Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Lady Gaga, Lang Lang, John Legend perform “The Prayer

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© This article was first published online in Apr 2020 – World Travel Magazine.

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© This article was first published online in Apr 2020 – World Travel Magazine.

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© This article was first published in Feb-Mar 2020 edition of World Travel Magazine.

In its first debut, The Vaults, a three-dimensional anthology of various stories ranging from stage plays to stand-up comedies, only began with 25 shows. These London performances embraced over 7,000 people in over three weeks. There is no surprise that as time passes, its popularity and audience grew. Today, the fringe festival has inched itself almost as the same popularity as Edinburgh, only treading on different genres.

Shows to keep an eye on

One must walk around with a map of the theatres; there is a web of performance spaces here, starting from the Waterloo East Theatre, to more unsung places, like bookshops and open garages. Peer into quirky locations and even shipping containers, because chances are, one of the 400 shows are lodged there. At the Dirby Theatre, Nathaniel Hall throws hilarious shades at growing up HIV positive in a despondent world. The Thelmas reign as Santi &Naz in a tale about womanhood and the partition of India. Other global stories, such as the current Hong Kong protests, are also tackled. Simon Caine pokes fun at anxiety in Every Room Becomes a Panic Room and Amy Gwilliam—local satire and property developer—shares her topsy-turvy interactive tour for Waterloo real estate. Relationships are dissected, selves introspected, and there are performances for the earthly and the space-bound.

There are chances to dance and dine along the way, with emphasis on social responsibility with sustainable alternatives, for other than hearts, the planet needs saving, too. The Vaults is the perfect place to wave all colours, to succumb into various discourses that invoke concepts of what it is to be human and alive. It could be awful or amazing, depending on one’s taste, and if one show doesn’t satisfy, there is always more to see—the festival runs until from January 28 until March 22. www.thevaults.london

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© This article was first published online in Jan 2020 – World Travel Magazine.

The luxury travel brand was dedicated to do one thing: to showcase the region where the Ferragamos flourished, whose success spanned more than a century. Here, 21 unforgettable and often interactive experiences were created to inspire travellers, and afford them the chance to be emotionally engaged with the local community. The offerings are wide and in breath-taking variety: In Chianti, one can learn how winemakers combine their precious liqueur, with a chance to blend a personal concoction with the noted wine expert and sommelier, Filippo Bartolotta. In Florentine, wander through the historic maze and pick up many of its lesser-known legends while inhaling the glorious scent of its perfumeries. Take this chance to visit the Baptistry’s hidden corridors or stroll down the famous Palazzo Strozzi after its peak hours. In Maremma, immerse in the coastal beauty by exploring the caverns lodged on the Tuscan coastline, then dive into a sea-to-table lunch with a relish.
Each experience, like a fine coat, is tailored to one’s preferences. Private museum tours, glimpses of artisan studios, sustainable fishing, boating and personal wine blending; all of them scream with fine taste and luxury, benefitting of Ferragamo’s wide connections and remarkable assets. But this closer glimpse at Tuscany is not just pure indulgence; Tuscany Again is created as something special to the community itself, where influential hands pull the lenses back to Italy’s charming region, and put its renaissance beauty back to the spotlight, where it truly belongs. tuscanyagain.org

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© This article was first published in Oct-Nov 2019 edition of World Travel Magazine.

Singapore’s role as a hub of commerce should come as little surprise, given Sir Stamford Raffles’ seminal words in 1819 soon after arriving here: “Our object is not territory but trade, a great commercial Emporium, and a fulcrum whence we may extend our influence politically.” That the Lion City uses art to celebrate its economic origins speaks volumes about the importance of that art here in the Little Red Dot. Singapore might not boast the art history or pedigree of the Italian Renaissance Italy or Impressionist-era France, but it has a booming, pulsing art scene with plenty of home-grown talent supported by world-class museums and galleries.

“The art scene in Singapore has grown exponentially in the last few decades,” notes Russell Storer, Deputy Director, Curatorial & Research, at the National Gallery, which opened in 2015. “It has been triggered by key developments in government policy, such as the establishment of the National Heritage Board and the National Art Council in the late 1980s, the opening of the Singapore Art Museum in 1996, and a growing engagement with the international art world through participation in the Venice Biennale [since 2001] and the establishment of the Singapore Biennale in 2006.”

