GETAI KITSCH

2020



Getai or 歌台 (song stage) is one of very few live stage performances in Singapore that is synonymous with Chinese festivities. Getai is typically known for its songs sung in Chinese dialect, over-the-top embellished costumes, and makeshift stages in open-air venues. Getai’s live performances are meant to entertain wandering spirits during the Hungry Ghost Festival which falls on the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar.

Getai Kitsch: Reinepretation of Getai’s Aesthetics as a Visual Language for Contemporary Culture proposed an alternative method to preserve Getai’s visual culture within contemporary world. It focuses on the studies and reinterpretation of Getai’s visual forms to bridge Getai’s kitschy, low-brow aesthetics with contemporary design tastes as an attempt to break the negative connotations that are attached to Getai.

→ This project is part of my BFA’s Final Year Thesis.