#trending: Too cryptic? Creative group's poster on water at Outram Park MRT Station baffles some commuters

SINGAPORE — A poster at Outram Park MRT Station has left some people scratching their heads.

On June 15, TikTok user "shay.mless" shared a video of the poster that is affixed to a pillar on the station’s platform for the Thomson East-Coast Line (TEL).

It reads in large capital letters that look like handwriting: "While people bottled water, we bottled people's water."

The TikTok user mused: "What does this even mean?"

"With TEL’s frequency of six waiting minutes, there’s sure time to think about things,” he added in the caption.

The video had garnered more than 54,700 views and 1,800 likes as of Thursday afternoon. 

SOME PUZZLED, SOME NOT

Apart from the TikTok user who posted the video, several others in the video’s comment section shared their puzzlement at the poster's meaning.

One said: “This (video) has been on replay for 12 times now. I'm still thinking (to be honest).”

Another wrote: “This is making me lose my brain cells (for real).” 

However, many others in the comments believed that the “cryptically” worded message referred to NEWater — the country’s high-grade recycled water produced from treated used water.

One user had a light-hearted dig at the fact that some others did not manage to interpret the poster that way, by riffing on the phrase used on the poster: “While people don't understand, we don't understand people.”

SO WHO DID IT AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Indeed, most of the viewers were right about the poster's meaning.

The poster, titled People’s Water, was created by a group of anonymous artists and creative industry workers who dub themselves the Creative Citizens of Singapore.

In response to TODAY’s queries, the group on Wednesday asked to remain anonymous but confirmed that the poster is a reference to NEWater.

The group said that the platform at the Outram Park station has another poster that "mirrors" People’s Water and makes up the other half of the message.

It reads: "Stand up for Singapore. And create."

None of the artists involved were paid for their work and the advertising space was donated by various media owners, the group added.

One such outfit was media company Asiaray, which sells advertising space on the MRT rail system.

In response to TODAY's queries, Asiaray said that the poster was one of "a series of three creatives" that were deployed in the station in commemoration of the late founding  prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s 100-year birth anniversary, which was 2023.

Asiaray also said that it had shared the poster with the Land Transport Authority to ascertain how it felt about it before deployment and that the authority was "supportive".

On its website creativecitizen.sg, the group stated that its reason for existence is to “make creativity matter to Singaporeans”. 

It said that People’s Water is part of a larger campaign of more than 20 posters designed to encourage and inspire Singaporeans to be creative.

“It's our view that Singapore is becoming more educated but less creative. We are risk-averse and reluctant to experiment. Even in Southeast Asia, we believe Bangkok has the edge over Singapore in terms of creativity.”

Last week, it was reported that Singapore's 15-year-olds came out top in an international benchmarking study on creative thinking, even though they do not think of themselves as creative.

Creative Citizens of Singapore pointed to the finding, but said: “Without confidence and courage, it's not possible to be truly inventive.”

“Creativity is arguably the most important competency in the 21st century, yet Singapore has an extremely superficial creative culture,” it added.

“I believe creativity should be made one of the pillars of Forward SG as Singapore treads carefully in a more competitive global economy amid an uncertain world.”

Forward SG is a national road map for the country's future headed by the nation's fourth-generation leaders.

The poster at Outram Park MRT Station is due to be taken down shortly, Asiaray said.