ANNEX B
List of 10 Featured Artists and their Art Installations
No
Artist
Gender
Born
Country of Birth
Base
1
Olivia d’Aboville
F
1986
Philippines
Philippines
2
Martin Bevz
Kathryn Clifton
M
F
1986
1985
Australia
Australia
Australia
Australia
3
Li Hui
M
1977
China
China
4
Takahiro Matsuo
M
1979
Japan
Japan
5
Wiyoga Muhardanto
M
1979
Indonesia
Indonesia
6
Dev Harlan
M
1978
USA
USA
7
Vertical Submarine:
Loke Kian Whee, Justin
Yang Kwang Yong, Joshua
Koh Wen Chii, Fiona
M
M
F
1979
1974
1983
Singapore
Malaysia
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
8
Edwin Tan
M
1981
Singapore
Singapore
9
Olivia Lee
F
1985
Singapore
Singapore
10
Ryf Zaini
M
1980
Singapore
Singapore
Coral Garden (2012)
Olivia d’Aboville, The Philippines
Bio
Olivia d’Aboville is an emerging French-Filipino
artist who graduated with honours from Duperré, a
prestigious Textile Design school in Paris in 2009.
D’Aboville specialised in tapestry and textile
structures and she rapidly adapted the techniques
to create her own woven forms. She has been
exploring sculpting with textile techniques since
then and had her first solo exhibition Chasm of
Fantasies at the Ayala Museum in Manila, the
Philippines, in 2010. She was nominated and shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards
2011.
From plastic spoons to pins and water bottles, d’Aboville is fascinated by ordinary
mass-produced objects. These objects, due to our society and our lifestyle, are
inevitably destroying our environment and polluting our seas. She manipulates
materials at hand to create new work, recycling them to generate objects which are
completely different. For every interesting element which inspires her, d’Aboville
asks herself what she can do this it: can it be cut, bent, heated, stretched, or
accumulated to create a new form?
D’Aboville is very sensitive to light, fluidity and movement and finds endless
inspiration from the ocean. She is fascinated by the mystery, beauty and creatures of
the underwater world and tries to raise awareness about the importance of
preserving marine biodiversity through her work. Her work has been exhibited in
museums, galleries, hotels and festivals in France, Hong Kong, Manila and the
United States. It ranges from textile jewellery to sculptures, lighting design and
installation art.
Concept
Coral reefs form some of the most diverse and
productive ecosystems on earth. They occupy less
than a tenth of 1% of the ocean surface, yet provide
as home for 25% of all marine species. However,
coral reefs are fragile ecosystems which are dying.
They are under threat from climate change, ocean
acidification, blast fishing, over-use of reef
resources, urban and agricultural runoff and water
pollution.
Coral Garden is an installation of a multitude of
coral-like sculptures made of transparent cocktail
stirrers and an acrylic base. The composition of the sculptures resembles a coral
reef which viewers will be drawn to and can interact with, as fish do with actual reefs.
Coral Garden makes reference to ongoing restoration projects which seek to
stimulate the reformation of damaged reefs. The work promotes the beauty and
importance of coral in the well-functioning of our ecosystem. The cocktail stirrers
from which the work is composed is a symbol of consumerist society, an element
which is polluting our seas.
Coral Garden is a festival commission.
Immersion (2011)
Martin Bevz & Kathryn Clifton, Australia
Bio
Martin Bevz has worked in the events industry for the
past decade as a production manager at a bespoke
lighting company. During this time, he has acquired vast
experience in short turn-around events, effective
creative concepts and energy-efficient solutions.
Kathryn Clifton draws inspiration from her studies in
primary education, considering ease of interaction for
the young and old whilst developing a concept for an
installation.
Bevz and Clifton designed Immersion for the 2011 Vivid
Festival in Sydney, Australia. As a collaborative team,
they have proven to be successful in translating design
concepts into fully interactive lighting installations.
Concept
The inspiration behind its design
comes from watching children run
through a water fountain. Seeing
the children’s faces light up as they
ran through the water inspired the
concept of a digital water fountain.
Interaction is by movement within
the installation – a waving gesture
is symbolic as the viewer meets
light.
Immersionis a self-supported 8-metre wide circular array of vertical LED strip lighting
which is pixel-mapped to form a complete video display. Textural content is then
displayed that can be instantly manipulated by the viewer’s motion which is captured
by infrared cameras.
