Meritus Mandarin Singapore gets a new crystal heart

Meritus Mandarin Singapore has always emphasized its Asian heritage and support of the arts, but this might be the crowning glory of the hotel. It's a new art installation that's located on Level 5 of the hotel, which is generally regarded as the 'heart' of the establishment. Called "Panoramic Matrix 2009," it's made up of 90,000 crystals that's been carefully positioned to portray a traditional Chinese landscape scene.

Despite the western-sounding name, the art piece is Asian both in form and design. The scene is almost like a Chinese ink painting, depicting mountains reminiscent of those in Huangshan (a mountain range in the southern region of the Anhui province in eastern China), along with a Chinese pavilion, cranes in flight and groves of bamboo. It was designed by Singaporean-born artist, Dr. Suzann Victor, who wanted to add a twist to the scene and designed it with computing software.

Using just four different colored crystals -- clear gold, silver shadow and champagne -- she strung onto more than 3,000 strands of monofilaments and crimped into place at exact locations. The result is the double-layered, elliptical-shaped Panoramic Matrix 2009. The effect is quite hypnotic, as the crystals sparkles under the glow of spotlights.

It's quite worth the trip down to the hotel if you're a fan of innovative Chinese art works.