Community initiative in Yishun encourages artists, public to showcase creative works at 8 bus stops

SINGAPORE – In Yishun, artwork and photographs have popped up at eight bus stops around the town, hoping to spruce up the daily commute of residents.

They are part of an initiative launched in July to encourage community participation in public spaces, as the pieces are contributions from people with ties to the neighbourhood.

The project by community building non-profit Playces taps an existing provision by the Land Transport Authority for members of the public to freely display advertisements on noticeboards across 40 bus stops in towns such as Yishun, Boon Lay, Tampines and Jurong East.

There were several setbacks along the way when contractors cleared the creative works earlier than planned, but Playces plans to continue the project, said its founder Gena Soh.

Volunteers refresh the noticeboards at eight bus stops in Yishun at the start of each month with contributions spanning artwork to memes, she added.

The six-month pilot initiative is supported by the Land Transport Authority (LTA). Playces also received a $5,000 seed fund through the Singapore Government Partnerships Office, which goes towards material and printing costs, volunteer honorariums and marketing and public education around the project, said Soh.

Playces started the project as it felt the boards at bus stops were an overlooked opportunity. “There was a possibility of opening them up for community use without having to build an entirely new piece of infrastructure from scratch,” said Soh.

“The bus stop itself is also important to us because it is a surprisingly multi-stakeholder environment… That complexity can make public space feel difficult for ordinary citizens to affect. But we also see it as an opportunity.”

She said this project aims to build on existing systems to make room for public participation and enable public expression of art.

An LTA spokesperson said this is the first pilot where members of the public can put up artwork on designated bus stop noticeboards.

“It is an experiment to encourage community creativity to enliven the commuting experience,” she said.

The free advertising noticeboards were introduced in 2011 to provide the public with a free and legitimate avenue to display ads and to reduce the indiscriminate posting of ads around bus stops, she added.

When The Straits Times visited the eight Yishun bus stops on Sept 23, noticeboards at six of the eight bus stops featured a mini exhibition by artist Jun Zuan Ang.

On the noticeboards were photographs taken in Yishun that explore the different states of waiting – for example, clothes hung out to dry, road signs near the Yishun Columbarium and senior citizens resting at void decks.

The noticeboards at the other two bus stops had an eclectic mix of posters and artwork.

Yishun resident Muhammad Aqil Azhad, who has lived in the town since he was born, said he contributed two artworks to add a “touch of playfulness” to his neighbourhood as sometimes the environment can feel “too standardised”.

The design communication undergraduate in Lasalle College of the Arts added that he wanted to push back against people who say that art is difficult to find in the heartlands.

Freelance illustrator Siti Nurani, 39, also saw the value of infusing art into public spaces and adding colour to commutes.

She said: “(The project) is a great idea to help create some kind of community around spaces we normally take for granted. And it shows that art can be anywhere and everywhere, even in the most mundane places.”

Nurani, who lives in Woodlands but was an Yishun resident for 14 years, said the town is still special to her. She plans to not just contribute artwork but also help to put up the pieces.

Despite the green light from LTA for the project, the number of moving parts and stakeholders proved tricky in ensuring the artwork stayed up on the noticeboards.

Soh said that on Aug 9 and Sept 15, the artwork on the noticeboards were removed as part of routine cleaning and that Playces sought clarification from LTA.

LTA told ST that it had instructed the contractors to clean the eight bus stops only on the first of each month from July to December to allow the artwork to be displayed for a month. The noticeboards are usually cleared on the first and 15th of each month.

The contractors had inadvertently removed the posters, said the spokesperson.

“It was regrettable, given the effort and care that artists and community participants put into their artwork,” she said, adding that the authority had issued a stern warning to the contractors.

The authority said there were no plans to expand the number of free advertisement noticeboards but that it was open to exploring similar opportunities.

Soh said Playces is keen to explore bringing the model to other neighbourhoods once it has developed a more reliable operational process. This includes areas under the free advertisement scheme in Jurong West and Tampines.

The noticeboards in Yishun have turned several heads, with some passers-by reacting with confusion, while others felt it brightened up their day.

Wong, 64, who declined to give her full name, was confused when she saw the pieces and said it would be helpful if the explanatory notices came in the mother tongue languages.

The noticeboard at the bus stop near the Darul Makmur Mosque also caught the attention of Nur Quraisha, 35, and her husband Muhammad Muhaimin, also 35.

They shared a chuckle when Muhaimin wrongly interpreted one of the photographs, before they left the bus stop to pick up their children.