Cameras within the installation capture live footage which is used to manipulate the
displayed textural content. The interaction is instantaneous, fun and easy to use.
During “off-peak” times, Immersion continues to display interesting content which will
lure curious onlookers.
The Gate (2007)
Li Hui, China
Bio
Li Hui (born 1977) graduated from the China Central
Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2003. He currently lives
and works in Beijing. As a conceptual artist, he works in
diverse mediums including transparent neon-lit acrylic
sculptures and laser beams and visualizes the uniqueness
and new boundaries of the new age of Chinese New Media
Art in his sculptures. With the help of modern techniques,
Li Hui articulates philosophical considerations and an
almost poetic aura surrounds the result.
Li Hui has exhibited extensively, including major solo exhibitions at Schering
Stiftung, Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei and Museum Kunstlicht in
de Kunst, Eindhoven. His work has also been featured in the National Art Museum of
China in Beijing, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Seoul, the Busan
Biennale (2006), Shanghai Biennale (2006), and Chengdu Biennale (2005).
Concept
The idea of a doorway or a gate has always been
central to many cultures and religions. Whether a
path to another realm, another level of spirituality or
simply another beginning, a gate is a symbol of many
things.
In Li Hui’s work, The Gate becomes a powerful image
of passage and enlightenment. Hundreds of small
beams of light frame the door, coming straight past the viewer, splashing red into
eternity. Blinded if you transgress beyond the narrow path offered by the doorway,
you end up confronting your own reflection as you approach the gate, barricaded
from advancing past it by your doppelganger. In this case, the gate is ‘false’ and you
will have to step into the laser beams and around the structure to get to the other
side.
The juxtaposition of the ostensible path and the inability to walk through the gate
offers many layers of interpretation, not least regarding the idea of enlightenment as
a goal that can never be reached. At the same time, one can also consider the idea
that it is the path one walks that is important, not necessarily the destination.
Mysticism aside, Li Hui’s The Gate is pure visual poetry and bound to be appreciated
for its sheer dramatic impact as well.
White Rain (2011)
Takahiro Matsuo, Japan
Bio
Takahiro Matsuo was born in Japan in 1979 and
graduated from the Art and Information Design
Department of the Kyushu Institute of Design. Matsuo
has created many installations for exhibitions and stage
performances. Combining the physical movement of
participants with computer graphics, sound and light in
interactive creations, Matsuo’s work is a fantastical
experience which reminds viewers of their imaginations
and memories. His light installations produce a sense of
being between reality and unreality, rousing in each
viewer a sense of humanity which transcends nationality
and age. In recent years, Matsuo has exhibited his work at global art and design
festivals, including Ars Electronica (Austria), Siggraph (USA), FILE (Brazil) and
Milano Salone (Italy).
Concept
White Rain is an installation of white light which focuses
on the sense of infinity produced by the behaviour and
the beauty of light. Participants experience the poetry
and beauty of light which falls like rain around them. An
irregular rain of light falls and changes as the visitor
moves inside the space, creating a truly immersive
experience.
White Rain makes use of a specially-designed acrylic
bar encasing LED, sensors and other motion-sensor
equipment. The bar was developed for this installation
in collaboration with Color Kinetics Japan.
Tangible Gallery (2012)
Wiyoga Muhardanto, Indonesia
Bio
Born in Jakarta in 1984, Muhardanto studied Fine Arts at the
Bandung Institute of Technology. He graduated from the
university in 2007. In his work, Muhardanto is known for creating
replicas of various objects to raise concerns relating to
consumerist culture. Since 2005, he has exhibited his work in
Indonesia and abroad, including at platforms such as ArtStage
(Singapore), 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Japan) and the Saatchi Gallery
(UK). He is currently interested in creating installations which
encourage interaction by visitors.
Concept
Tangible Gallery is a self-contained art gallery
which will show approximately five to seven
artworks, which are replicas of famous art
works. Playing with the idea of the absence of
light, Wiyoga will keep the entire gallery in
darkness. If visitors want to see the artwork
inside it, they will have to provide their own
light source, for example, using their own
mobile devices.
