PERFECT DAY is an eye-popping light signage installation of the Chinese idiom FENG HE RE LI.
Perched on top of the loof rooftop bar at Odeon towers, the sign draws bold theatrical design cues from KTV signages, which proliferate seedier parts of the city. It sits in bold juxtaposition to the elegant white-gloved, backdrop of Raffles Hotel, and shines in electric defiance against the stormiest monsoon months of the year in Singapore spanning January to March. As such, PERFECT DAY is both a wry parody of the manufactured happy-clappy wonderlands which KTVs present, and a rebellious beacon of optimism hoisted into the sky.
Beyond the obvious, FENG HE RE LI, which literally translates to a breezy and beautiful day, are also the first 4 words that all Chinese-Singaporeans were taught to start any essay with, be it a tale of love, drama, tragedy, adventure or fantasy. In this way, the idiom serves as a Chinese counterpart to the “Happily-Ever-After” of Western fairytales. The cocktail of childhood conformity, hope and nostalgia embedded in these 4 Chinese words, serve as a secret code, which opens the door of time travel to all who chance upon it, drawing them back to a past where all narratives began with a perfect day.