Singapore’s early art isn’t filled with names that are internationally recognisable or icons of global painting. Some of the oldest pieces in the National Gallery date to the 19th century, including an engraving by Heinrich Leutemann titled UnterbrocheneStraßenmessung auf Singapore (Interrupted Road Surveying in Singapore), made around 1865. It recounts an incident believed to have taken place in the midst of a road survey in 1835 when a Malay Tiger sprung from the jungle and attacked the surveyors. The piece, according to Storer, “marks a shift in colonial depictions of Singapore, where we begin to see a more intimate encounter with the natural world. This kind of imagery also set the stage for the rise of modern Singapore art from the 1930s, when a visual imagining of the ‘tropical’ would become a key theme for modern art in this region.” Other seminal work includes Lynx by Low Kway Song (1921), one of the earliest oil paintings by a local professional artist in Singapore and Portrait of Lim Loh by Chinese artist Xu Beihong (1927), a portrait of one of Singapore’s pioneering entrepreneurs.

The most prominent art movement in the Lion City has been the 1950s Nanyang Style, the work of Chinese migrants from Nanyang who had come to Singapore in the first half of the 1900s. They continued the Chinese tradition of inks and brushes, but added tropical elements, often featuring people and scenes from locations around Indonesia. Among the movement’s most revered artists were Liu Kang, Chen Chong Swee, and Cheong Soo Pieng, whose Drying Salted Fish painting is recreated on the back of Singapore’s $50 note.

As the century progressed, multiculturalism began to infiltrate artistic practice and the Lion City’s contemporary art movement started to establish itself. Storer notes that “in the late 1980s and 1990s, artists formed collectives and staged experimental exhibitions and events that generated new modes of contemporary art such as performance and installation.” Some of these key moments are detailed in the National Gallery’s Siapa Nama Kamu? (meaning ‘what is your name’) exhibition, with more than 300 works by the country’s leading artists from the 19th century to present day.

As Singapore’s economy flourishes and grows, its investment in art has increased in tandem. In the past decade alone, large-scale developments within the sector have occurred with dizzying frequency. In 2012, Gillman Barracks opened, a former British army camp reimagined into contemporary art galleries and a research centre. Two years later, the National Arts Council (NAC), the government body that “aims to nurture the arts in Singapore, and to make it an integral part of the lives of all Singaporeans,” set up the Public Art Trust, or PAT, with S$10 million in seed money. PAT’s mission is to give artists, especially Singaporeans, a new platform for their work, make art part of the city’s urban spaces and bring it closer to Singaporeans, a tangible way to democratise a medium sometimes viewed as elitist. And in November 2015, costing S$530 million, the National Gallery Singapore opened, the stylish union of the former Supreme Court and City Hall, now home to the largest collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art in the world. The government’s efforts have not gone unrewarded, and appreciation for the arts has boomed, borne out by figures from NAC’s Singapore Cultural Statistics 2018 report: Visual arts exhibitions grew from 858 in 2011 to 1077 in 2017, while during the same period, non-ticketed attendance at arts and cultural events increased from 10.5 million to 11.3 million.

The city continues to promote artistic ambition through many channels, from the annual Singapore Art Week to the sustainable art light festival iLight Singapore, and today the city proudly proclaims itself a global art hub. “The extensive infrastructure has enabled the growth of Singapore as a dynamic and highly interconnected platform for art in the region,” reflects Storer. “It has major art museums and collections, contemporary art institutions with international exhibition and residency programmes, a biennale and other arts festivals, several art schools and university galleries, and a variety of commercial galleries and art fairs. Singapore’s strategic location in Southeast Asia has also been crucial to its success as an art hub. It acts as a key meeting point for artists, curators, critics and art academics from around the world, and its unique regional – rather than just national – focus connects artists and artworks from across Southeast Asia.” Storer believes that even though Singapore is a relatively young nation, it takes art more seriously now than ever before. “It is able to offer a unique view on the world from a Southeast Asian position, ” while also helping to cast a global spotlight on Southeast Asian art, a role that will only continue to grow.

By Sanjay Surana; Photographs courtsey National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, National Heritage Board& Singapore Tourism Board.

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© This article was first published in Aug-Sept 2019 edition of World Travel Magazine.

With a little imagination, it’s not hard to take Götz at her word. Ever since the 5th-century, Basel has been a prize for conquerors and kings. Firstly, because of its prime location on the Upper Rhine river. But also for its rich artistic and cultural heritage. The Celts came first, followed by the Romans who stayed for 400 years, then the Franks and Maygars followed. Only then, did the Protestant Reformers arrive to sort everyone out (the crosier, the hefty bishop’s staff, remains the city’s emblem).

