The Green Crab is a speculative feng shui map of Singapore which provides an alternative guide for navigating the city. Created by artist-duo Zheng Mahler, and in collaboration with Singaporean architectural historian Ian Tan and One Bite Design Studio, the work refutes the critique of Singapore as an inauthentic and artificial built environment. It also explores the intersection between state-led urbanism in East Asia, and the guiding principles of Chinese metaphysics. By looking past the functional modernity of the city-state, the work reveals the hidden qi flows of the “spiritual state” woven into the fabric of Singapore’s master plan for urban development.

The same map is presented across SAM’s Bras Basah Road and Queen Street sites. The former takes the form of an unfolded scroll that traces the terrain of Singapore by way of the coastline, while the latter provides an oblique aerial perspective with annotations. Commissioned as a site-specific installation, The Green Crab serves as an auspicious opening for SAM’s multi-site exhibition Lonely Vectors.

Venue: Hoarding around SAM’s building on Bras Basah and 8 Queen Street
Free public outdoor work. Accessible at all times.

When: 19 Feb - 28 Aug 2022,

By: Singapore Art Museum (SAM)