Sneakertopia:
Step Into Street Culture

Born on the streets, sneaker culture has since been driven by artists, athletes and celebrities who express their creativity and passion through sneakers and their designs. Whether status symbols or markers of identity, there is no denying the role of sneakers in defining pop and street culture today. This phenomenon goes far beyond sports, hip-hop and fashion.

No matter where they are in the world, creatives seek out like-minded individuals. Together, they form organic, supportive communities that generate new ideas and spark change. This spirit of collaboration and sharing of ideas has always been important to the artists, designers, athletes, brands and celebrities who come together to define sneaker and street culture.

Embodying a do-it-yourself attitude and an outpouring of expression into the arts, this zone shines a spotlight on two creatives based in Singapore, soph O and Kristal Melson. These artists share an appreciation of subcultures: fashion, street art and skateboarding, and have worked with sneaker brands including Vans, adidas and Nike.

This collaboration represents both creatives’ responses to street culture. The works of soph O suggest a new approach to graffiti by collaging materials such as wood and paper together in abstract forms. Melson’s work highlights how sneakers and streetwear tend to be perceived as a ‘boy’s club’ and focuses instead on strong female characters.

Sneaker culture has its deepest roots in the sports industry. In the basketball arena, brands would develop signature shoe deals with top players to promote their products across the country. The Converse team, otherwise known as the All Stars, employed Charles ‘Chuck’ Taylor in 1922 as both coach and salesman for the brand—making the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneaker the first celebrity-endorsed athletic shoe.

Since then, collaborations between professional athletes, designers and brands have pushed the boundaries of sneaker design. Intensive research and development, use of the latest technologies and innovative materials has enabled new features and footwear lines that enhance both performance and style.

The Playground pays homage to some of the key sports heroes in sneaker history, beginning with LeBron James, Serena Williams and Michael Jordan represented here on their very own basketball and tennis courts. Singapore streetwear scene legend, Mr. Sabotage, demonstrates his love for sneaker collecting and customising in two never-before-seen showcases. Skateboarding features strongly too, with skate icons such as Tony Hawk and his protégé, Lizzie Armanto, who has become a trailblazer in women’s skateboarding.

The Backlot showcases how sneaker culture has infiltrated the entertainment industry through films, television series and other media. The resulting mass reach has allowed sneakers to transition from being part of various subcultures into a truly global cultural phenomenon. Video games are also fuelling a new generation of ‘sneakerheads’—with players designing, wearing and selling their own digital shoes as virtual currency. The term ‘sneakerheads’ is used to refer to individuals who are passionate about sneakers. They collect and trade their sneakers or flaunt their sneakers as fashion statements.

Hollywood movies such as Do the Right Thing (1989) and Space Jam (1996) have consistently served to create trends and generate hype for existing sneakers, streetwear and brands. Some sought-after concept shoes from films have even become a reality, such as the futuristic ‘kicks’ that Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future II (1989) directed by Robert Zemeckis. ‘Kicks’ is a slang term most often used to refer to sneakers or sports shoes.

Renowned American shoe designer, Tinker Hatfield, designed the Nike MAG for Back to the Future II—imagining a sneaker that would be viable and ready-to-wear almost 30 years in the future. The script contained the idea of ‘magnetic levitation technology’, which was hinted at in the sneaker name with the letters ‘MAG’. This imagined technology would allow the time-travelling lead character to firmly grip onto his hoverboard without falling off. The once-imaginary Nike MAG with its self-tying ‘power laces’ was eventually brought into existence and released to the public in 2011 and 2016 — marking one of Nike’s most popular releases in history.  

The Art + Sole Gallery profiles artists who have infused their work with an extraordinary passion for sneakers. New York in the 80s saw the rise of sneaker culture and a new generation of artists making waves in the international art scene. For many artists of the time, the sneaker came to serve as both a canvas and an inspiration for the creation of artworks.

Spread across two zones, the first part of Art + Sole focuses on sustainability—with creatives Smoluk, Aeropalmics and Josiah Chua repurposing and upcycling elements like cardboard, fabrics and sneaker parts to generate new works. These works prompt reflection on contemporary society, patterns of mass consumption and hype culture.

It cannot be ignored that sneaker production contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions and that many brands are increasingly looking to adopt more eco-friendly and innovative practices including the use of recycled materials. Sustainable alternatives to existing materials are also being developed, such as cactus leather and other biodegradable components.

In the 80s, New York was clamping down on street art and graffiti, declaring itself ‘graffiti-free’ by 1989. Street artists began to paint in the outskirts of the city and several entered the world of fine arts via galleries and even museum presentations. The exhibition, New York/New Wave curated by Diego Cortez at MoMA PS1 in 1981 featured works by Futura and Jean-Michel Basquiat alongside Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe. In downtown Manhattan and the Lower East Side, street artists such as Keith Haring, Rammellzee, CRASH, Lady Pink, Dondi and Lee Quiñones set the stage for a global repositioning of street art as a form of contemporary art.