Times change, of course, but foreigners still do battle in Basel, if only in the name of art. Principally, they crowd the auction halls at the Herzog and de Meuron designed Messe Basel, Switzerland’s largest and most important exhibition centre, to buy and sell at the annual Art Basel. It’s now the world’s preeminent art fair, with satellites having popped up in Miami Beach and Hong Kong, and nearly 95,000 people flood in every year. This year’s edition takes place from 13 to 16 June, and with representation from 4,000 artists, around 290 galleries and 35 countries, it’s set to be its biggest yet.

As a confluence of influences, Basel has more art, architecture and design on display than most visitors expect. Although I’ve known about its art treasures for decades, this is one of the first opportunities I’ve had to see it for myself. Indeed, few cities are so defined by their relationship with art and there are 37 museums in Basel — many of which are dedicated to the finer arts. It is an extraordinary number for a city its size. And even unremarkable public squares have monumental sculptures and whimsical fountains from the likes of American artist Richard Serra and Swiss sculptor and national treasure Jean Tinguely (more on him later).

Across the Rhine, and in walking distance of Messe Basel, is the city’s must-see piece of art real estate. What the Louvre is to Paris, or The Met is to New York, the Kunstmuseum is to Basel. The world’s oldest public fine art gallery, it more than doubled in size three years ago, and smacks of enterprise. The extension by architects Christ & Gantenbein added an extra 2,740 sqm of galleries to the original and while Picasso, Mondrian, Cezanne, Monet, Rothko, Van Gogh, Warhol, Degas and Munch are all front and centre, I’m as equally intrigued by the lesser-known Swiss pieces. “The collection simply outgrew the size of the building,” Götz tells me, matter-of-factly, about the renovation. “It had become a serious matter of civic pride.”

For an equally ambitious view of Basel, head to the outer suburb of Riehen. It’s done business here since 1997, when philanthropic art dealers Ernst Beyeler and Hilda Kunz commissioned Renzo Piano to design a museum housing their private collection. Inside, in an airy setting straight out of a 007 thriller, the series of light-filled pavilion-like galleries provide a highlights reel of the 21st century with masterpieces on rotation. This summer, the main galleries are devoted to the works of contemporary painter Rudolf Stingel (until 6 October).

The weight of modern art history on Basel’s shoulders can also be found at Museum Tinguely and this is where Götz leaves me to explore at my own pace. Every city needs someone to inspire the next generation and Basel’s is larger-than-life mechanical sculptor Jean Tinguely. Born in neighbouring Fribourg, he was a man of unwavering confidence (“as soon as I touch junk — it’s magic,” he once said) and his science-gone-mad kinetic reliefs, petrol-driven machines and musical skeletons have become symbols of the city.

This may only be a snapshot of the city’s artistic past, present and future, but Basel is so much more than a sum of its parts; Switzerland’s forgotten city represents the art world in microcosm. There is creativity here, vision and out-the-box thinking. And most important of all, there is personality.

Picasso, Monet, and Van Gogh never did visit Basel, but were they to do so today, it seems just the sort of place that would inspire them to even greater things.

For more information on Basel, visit basel.com. To help with trips and itineraries to Switzerland, go to myswitzerland.com

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© This article was first published in June-July 2019 edition of World Travel Magazine.

One of the most unique rooms is the Rare Handcrafts, Patek Philippe’s curtsy to its Southeast Asian market who is notably fond of colours, sublime craftsmanship and individuality. Hand-painted watches prevail in this room, including the gold-engraved Calatrava that features a flower enamel dial, the vibrant Tropical Plants that features a micro-painting on its face, surrounded with crystals; and the rainbow-hued domed watches adorned with willowy abstract shapes and grand feu enamel.

Jaw-dropping pocket watches and complications exist in the Grand Complications Room, a synchronous tick-tocking of extraordinary timepieces that include the gorgeously handsome Graves collection and Patek Philippe’s age-old chronographs. There is an Interactive room with guided audio that allows the onlookers to learn more about each timepiece as they stroll through each display.

But the most outstanding collection, perhaps, is the Singapore 200th Anniversary Room. Coinciding with Singapore’s Biennial anniversary, Patek Philippe pays tribute to the bustling port of the Far East, with rare handcraft watches that echo the whimsical beauty of the 1830 Canton seaport in miniature enamel painting. There’s a breath-taking handcraft Tropical Island dome watch that features an illustration of majestic sea creatures swimming inside a luscious tone of blue, a homage to the vibrant seas that surround this region.

Singapore’s Watch Art is the fifth exhibition hosted by Patek Philippe. The first one debuted in 2012, right in the heart of Dubai, and subsequently gained traction that it has travelled all over the world—from Munich, London, and in New York.

