This is a pair of Supertrees. They're in Singapore, at a place called Supertree Grove, which is part of the Gardens by the Bay; and they've made me think about one of the ways we do public space in the UK. But I need to set things up a bit first.I'd not expected to like Singapore; or, more strongly, I'd expected not to like it. It's got a reputation for being a bit preppy, a bit too hyper-capitalist, a bit authoritarian, a bit... well, a bit neat. But I went there for a conference in 2010, and I loved it. I got a sense that the reputation was accurate to an extent, but only to an extent. For sure, it's authoritarian, and it does a good show of being very ordered. But it's also completely bonkers. Not that I can put my finger on exactly why, of course. But it is. If you've been, you'll know what I mean. If you don't... you should go. (Forced to elaborate, I'd say something about the juxtaposition of the hyper-modern and sleek with the rather more ramshackle; about the way that finance capital rubs shoulders with food hawker stalls; about the way that Taoist temples in Chinatown and Hindu shrines in Little India are only a few minutes walk from gleaming skyscrapers. Bonkers, for sure - but also beautiful.)
Anyway: I got the chance to go back there at the beginning of this month, on a work thing. I made a show of reluctance, but I did want to go back. And while there, I wanted to go to see Supertree Grove, which wasn't there last time. These "trees" are a bit hard to describe. They're big. They're a funny shape. They look like something from the cover of a sci-fi paperback. Part of their function is to be a component of exhaust and aircon system for the biomes. But they're obviously much more than that; another part of their function is aesthetic. They're home to thousands of plants, and are artworks in their own right. They fit perfectly into the bonkers-but-beautiful theme.
As it goes dark, they're illuminated; and twice an evening, there's a 15-minute son et lumière show. It's cheesy as hell, but there's no shame in giving in to that every now and again. And this is the bit that made me think about public space in the UK and in Singapore. Though you have to pay to go into the biomes, the rest of Gardens by the Bay is free - including the son et lumière. Not only that; there's no branding. Were it in the UK, I'm pretty sure that there'd be signs all over the place trumpeting that the show was brought to you in conjunction with SuperBank MegaCorp, and there'd be an announcement to that effect as well (as if SuperBank MegaCorp had any relevance at all to the lives of the people watching). And in hyper-capitalist Singapore? Nothing like that. It's just there. A good thing, provided pro bono publico - which may be what makes the cheesiness of it OK.
