ABOUT THE WORK

The Singapore River as a Psychogeographical Faultline

An interactive map installation exploring the Singapore River as a “psychogeographical faultline” - where reality, memories and imagined spaces interact, merge, or drift apart - like a series of tectonic plates.

The Singapore River is a site of historical and commercial significance for Singapore, as well as a site to socialise at and dream of things to come. Where urban Singapore is concerned, it is hard to speak of any outstanding natural physical features that remain, besides the Singapore River; the site of Singapore’s genesis.

But what does the Singapore River look like? When prompted to reflect on the river, many find it hard to recall the geography of Singapore's most significant river – which has changed drastically in purpose, form, and colour over the last hundred years. Is it easy to overlook the river because it is small? Is it because the Singapore River has a very generic name? Would it be possible to bring it back into public consciousness?

I designed, built and programmed two versions of an interactive installation that allows visitors to explore and speculate on the shape of the Singapore River – a tangible touch table (2010) and a Kinect-based version (2011).

THE BIG QUESTION
Is the Singapore River a psychogeographical faultline? Would it be possible to bring it back into public consciousness?
ARTWORK IMAGES
The Substation Open Call. September 2010. The project was made possible for the generous support of The Substation who entrusted me with the resources and support I needed to build my ambitious project within a few months despite being entirely self-taught. The touch table was constructed from scratch with the help of tangible touch open source libraries.

The work was shown in a slightly modified form at the Marina Bay Sands ArtScience Museum. 2011.
The interactive installation was shown alongside artefacts from Pulau Saigon and situated at the end of the Titanic exhibition.

The work toured to the Facultad de Artes UAEMex, Toluca, Mexico. 2012. It was part of a showcase of interactive art from Southeast Asia.
EXHIBITION VIEW

PROCESS / BEHIND THE SCENES
The inspiration for the work began after a performance lecture I had given at "Lecher of Art", organised by Zaki Razak, held at The Substation. I was interested in developing the idea of a work about the changing outline of the Singapore River.