Singaporean shophouses were once the backbone of our community. Before being exploited and commoditised as tourist attractions and chic F&B establishments, shophouses served as one of our earliest dwelling typology. Each shophouse could have served as the home of several families. Whilst this created a claustrophobic and unsanitary environment, these densely packed dwellings fostered a close-knit community.
Today, with our modern public housing and urban redevelopment projects, shophouses are left behind as empty, nostalgia-inducing shells of the past. Many of these shophouses have ceased to be homes, whilst new establishments that take up the commercial spaces disappear as quickly as they come.
Vacant seeks to explore themes of abandonment and superficiality that surrounds our current shophouse ‘culture,’ wherein nothing stays the same for long.
