Could you share a little more about how
Bus.Stop.Art. came about?
Amelia Abdullahsani (AA)
Bus.Stop.Art. was conceived during [Singapore s] circuit breaker [period] as a way for artists to share their work no matter what restrictions we were facing. We saw other public art projects popping up around the world like Drive-By-Art in Los Angeles, where people put artwork in their front lawns and created a map from which people could follow. We wondered what we could do that would be uniquely Singaporean. While we already have art in MRT stations, we do not have art in bus stops. We also considered that Singapore has a great public transportation system; [Merryn Trevethan and I] take the bus wherever we go. So it was only natural that we decided to put art and buses together.
Of all his encounters with famous celebrities and royals who have stayed at the Raffles Hotel Singapore, Leslie Danker’s meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 will forever be etched in his memory. “I have always admired the Queen of England,” he shares via email. “I remember greeting her with a bow and saying that her first visit to Singapore in 1972 was the year I joined the Raffles Hotel, to which she replied, ‘That is great!’ three words that will always be special to me.”
That year, Danker joined the hotel as a maintenance supervisor, and over the next five decades, worked in various departments including F&B operations and guest relations. In 2004, he was appointed the hotel’s resident historian, a position he has held since.
National Gallery Singapore s first robot museum guide
One of the best ways to enhance your museum experience is through a docent tour. As part of its ongoing bid to become a smart museum, the National Gallery Singapore piloted its first autonomous robot guide, Temi, in September last year. Developed by a US-based startup of the same name and helmed by Israeli robotics expert Yossi Wolf, the one-metre‑tall robot offers visitors a 20-minute on-demand physically guided audio tour of a series of four artworks on people and portraits at the DBS Singapore Gallery 1.
Meet Emma, the robotic masseuse
Singapore-based startup AiTreat takes a modern approach on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with its robotic masseuse Emma, or short for expert manipulative massage automation. Launched in 2017, the robot mimics the action of a human palm and thumb to replicate the traditional Chinese therapeutic massage tui na strokes, which targets various acupoints.