EMERGENCE

Site-specific permanent installation for Tanglin Trust School to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the first British International school in Singapore. Installation completed in 2021.

Concept Background:

We are all fragments of time in physical form, and we are pieces of a puzzle that can never be completed, because it is a puzzle in many dimensions, on many planes, over many layers and in an infinite number of directions. We contribute to a multidimensional, living puzzle that is being created at every moment, in perpetuity.

Everyone who passes through Tanglin Trust school for any length of time, be they students, teachers, staff, or parents, are all pieces that create the rich tapestry of the Tanglin culture and identity. They are the anatomy of this school.

Concept Summary:

This installation consists of approximately 500 pieces of individually cast clear resin cubes of various sizes that encapsulate a variety of things, from coloured fragments, small objects, to hand-drawn figures. The objects were generously donated by the children and staff of the Infant School. Each cube functions as a metaphorical time-capsule, commemorating the presence of the current students and staff for the students and staff of the future.

The figure in the middle of the installation represent humanity in the making, emerging and evolving constantly from the experiences that make us who we are. It is my hope that the students of Infant School can return after some time and reminisce on their time at the school.

Multiply

Site specific installation for the ‘Repeat, Repeat, Repeat’ exhibition at The Private Museum, Singapore, 2019.

Printed PETG, red thread, acrylic thread.

We are at the threshold of a new era in print. We now have the technology to print DNA. This is the ultimate in information distribution. Every strand of DNA contains the code to life - the information which nature requires in order to arrange protein molecules into a living organism. DNA (and the information for life contained within it) is no longer exclusive to mother nature or scientists. It will become available to everyone in the near future.

The implications for this are vast. It means anyone can design any organism on their computer, be it a new type of plant or animal, through genetic coding, and order the DNA for this new organism to be 3D-printed. The new DNA is inserted into the cells of a living organism thereby changing its genetic code, and the newly designed organism is created.

The process of repetition and multiplication of printing will be harnessed to its full extent, allowing the copying of DNA to be achieved at many times the speed of what was previously available. In addition, 3D-printing technology has enabled this synthesised DNA to have real applications in a practical, albeit frightening, way.

Print technology continues to shape human civilisation, because now, it has democratised the creation of life. Like it or not, this is the future of print and we have to embrace what comes.