"At the heart of the city, Millenia Walk’s Creative Neighbourhood initiative is back with a new take on ordinary Christmas celebrations — a flurry of artistic creativity. Entitled Moving Wonders, the mall’s 2024 festive programme introduces a variety of global and regional artists to the local audience, inviting them to enjoy new perspectives on familiar holidays, from Christmas to Lunar New Year (February 2025).
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New settings for performance art
Another featured artwork is Hydra, a wearable art performance (presented by Yeo Workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Who is Weaving the Sky Net?). Here, Vietnamese artist Lai Thi Dieu Ha invites the audience to look at everyday life anew, introducing a more niche way of artmaking — performance art — to the general public. On selected days, performers wearing elaborate textile costumes act as pathfinders, moving to their own beat through the mall’s eateries, retail outlets, and department stores.
Image courtesy of Millenia Walk.
During our visit, we followed the performers through the mall, observing their weird mannerisms, peculiar music, and alien attire. Lai Thi Dieu Ha takes a curious approach to costuming, using textiles and stuffing to create sculptural silhouettes that call to mind fungi, corals, and other organic life forms.
Photography by Taufiq Rahman.
The juxtaposition of the otherworldly performers against a familiar retail backdrop raised interesting questions. One of the most intriguing elements of the performance was the interaction between the performers and the public, who approached them with caution and even fear — some choosing to shy away, others poking at the costumes with curiosity.
Engulfed in these alien forms and moving through the mall’s public spaces, the anonymised dancers took on new identities, sparking an active questioning of our roles in society. What were such mysterious beings doing in a place so overrun by capitalist consumption, surrounded by offices and skyscrapers? There was something dignified about their confidence, the way they stood their ground, abiding by their own logic and exploring their own existences — perhaps encouraging onlookers to do the same. They brought to light what we fear, beings that stray from normalcy, even if we know that we share the same biology underneath.
Hydra thus invites us to poke at the reality we have constructed around ourselves, the lives we perceive as “ordinary” — from tools, musical instruments, and clothing to habits, lifestyles, and goals — the social conditioning to which we have grown accustomed, that we perhaps lie too comfortably within.
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In Living Room Curiosities, members of the public can witness demonstrations by mixed media artist Keisha Yan, showcasing her real-time artistic process of creating dioramas from the most unassuming materials.
Image courtesy of Millenia Walk.
Keisha shares that her works are inspired by stories and characters from her childhood, such as Peter Rabbit. Drawing from these experiences, she crafts spellbinding miniature scenes made primarily from found objects and materials — shipping packaging, thrifted frames, old clothes, scraps of yarn from previous projects — which she sources from her own home or secondhand. Most would regard these stray bits and bobs as trash, but where they might have once been discarded, they now find a place in Keisha’s art.
In her live demonstration, taking place on 14 December, audiences can witness how she takes materials apart and pieces them back together in surprising combinations and contexts. Keisha jumps into her projects with only a rough aesthetic and narrative concept, instead choosing to go where the materials lead her. As she creates each scene, the narrative changes and evolves. (Till the end of the month, mallgoers can view her work on the second floor of the Harvey Norman store.)
Focusing on everyday materials that can be easily found at home, and encouraging others to do the same, Keisha primarily uses a glue paste made of cornstarch rather than longer-lasting, but more toxic, commercial alternatives. Crafting can be environmentally taxing at times, but by being conscious of her consumption and craft practices, Keisha reduces the waste generated by her artmaking. In her hands, old scraps take on new lives, in a meticulous and truly unique way of upcycling.
Besides these three artistic projects, Moving Wonders at Millennia Walk is packed with many more activities for all ages and interests, including workshops, music performances, and artisan markets. It’s a refreshing way to celebrate and enliven old traditions this holiday season.
