Part of CAKE’s On the Rocks / Running With Strippers 2018, Escape Velocity II is an experiment in bringing the ethereal voices of the Singaporean wild to life through animation and sound visualisation. Featuring a composition of slowed down field recordings from Bukit Brown, Macritchie and the Rail Corridor, this synaesthetic installation is set within the belly of a concrete highway.The visual element of the piece originates from scans of my hand-drawn visual score from Escape Velocity I (2018), created in response to the sensuous qualities of creatures recorded in each locale. Building upon past audio-visual creations with artist and animator Simon Ball, our collaborative process is centred on experimentation between the senses; searching for ways to embody sonorous beings and the soundscapes in which they dwell through a visual choreography of animated forms, spaces and architectures. Situating itself in opposition to the momentum of modernity and anthropocentrism, Escape Velocity II is an experiential exploration of attunement to the other we call Nature; an attempt to bridge the gap between human and nonhuman worlds.

I exhibited one solo and one collaborative work (with Simon Ball) from my Bukit Brown Cemetery Series at STRATA Art Fair 2013. The exhibition titled Flux – City of Change, was curated by Joleen Loh & Griselda Bear and examined “Singapore’s urban and imagined landscape as well as its socio-cultural history, revealing notions of memory as they relate to place.” (Joleen Loh)
 
The works I created were made in response to the fate of Bukit Brown Cemetery. One of the largest Chinese graveyards outside China, Bukit Brown was home to 100,000 graves, including many of Singapore’s early pioneers. The 200-hectare woodland habit also assumed the role of sanctuary to a colourful array of wildlife, including a handful of vulnerable and endangered bird species. Yet despite its historical and ecological significance, part of Bukit Brown has made way for a 8-lane highway which began construction in late 2013. I utilised recordings from the cemetery (made in March–June of 2013) to develop these works, “…subjecting the material to conflicting acts of ‘respect’ and ‘exploitation’ as a way of engaging with the ethical issues surrounding the exhumations and displacement of wildlife”. (Joleen Loh)

 

Theatre Street

2012 | Substation / Singapore Arts & Heritage District

This piece was composed for Drive; an exhibition on wheels that brought the audience on a journey through Singapore’s arts & heritage district. Curated by Kent Chan, 9 Artists were involved in the show, each creating a piece for different parts of the route through bustling cityscape. My composition took its inspiration from a particular street in China Town where Chinese Opera in Singapore originated from. Drive was running on 9-10th & 16-17th June 2012.

More Info: HERE

 

||| Movement

2011 | Stamford Green / National Museum of Singapore

This site‐specific installation was a collaboration between Tang Ling Nah, atelier | small and myself. The work explored the cycle of construction, deconstruction and renewal within the city and was comprised of three zones―remembering, contemplating and transforming―reminiscent of three movements in a single musical composition. Sound recordings from the urban environment are transformed and fused with architectural elements made from construction waste to create a distinct aural‐spatial experience. The work encouraged the public to slow down, stop and contemplate the perpetual cycle of urban transformation through the act of listening. It was 1 of 7 proposals to be chosen for Hub-to-Hub Singapore, 2011.

Project Documentation: HERE

 

Through the Mind’s Eye of a Needle

2011 | GAC Gallery, Singapore

In recent years, I’ve obsessively documented all my dreams upon waking – through writing, drawing and voice recording. Through the Mind’s Eye of a Needle is a search for an alternative method of exploring the meanings of my dream material, by translating these experiences into a sonorous form. This work was featured in a group show which I curated entitled Dream: Borderlands & Other Territories, at Goodman Art Centre Gallery, Singapore.

Project Documentation: HERE

 

Sacred Soundscapes

2010 | Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore

Sacred Soundscapes was an immersive audio-visual installation exploring the significance of sacred sounds in the context of Singapore’s contemporary soundscape. I imagined the space to be a sanctum for the unique and meaningful sounds of Singapore that often get drowned out or disappear within the homogeneous urban soundscape of a bustling global city. It was open at Esplanade Tunnel Link from 9th April to 2nd May 2010.

Project Documentation: HERE

 

Sonorous City

2009 | Camberwell College of Arts, London

Sonorous City was an immersive surround-sound installation exploring the relationship between the soundscape and our perception of the urban environment. A series of soundwalks stemming from the River Thames form the basis of the work, which reveals an experience of London lead by the ear. This project explored potential ways of establishing a stronger connection with our environment through listening.

Project Documentation: HERE

 

Window Music

2009 | Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore

The above piece, entitled Window Music (2009), was exhibited alongside Sonorous City, and also featured in Esplanade’s TimeZones exhibition. This work is a reinterpretation of a piece of music composed entirely from sounds recorded outside of a window in north London. It explores the cyclic nature of sound activity within the environment and the role the soundscape plays in our perception of urban space.

52nd Venice Biennale Documentation: Figments, Fictions & Fantasies

2007 | Singapore Pavilion, Venice

The piece above, Venetian Dreams, featured alongside a digital animation of Tang Da Wu’s drawings and a 12 minute sound composition comprised of recordings made around Venice. These 3 works revolved around the notion of impermanence as a response to the incremental sinking of Venice.