You’ve Got Mail exhibition at Singapore Philatelic Museum is a two-part exhibition currently running at the stamp museum. The first part of the exhibition celebrates the joy and timeless art of writing and sending letters. The second part is a showcase of strange and unusual stamps.
Located on the second floor of the museum, the exhibition spans and is split between two separate galleries connected via a common walkway. Also, the Philatelic museum is one “with the stamps“. What’s more, it’s a fully functional post office too with a ground floor gift shop. You may recognize and remember it from my last visit there on the All About Dogs exhibition as well as the Fowl Tale exhibition the year before.
Art on Envelope: Send Your Love The Write Way
The first gallery celebrates the timeless art of writing and sending letters. It is simple and expansive in nature. You start your tour through a central gallery. The exhibits line the 4 walls of the gallery room. Here, you can find an assortment of stamps and fancy written stationary letters.
Additionally, this includes 200 award-winning, beautifully handcrafted envelopes from the Washington Calligraphers Guild’s annual Graceful Envelopes Contests. Furthermore, the displays are all housed in sealed photo frames themed to that of a giant stamp on the wall.
Moreover, each display “stamp” here runs chronologically, year by year the collection entries from 2002 to 2016. Each year has a theme, with a variety of artworks on the letters illustrating the beauty of letters and stamps. Year 2003 for instance is themed after “The written word” while 2010 is titled “The stream of letters“.
An encased table sits center of the gallery room displaying a number of larger of miscellaneous letters. The letters comprise of a combination of text based, as well as full graphical letter arts. Several of them stylized like a piece of art with rich colours and display of calligraphy.
If stylized and arty letters are not your cup of tea, the adjacent following gallery may raise an eyebrow or two.
Seeing Is Believing! Unusual Stamps
Following the second half of the exhibition, and going on a similar theme the second gallery is also decked is the familiar light blue colour scheme. However, what is showcased is what it meets the eye. Several stamp filled walls also line the gallery.
While most people see stamps as a plain rectangular printed piece of paper you can adhere to any surface with a lick. Seeing Is Believing looks to blow your mind with a showcase of unusual stamps beyond from what you can just see. It showcases the transformation the humble postage stamp to one that engages all our senses.
Furthermore, there are selection of stamps, each with their own unique sensory characteristics. One sensory experience is devoted to each of the four walls. Additionally, taking up the bulk of the exhibition on the main wall is the visual sensory experience.
Also, this includes Lenticular, holographic and even Glow in the Dark stamps which you can view in a darkened box. There are even twin stereographic stamps which you can view using a pair of stereo glasses.
Exotic stamp materials
Moreover, the gallery also illustrates how innovative stamp design and printing technology. This is achieved through the incorporation of different stamp materials. A couple of stamps, such as those by Thailand and Switzerland are flocked with textile materials such as silk and Pine tree wood respectively. Also, samples of actual materials are situated under the stamps which you can feel for a try.
Furthermore, a couple of bizarre stamps on display include a set from Iceland. They are printed with photos of their iconic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull (which famously erupted on 2010). The stamps are coated with a fine layer of volcanic ash from taken from the volcano.
Additionally, if precious metals are what of your liking. Encased in a display cover are 24 carat plated “stamps” which resemble more of medals than actual stamps. Moreover, you can also find showcased, the world’s first beaded stamp. It is made right here in Singapore.
Superman multi-sensory stamp set comprising of out of the ordinary crushed granite, foil and thermochromic ink. And Spain’s unique 3D Star Wars stamps among many others.
Listen (or watch) your stamps
Appeal to your hearing by listening out for stamp sets with enclosed mini-CD which you can play in a CD player. Examples displayed here includes small collection sets from Bhutan and North Korea. There are also videos to watch from these stamp medias.
Additionally, the last part of the sensory experience is devoted to smell. You can have a whiff off at the one of the many “smell counter displays” by evacuating air from a close chamber where the stamps are stored. Notably, they comprise of mostly fruity infused smells which resembles fruits.
All in all, you will be good for You’ve Got Mail! in under 30 minutes. This is despite it spotting small two-part exhibition galleries, and if you were to wish to read all the letters. Also, there is much more than just “seeing” here in these galleries, with the main allure being the feature of several rare stamps which you would probably not otherwise would had encountered elsewhere. The visual aspect of the exhibition encompasses a myriad of visual appealing or mind ogling stamps.
You’ve Got Mail runs in the Singapore Philatelic Museum from April 11th to 31st December 2018. Also, entry to the museum is a small fee of $8 per adult ($6 for children). This universal ticket grants you access to all the permanent and temporary galleries.
You’ve Got Mail – Art on Envelope and Seeing Is Believing!
Level 2 Singapore Philatelic Museum
The exhibition runs from 11 Apr 2018 – 31 Dec 2018
Opening hours daily: 10am – 7pm
Ticket prices Adults: S$8, Child: S$6
Free admission for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents
