tiong Bahru
Completed the art and creative direction for OH! Open House's Tiong Bahru edition in 2012, an art walkabout that takes people into strangers' houses in a given neighbourhood, explore the narratives — current and old — of the place, through contemporary art.
The initial brief was: to just do art direction specific to the neighbourhood. Given my framework of building programming into the aesthetic, the project — the third edition in the series, was the "ground zero" for the brand at that time (which now has grown into a recipient of the National Arts Council Seed Grant, to the credit and excellence of its team) — with my direction, went from a indie upstart, to a more refined entity (its grassroots cred intact) with a strong visual identity and brand resonance, by clearly defining its strategy in terms of public and visual communication.
Initial proposals were: 1. to lock down the brand name into "OH! Open House" (O.H. was the acronym of "open house", and there was no fixed designations in the prior editions, which while charming in a own way, was not strong for the brand), which played at the neighbourly/friendly/"kaypoh" factor and building it into its name. 2. From this edition onwards, there would be a "corporate" logo for official brand purposes, and a special version for each edition of OH! Open House, that uses the same design language, but set to the instantly recognizable icons/detail of the neighbourhood. In this case, after research, team discussions and testing, it was the Art Deco detailing of the early public housing buildings that was to be this edition's logo. The company logo was set to the universal visual archetype of a house, the box-house-with-chimney (modelled after the Monopoly house marker tokens).
Months of research was put into this — walking the ground with the team collecting stories and speaking with people, commissioning photography and writing, and extensive historical research as well as working on the producing aspect of what was to be this edition's narrative and underlying zeitgeist. Much of the content, be it art, editorial or programming were developed simultaneously, allowing art direction, strategy and experience to be completely intertwined — which resulted in an experience that is deeply immersive for the audience.
Another pioneering scheme mooted by myself, given my fondness of strange zines — I proposed a "book programme" — that every edition is to be accompanied by a book, which acts as a "b-side" or an accompaniment to the main event. In the book, there will not be any artwork one will see in the show, but will entirely consist of stories, hidden treasures/secrets and specific neighbourhood content to fill you in on the narratives and the real lives of the denizens who actually live there. Each book in the series was intended to be an "artifact" of the area, and designed to showcase its unique character. Basically, to expand the universe for the brand, long after the visitors are gone, to spark thought, understanding and conversation (especially the idea of life and art, are one and the same), and (secondarily) to satiate the consumerist desires by merchandise, of course.