Tickets are free, but one is required to reserve online. Two special Sundays are allotted for families—a perfect way to tag the children along and have them discover the beauty behind luxury and horology. www.patek.com

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© This article was first published online in Sept 2019 – World Travel Magazine.

500 years after da Vinci’s passing, Milan found it fitting to celebrate the hero’s life in a journey that narrates his creative, philosophical spirit. The artistic adventure begins in Hotel Principe di Savoia Milan, who opens a three-way serving of remarkable da Vinci-inspired tours, with exclusive guided visits and suites ranging from €300 to €2,420.

One may find themselves immersed in the silent conversations of the Last Supper. The nostalgic trip puts on spotlight the beloved painting while luring art enthusiasts and refined wanderers inside the bosom of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Here is the original artwork, a tapestry of brickwork and earthy colours narrating the final feast of Jesus shared with his disciples before his death. There is a morose atmosphere to it, gently carved inside the melancholic faces of him who will be nailed to the cross, and him who will betray. While the walls bear the effects of time, it couldn’t be denied that da Vinci’s genius overcome the centuries after him, and this remains one of the most breath-taking art pieces in the world no museum could house.

Long walks trail after In the Footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci, an atmospheric immersion to what Milan was to da Vinci. This intimate four-hour jaunt takes note of the artist’s favourite corners in exclusive guided tours. Follow his traces in the haunting Sforza Castle. Indulge in the bustling local community inside the Mercanti Square. But the most opportune moment, perhaps, is a peek into da Vinci’s personal books, the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus, which contains pages of his own sketches and scribbles preciously lodged at Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Gape at his genius, and perhaps nurture your own. After the marvellous spectacle, the tour caps off with a delightful Italian hospitality—a romantic glide through the city’s canals.

There is no doubt that Leonardo da Vinci was a visionary as he was an artist, a man who discovered the world in multi-disciplinary approaches that exceeds the mind of the common man. Cartography, geography, botany and mathematics were among his languages; he has seen stars and the possibilities that reside in the uncertainties of the cosmos. Through the Ultimate Leonardo Experience, the journey heads deep into da Vinci’s scientific angle, taking the curious seekers into a rare exhibit that showcased his brilliantly wrought prototypes. This may stir some genius in everyone. Then, hop into the pop-up exhibition before exploring more of da Vinci-inspired homage by the Lombardi artists inside Pinacoteca di Brera. www.dorchestercollection.com

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© This article was first published online in Sept 2019 – World Travel Magazine.

An international line-up greets the foodies with global garnishes. Savour German delicacies with Wolfgang Becker. Submerge into the tastes of umami with Hideki Ii. Tap-dance into the tasteful spices of Portugal with Rui Silvestre, or immerse in the classic flavours of French cuisine with Alan Geeam. Masterclasses are scheduled during the day, reserved for the curious cooks wanting to receive their own stars, or for those passionate about concocting chocolatey surprises. Expect great wines, afternoon tees, a smothering of flavours and a visual feast.

 

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Tomorrow is the day we’ve all been waiting for…the long awaited beginning of the 20th World Gourmet Festival. Get ready for a delicious week as we bring you coverage of all the tantalizing bites and behind the scenes peeks! Don’t forget to follow along in our Instagram stories too. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #WorldGourmetFestivalBangkok @Worldgourmetfestivalbkk #finedining #michelin #michelinguide #michelinstar #worlds50best #asias50best #gastronomy #cheflife #chefsofinstagram #bangkok #thailand #WidenYourWorld #anantara #anantarahotel #anantarasiambangkok #anantarasiam

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Spanning from the 2nd to the 8th of September, the festival also highlights Thailand‘s local gastronomical geniuses, whose rags-to-riches tale will impress every listener. Schedules for each culinary experience vary; on the 5^th of September, the lush courtyard of Parichart is lined up with bedecked stalls, beckoning for a curious taste of gourmet street food. Exclusive events are held at the hotel’s old-world, iconic lobby. Hands on the glass, please; and walk around while inhaling the simmering scent from the meat, or the sweet sparks coming off from the dainty plated deserts. Be careful; there is no helping when pulled by the gravity of decadent herbs and spices. And for the late sleepers fearing of not getting their fair share, capping off the entire feast is the World Gourmet Brunch, which celebrates the goodness of noonday munching with a banquet of sumptuous delights. Dig in! www.worldgourmetfestival.asia

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© This article was first published online in August 2019 – World Travel Magazine.