The second Art + Sole zone merges sneaker culture with street art, offering progressive takes on graffiti carried forward by a new generation of artists. Mimi Yoon makes a social statement, embracing femininity and the strength of women; whilst Juls engages in mark-making and automatic drawing, taking references from tags and graffiti writing.

Over time, unique street art scenes have developed across cities in Southeast Asia, with painted walls and temporary artworks appearing in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. In the 90s and 2000s, prominent street art crews in Singapore included Zinc Nite Crew, Operation Artkore, ProjectBurnerz and RSCLS.

The rise of street culture in Singapore was established through communities of multi-talented creatives and the formation of regional brands with distinctive styles. Similar to other locations around the world, the Singapore sneaker scene also melded with street culture—with sneakers becoming a requisite part of the outfits worn by artists and creatives as they worked. As opposed to the protected sneakers of selected collectors that are kept in sneaker vaults, the sneakers of artists are usually well-worn and full of character.

Artworks in this gallery take visitors into The Street, in an overwhelming display that resembles the flurry and commotion of city streets and the inescapable visual noise of our urban spaces. 

Frugal, is a parody of the hype that surrounds the streetwear world and a play on the lifestyle brand, Supreme. Supreme originally began as a small skate shop where youths would hang out, and the brand eventually moved on to create dedicated clothing lines and collaborate with artists. In recent years, Supreme has been catapulted into one of the biggest streetwear brands in the world with collections including baseball bats, bricks and pillboxes, all available at a hefty price. Wrapping the interiors of a Singaporean Housing Development Board flat in Frugal branding, ordinary objects and furnishings in this zone have taken on highly inflated price tags.

The Dream Room is a zone of illusions and visual tricks, that celebrate the sneaker in all its glory. It features works by Michael Murphy, Ben Fearnley, Adam Fu and Steve Harris and spotlights a collection of rare sneakers by Limited Edt founder, Mandeep Chopra.

Sneakers are now perceived as objects of desire and symbols of luxury, with rare kicks viewed as assets for investment. With the value of sneakers skyrocketing, collectors often build vaults to house these prized possessions. In 2019, auction house, Sotheby’s—known for selling fine art, jewellery and applied art—held its first auction dedicated solely to sneakers. In the same year, a 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat ‘Moon Shoe’ was auctioned for US$437,500. Enter 2021, when Sotheby’s went on to sell a pair of Nike Air Yeezy Samples worn by Kanye West at the Grammy Awards in 2008 for US$1.8 million—setting a record for the most expensive sneakers ever sold.

Conceived in collaboration with Singapore-based creative studio, Tell Your Children (TYC), this Activity Space offers visitors the chance to explore the rise and impact of sneaker culture in the past, present and future.

Looking to the past, an interactive mural features six famous personalities wearing iconic sneakers—with each representing different subcultures.

Moving into the present, visitors can showcase their individual and unique style by participating in their very own sneaker photoshoot! Each image is added to a growing digital archive of sneaker images, which serves as a record of footwear fashion choices in Singapore today.

Fast forward to the future, visitors will be able to explore new ways of looking at sneakers. Innovations in sneaker design must now include considerations such as sustainability and renewability. These prototypes of future sneakers use a range of recycled materials in their creation and inspire creative thinking through making.

Join masterclasses led by Tell Your Children, to deconstruct and rebuild sneakers of the future.

The sneaker industry is constantly innovating and engaging with new technologies, as brands move towards increased sustainability, performance and accessibility. adidas, for example, developed the Stan Smith Mylo, a sneaker that uses a mushroom-based fabric as an eco-friendly alternative to leather. Nike released its first hands-free shoe, the Go FlyEase, which has a heel that angles open such that one can step easily into the shoe. Sneakers have entered the metaverse, with RTFKT Studios designing sneaker NFTs that feature colour transformations and futuristic elements. RTFKT is an organization that combines NFTs, game engines, Augmented Reality and other technologies to create unique sneakers and virtual artifacts.

This zone introduces four creatives whose practices are intertwined with technology and street culture. Nadirah ‘Inkten’ Razak—visual artist and co-founder of Ink and Clog Studio—moved from painting on the streets to painting in Virtual Reality. Singaporean designer Pek Shun Ping presents collections from his 3D printed shoe brand, ALIVEFORM and a final pairing of works by fashion designer, Josiah Chua, and pioneer of European street art, Thierry Noir, reinforces the connections between sneakers, street art and contemporary culture.