THE three-acre neighbourhood park called Taman Areca at Lebuh Sungai Pinang 7 now has a new attraction, and it has ‘landed’ in the most surprising yet creative manner, which is in the form of a space capsule sculpture.
It is learnt that the art installation project was a collaboration between Sungai Pinang assemblyman Lim Siew Khim’s office and S.E.A Sdn Bhd (Sculpture. Environment. Art).
According to Lim, S.E.A was previously scouting for a perfect location in Sungai Pinang and Karpal Singh Drive area to instal the sculpture, and without hesitation, she had suggested that there could be no better spot than Taman Areca.
“As we all know, Taman Areca was initiated with an idea to turn the open space here into an urban neighbourhood park equipped with various leisure facilities.
“I am really glad we are able to add on another attraction here for the visitors,” Lim said when interviewed by Buletin Mutiara at Taman Areca at Lebuh Sungai Pinang 7 today.
When asked about the significance behind the tagline ‘Our Kampung Our Pride’, she said it was to remind the neighbourhood that unity is a must, and it is everyone’s responsibility there to keep the neighbourhood park clean, green and safe always.
The tagline, which is also the theme of the park, can be seen held by an astronaut figurine atop the sculpture.
Lim also said her office had initially planned to organise a launching ceremony together with a breaking fast event but was unable to pursue the idea due to the reimplemented movement control order (MCO 3.0).
“We hope to organise the event in mid-July provided the situation permits,” she added.
The ground-breaking ceremony of the park took place in last October after talks were held in late 2019 to set up the project.
According to Lim, the project is expected to be fully completed in July this year.
State-owned Penang Stadium Corporation and Open Spaces (SCOS) oversees the project.
Some of the nine components featured there include a Forest Pavilion and Slide, Silver Garden and a Butterfly Garden.
Meanwhile, S.E.A marketing director Shum Jian Wei, 30, said the sculpture was fittingly placed just next to Sungai Pinang to indicate its relevance to water.
“When someone sees a space capsule, he or she will conjure image of water.
“This is because a space capsule is regarded as an object that uses its blunt-body capsule to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere without wings.
“And the space that it would land on is the sea.
“This in a way would create a sense of curiosity among the people to know more about the existence of this space capsule. It is part of educating oneself too.
“We have in-house artists that had worked together tirelessly to come up with this product. It was completed in a span of three to four months.
“This is part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. It was such a pleasure to have collaborated with YB’s (Lim Siew Khim) office,” Shum told Buletin Mutiara.
Story by Kevin Vimal
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan