A Creation Beyond Curation: Telok Ayer Arts Club

Beneath dim lights and cutting into an open-minded cluster of urbanites, dystopian drones and glitched-out audial textures seep from a trio of experimenters called KAIZENXSOUNDLAB. Traditional Indonesian instruments mingle with DAW-orchestrated synths as indecipherable vocals hover in the harmony, while another member triggers clips while reading a newspaper in feigned nonchalance – or at least, I think it’s part of the show. I don’t quite understand all of it, but like art, in my opinion, you’re not really supposed to. A contentious statement, I’m aware.

You’ll never know what kind of gigs you’ll discover here (Credit: Telok Ayer Arts Club Facebook page)

Aside from the cookie-cutter gigs and large-scale festivals you’ll find on the island, there are pockets of musicians in the scene who dare to tread on avant-garde territory. Naturally, it’s likely you won’t find them in a pub or even an open-mic showcase; you need a habitat that shares their sentiment for criss-crossing disciplines and starting bold conversations.

Answering the call is Telok Ayer Arts Club, a nonconformist establishment that’s harnessing this creative energy, but hardly just in music. Unorthodox gigs and even the sporadic rave are just the tip of the icerberg; Telok Ayer Arts Club is also home to artist residencies and exhibitions, industry powwows that all can access, and even a tantalising F&B menu launched by Chef Bertram Leong of Raffles Hotel Singapore fame.

The team behind Telok Ayer Arts Club (Credit: Telok Ayer Arts Club)

Sporting red- and brown-hued terracotta tiles, TAAC’s façade is a nod and throwback to architectural elements of Singapore’s past, reminiscent of what you’d spot on university walls or the confines of a kumbaya-nurturing community centre. The latter is particularly pertinent, because much like the neighbourly social glue you’d find in community centres, TAAC is binding like-minded tribes together in its own quirky, offbeat way. Except instead of badminton courts, you have a transformative space.

TAAC sits on the fringe of the CBD, in an area where rat racers seek reprieve from the hullabaloo of work. The multi-disciplinary hub, owned by The Supermarket Company, provides that much-needed distraction in a myriad of head-turning, chin-stroking manners.

Dawn Ng: A Performance Piece (Credit: Telok Ayer Arts Club)

In the art sphere, TAAC has hosted exhibitions ranging from esoteric installations to pop-up galleries, and even social experiments and performance art pieces. In late 2018, TAAC was the homeground for tell me how they kiss you, tell me how you kiss by artists Megan Miao, Susie Wong and Zulkhairi Zulkiflee, which tackled “the tropes of pleasure and desire, the consumption of romance and the Malay masculinity”. Past happenings have also included in-inhabitations by Goh Abigail, which presented a canvas of abstract sounds produced by objects collected during the construction of TAAC.

Hungry for more, in all senses of that word, visitors are then welcome to order up nosh like the turmeric- and paprika-coated Chicken Pop (I stuffed my face unapologetically with this), Pork Jowl with sweet chilli natto liquor glaze, or TAAC’s signature Locally-Bred Spatchcock. Southeast Asian cocktails and reinvented classic libations are also enticing as thirst-quenchers, or for liquid courage when you’re dying to share your thoughts about the art with strangers. The Telok Ayer Arts Club Summer Ale is a must-glug.

The Locally-Bred Spatchcock (Credit: Telok Ayer Arts Club)

The Jungle Bird (Credit: Telok Ayer Arts Club)

And lastly, to shake off the office stress, beat-seekers can adjourn to TAAC for a jig with their swig. Hasnor Sidik (AKA the talented Mr. Has) is not only its music director, but also drops tunes every now and then for therapeutic boogies. This is topped off with its bigger, spread-out Kelab Malam parties, which stretches out later into the night and has hosted the likes of the aforementioned Fort Romeau and other local veterans like Aldrin and Brendon P. If you’re lucky, you might even find the occasional daytime party here, and you know I’m all for that.

Fort Romeau played an upbeat set that fit the establishment like a glove (Credit: Telok Ayer Arts Club Facebook page)

Telok Ayer Arts Club stands out in that it’s not your typical establishment, and is, like art, a manifestation of many different themes coming together. It has combined all of that in a unified, close-knit manner to forge a space that’s truly unlike anything that Singapore has right now. And that is an art it itself.

Telok Ayer Arts Club, 2 McCallum Street, Singapore 069043, +65 6221 0712. Open Mon-Sat 11am-11pm.