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Gardens by the way : a performance approach to the engendering of belonging and ownership in the Gardens by the Bay
Author
Lenden-Hitchcock, Yin Mei Jacqueline June
Supervisor
Rajendran, Charlene
Abstract
This dissertation examines the aspiration of the Gardens by the Bay to be the people’s garden, how it functions as a symbol for Singapore identity as part of Singapore’s City in the Garden vision, and the implications of the gap that exists between that aspiration and reality. The Gardens’ approach to engaging visitors, has, from its inception, been to awe and thrill them, positioning and selling itself, first and foremost, as an ever-changing theme park rather than as a garden. As a result, the Gardens itself almost comes across as an afterthought—a gardens, by the way. As such, this thesis is entitled The Gardens by the Way as it intends to offer alternative ways or trajectories to relooking and rethinking the Gardens such that it becomes the people’s garden through new and different ways of seeing and walking the space. Through the examination of spatial, site-specific, and applied theatre theories, I argue that a promenade, site-specific performance approach to the Gardens would be able to engage visitors to the Gardens in new ways of visioning and experiencing the Gardens as a means to engender belonging and ownership to the Gardens, and through that, to Singapore. This dissertation presents a script of the proposed performance to demonstrate how the engagement of the body and senses may be actualised in performance.
Date Issued
2016
Call Number
PN1661 Len
Date Submitted
2016