Not Quite Night series #92

Good evening nightographers! Hope everyone is safe and healthy in this difficult time. It's more than six months since my last blog post. My sincere apologies for the long hiatus. I was caught up with work commitment and I picked up a sport that I am spending more time in training and playing. Yes, I picked up Table Tennis again after so many years since I last played in my teens. So yeah I confess I have neglected my night photography but I'm more fitter, stronger, and healthier than ever before. And I am proud that I am fully vaccinated.

Well, tonight I'm back with a new Not Quite Night photo of an iconic art center in Singapore, and also to share a piece of updated news with you. So let's jump right into it.

During the time when I was busy with work and table tennis, I still visit social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Flickr for night photographs. Yes, I'm still keen on my night photography and always on the lookout for inspiration. One day something came to my mind. There's this place I have not visited for a long time, an almost forgotten place. So two weeks ago I went to Armenian Street for The Substation and thought the place would be ideal for my Not Quite Night project.

Upon reaching the location, I was surprised that the iconic art center's main door is shut and the gallery space is totally empty. The building looks deserted or rather abandoned. For a moment I thought The Substation had moved to a new location new building, but later I found news on the internet that the venue board has announced its closure in March this year, after losing sole tenancy of the theater and gallery space. 

On The Substation's final day of business on Friday (July 30), general manager Aikes Loh and two Substation staff members made a last walkthrough of the arts venue's empty shell.

Then the 52-year-old locked up the historic Armenian Street building at 3.12pm and left the keys at a collection point for the National Arts Council (NAC) to pick up later.

It was a subdued end to an era for Singapore's arts scene.

Singapore's pioneering non-profit arts center has permanently closed its doors after 30 years as one of the city-state's most experimental and influential venues. For more news, click here and here.

This place brings back many fond memories to many music and art fans as well as artists, and musicians.  I once played in two local rock bands. We played 2 gigs though; one in the theater and another in the backyard. I also attended gigs performed by many other local rock bands. The local music scene was awesome. Those were the good old days.

Coming back to the recce day, I took some time to walk around the building and had the pleasure of taking photos with my mobile phone.

The lane next to The Substation building wall
is filled with graffiti

Another huge graffiti on the rear side of The Substation.

Enough of the day photos, it's time to share some night photographs I made, last weekend.

Well, I really like the night atmosphere at this place. Compared to the past years where this place was full of hustle-and-bustle. To this day it's rather cold and dead. On that night there were kids on skateboards hanging out in the vicinity. Another group gathered at the graffiti lane, smoking, chit-chatting, and playing loud recorded rock music through Bluetooth speakers. It's as if the kids were indulged in reminiscence.

Here's the good news –

The Substation will not be closing down!

A lot of consideration and factors have led to this decision after their earlier announcement in March. News published in their blog here.

Dubbed 'The Substation 2.0', the center will evolve from being an arts center to become an arts company that focused on developing original programming. Its core mission will remain the discovering, nurturing, and supporting of new and diverse voices in the arts. A new team will lead The Substation 2.0, comprising a core group of arts professionals and practitioners from diverse disciplines and age groups. You can read the Press Release here.

So there you have it. Hope you enjoy reading this blog. I want to thank you all for your kind support all these years. Thank you very much. If some of you are new to my blog, and you like my work, please do subscribe to my blog. Take care, stay safe and good night.