In Tangible Gallery, the light is in the hands of the visitor. The artist hopes that
visitors to the gallery will approach the art in the gallery like they would treasure in a
cave, gradually perceiving what they find inside it. At the same time, the work deals
with issues of authenticity and the art market, as well as the role of the spectator is
deciding what actually is art.
Tangible Gallery is a festival commission.
Parmenides I (2011)
Dev Harlan, USA
Bio
Dev Harlan is a multidisciplinary artist whose hybrid
practice combines the physical and the virtual in the
use of sculpture, light and projection. As a selfeducated artist, designer and CG director, Dev's
uniquely identifiable aesthetic language and
reductionist approach place his work at the forefront
of a new mode of media arts practice.
Harlan has an extensive screening history at reputed festivals such as Scope NY
Cinema Series, Optronica Festival and One Dot Zero. His sculptural works have
been shown in the US at Whitebox Gallery, Rouge58, Scope Miami Art Fair, and the
Vimeo Film Festival. Recently, Harlan has just completed a major solo show at the
Christopher Henry Gallery (New York, USA) with two floors of light sculpture work.
Dev lives and works in New York, USA.
Concept
Parmenides I is a large scale geometric sculpture
incorporating 360º projection mapped video. The
work has been previously exhibited at the New
Museum's "New Ideas for the New City Festival
(NYC)" and the Christopher Henry Gallery as part of
Dev Harlan's recent solo show "The Astral Flight
Hangar". The work will be adapted for outdoor
installation at i Light Marina Bay.
Reminiscent of 1960s Op Art, Parmenides I is a hypnotic 3D projection of swirling
abstract patterns that present an amazing sense of movement, colour and form.
Planting Shadows (2009)
Vertical Submarine, Singapore
Bio
Vertical Submarine is an art collective consisting of
Singaporeans Joshua Yang, Fiona Koh and Justin
Loke. It was formed in 2003 and its name was taken
from the word subvert, which is rotated to become
vert-sub and expanded to form Vertical Submarine.
The group has appeared in local exhibitions of
intricate installations involving everyday objects, text
and an acquired sense of humour. The group won
the Singapore President’s Young Talents Award in 2009 and the Celeste Prize for
installation in 2011. Vertical Submarine is also the Associate Artistic Director at
Theatreworks and Associate Artist at The Substation.
Concept
Planting Shadows was first created for an exhibition
at the Botanic Gardens in 2009, where Vertical
Submarine created a field of grey sunflowers. For
iLight Marina Bay, the collective will adapt the work
for a night-time installation, creating a landscape of
night-blooming plants in the CBD. Each sunflower is
between 3 – 4 metres tall.
This project is based on a poem by local writer,
Chien Swee-Teng*. The poem is about the common
tale of a sunflower plantation owner’s pact with an imp who lived in an empty bottle
of sunflower oil, for success in his trade [1]. However, unlike most of these stories,
where a person offers his or her soul in exchange for favours, the imp gave the
protagonist a really good Faustian bargain, asking for something minor yet
consequential - to be blind to the colour of his trade. In this scenario, the poem
relates the reader to Little Mermaid’s decision of being mute, in order to be human.
In this instalment, Vertical Submarine attempts not only to ‘translate’ the poem by
presenting the visual phenomenon of ‘self-illuminating grey sunflowers’, but the act
of ‘turning the flowers to the colour of their shadows’ also aims to direct the viewers’
attention, purely, to the form and colour of sunflower, like a pencil drawing, through
the very absence of its colour.
Planting Shadows will be adapted for the festival.
-----------------------[1] Based on The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson (1893)
enLIGHTenment (2012)
Edwin Tan, Singapore
Bio
Edwin Tan is the founder of local design studio Brave Company.
During his four-year stint at the firm Asylum Creative, Tan
worked on projects ranging from interactive and environmental
design to branding and graphic design. Conceptualising
Singapore brands such as Frolick, Loof and the White Rabbit
from the very start and working with clients such as Club21 and
Levi’s, Tan has won numerous international awards. His work
has been featured in design books and magazines.
Concept
enLIGHTenment is an installation comprising
a video wall made up of multi-coloured light
tubes. While in an idle state, the installation
will display a screensaver animation. Once
activated through a console in front of the light
display, the installation goes into “thinking”
mode. After a few seconds, enLIGHTenment
enlightens the audience with a YES/NO
answer to a question the visitor is encouraged
to ask before he presses the button on the console.
enLIGHTenment is a festival commission.
