When was the last time you found yourself coming out of City Hall, traipsing across the Esplanade and going past the Singapore River, encountering the Asian Civilisations Museum, and Victoria Theatre? How often do we think about what these places were like before their present state, and can recall the stories that continue to linger long after?

This October, find out about these stories and more, as StoryFest 2023 returns in a refreshing new format with Story Walk, an outdoor storytelling experience that invites all to step into the world where stories come alive against the backdrop of the Civic District. Presented by Arts House Limited (AHL) and The Storytelling Centre Limited (TSCL), this walking experience invites participants to rediscover the beauty of the arts and culture precinct through the art of storytelling; spotlighting iconic monuments, institutions and public spaces in the district. 

Story Walk takes visitors to three of six public art installations from the Civic District Alliance’s recently unveiled public art trail, Benchmarks, which comprises various creatively-interpreted versions of benches. At each of these three benches, participants will be greeted by a storyteller, before being regaled by stories about the precinct’s rich history, its surroundings and the art benches themselves. 

These unique stories were woven together by local veteran author, Verena Tay, who drew inspiration from the artists’ concepts and origin stories of the three art benches, combining historical facts with elements of fictional tales. Starting off at The Arts House, a short stroll leads you to Timbre x S.E.A, where the first bench, Lua Boon Kai’s This Is Not A Bench, awaits. The ambiguous looking-work questions the shape and colour of a bench, and storyteller Wesley Leon Aroozoo uses this as an opportunity to activate visitors’ imagination, allowing them to consider and ponder over the many possibilities such a space offers, before regaling us with a little history and fun factoids about the Arts House’s past, going from a residence to its current form today.

A hop and a skip away brings you to Joyce Beetuan Koh’s A Micropolyphonic Stage, where storyteller Laura Kee waits. Located under a tree, Koh’s blue benches resemble water droplets or even open inverted commas, which make for the perfect place for Laura to tell us about the history of the Singapore River, and the massive operation that went into cleaning up its stench, and how MPs even jumped into it to prove how clean it was.

Finally, walk over to the Asian Civilisations Museum where you’ll find Re-Store / Neural Artefact Black by Immanuel Koh, a bench that represents the meeting point of past and future. Generated with an artificial intelligence (AI) model specially developed by the artist, the model was trained with imagery of furniture and sampans from Singapore’s National Collection, before being later handmade and assembled by artisans working with upcycled wood, in a way reviving the past via modern technology. Here, storyteller Hafiz Rashid invites us to take a seat on the mats in front, and shares more about the stories of the Orang Laut, before ending off with a final ritual – to select a flower and make an offering of it, as is tradition.

To end off, all participants return to the Arts House, where they will gather and participated in a guided-paper craft activity awaits at The Arts House, featuring original prints on postcards by local artists Victor Emmanuel and Stellah Lim. Participants are invited to draw on their Story Walk experience and get creative by designing their personalised art bench mementos. Participants can look forward to linocut prints with motifs of river otters, wood grain patterns, and orchids. What’s more, behind each postcard is an extract from a piece of local Singapore writing, reminding participants of the significance of the Arts House as a literary centre, and how the Singapore River has inspired art both visual and literary.

Two Story Walk sessions will be held each day on 6 and 7 October for an hour-long each, with the morning session suitable for families with children (ages 6-8) and the evening session tailored for general audiences. A digital iteration of the programme will also be available next January as part of Light to Night Festival 2024. As a pilot programme, Story Walk has already received plenty of interest, and might even be set to return in even bigger iterations in time to come

StoryFest’s Creative Producer, Kamini Ramachandran shared: ‘The Civic District has always been a place that has held the stories of many communities. The monuments and heritage sites are custodians of history, oration and performed words. We also have The Singapore River winding through as a link to tales from our past. Story Walk is an artistic response to remember the many storytellers who sat by the River and shared tales. I would like our participants to become curious about the stories that reside within the walls of monuments and in the forms of artworks. Slow down, listen and discover.’

Stories are what chart our past and will continue long into our future. How do we know who we are if we don’t know where we came from? To learn about Singapore, the geographical history, and the peoples that co-exist and continue to exist, find out more, at Storyfest 2023: Story Walk.

Photo Credit: Storyfest Singapore

Storyfest 2023: Story Walk runs from 6th to 7th October 2023 at The Arts House. Tickets available from Peatix. More information available here