FLOW (2012)
Olivia Lee, Singapore
Bio
Singaporean industrial designer Olivia Lee graduated from
the UK’s Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in
2008 with First Class Honours and soon established herself
on the international scene. While based in London, Olivia
worked in multiple areas of design on a diverse range of
projects. In addition to developing her personal projects and
engaging in commercial design work, she has collaborated
with scientists under the NOBELINI Scheme pioneered by
the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, worked on presentations
for the ICSID World Design Congress with the New York
ARUP Foresight department and was recently invited by the British Council to
partake in the Milan Sketchbook project.
In her two years spent working for designer Sebastian Bergne, Lee honed her design
sensibilities and engaged in projects for Proctor & Gamble, Tefal and Swarovski.
Independently, she has designed for Mathmos, Aquascutum, PI Global and has
been involved in a branding workshop conducted by LVMH. She has also been
featured as guest illustrator for Singapore’s ICON Magazine and worked for several
other publications. Olivia recently sold her D&AD student awards-nominated concept
furniture piece Stream of Light at Mint (UK) this year and is currently collaborating on
production design with filmmakers from NYU Tisch Asia.
Concept
FLOW
takes inspiration
from an
amalgamation of ideas that informs its
approach to Asian culture, interactivity and
self-sustainability. FLOW is an installation
consisting of a series of illuminated vertical
axis wind turbines (VAWT). The VAWTs
are connected to built-in LEDs, harnessing
the power of wind to generate light. As
wind passes through the installation, the
turbines move and flicker to life. In periods
of low wind, the installation invites the
interactivity of the public to turn the VAWTs by hand and experience the immediate
feedback of converting kinetic energy into light. The gesture resembles the
contemplative ritual of turning prayer wheels: an act of accumulating wisdom and
goodness in parallel with our desires of environmental merit and purity.
FLOW is a festival commission.
5QU1D (2012)
Ryf Zaini, Singapore
Bio
An engineering graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, Ryf
Zaini’s interest in the arts led him to LASALLE College of
the Arts in 2003, from which he completed a diploma in
interactive media and graduated with First Class Honors in
Media Arts. As a student, Ryf participated in several
festivals such as the Singapore Art Show, and the
Singapore Arts Festival. His interest was drawn toward
utilising his understanding of electronic engineering and
translating it into artistic content.
After his studies, Ryf participated in several exhibitions in which he created hybrids
of technologically-informed art. Ryf’s installations merge ideas relating to technology
and the arts, and his work has been exhibited at Sculpture Square (Singapore), the
Esplanade (Singapore) and ARTRIANGLE (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Ryf has also
created interactive light installations for the Malay Heritage Centre (Singapore) and
has completed a residency at the Singapore Science Centre in 2011.
More recently, Ryf has shifted his interest toward constructing large-scale sculptures
of mythical creatures which reflect issues relating to a society’s reliance on
technology and the social constructs which encourage it. Ryf exhibited such
sculptures at the Singapore Art Museum as part of the Singapore Biennale’s fringe
event “Disarming the Lion”, and at the Sea Art Festival 2011, organised by the
Busan Biennale Committee (South Korea). These works were displayed in sitespecific locations and encouraged public interactivity.
Concept
Marina Bay has evolved from a non-existent land to
being one of the most exclusive and spectacular
waterfront districts of an international standard. With
a
balance
of
commercial
buildings
and
entertainment places that create this unique skyline,
Marina Bay has certainly helped Singapore evolve
into a bustling cosmopolitan city.
It is difficult to imagine that 40 years ago, Marina Bay did not exist at all. It would also
not be surprising to recognise that inhabitants of the surrounding sea have also
evolved into beings which attempt to blend themselves into this new environment.
5QU1D is a squid-like creature which looks like it has finally emerged from the
desolate sea to finally present itself to the world. It seeks to identify itself with the
world, shelled and protected; it crawls out of the sea, trying to merge itself with the
skyscrapers. At 5m in height, the creature’s head, too, looks like the crown of one of
the surrounding buildings.
The qualities of the creature enable it to blend with its surroundings during the day,
with its geometric form, similar to buildings. It will come alive at night to enable the
public to recognize and identify its presence.
5QU1D is a festival commission.