Hereafter
26 November 2020 - 2 December 2020
The Substation
a collaboration between ARCOLABS, therightbelief and The Dung Beetle Project
The Substation
a collaboration between ARCOLABS, therightbelief and The Dung Beetle Project
Artworks
Displayed in The Substation Gallery |
Akai Chew (b. 1987) is an artist based in Singapore who works mainly with photography. With a background in Architecture and Built Environment, his works explore histories, memories, and the city as recurring themes in his artistic practice.
The Ghost of Kampong Kayu
Digital image print in lightbox 90 x 60 cm The Constellation and Star Clusters Digital image print on lightbox 90 x 60 cm |
Contemporary Hungry Ghost Festival in Singapore is synonymous with the appearance of the pop music performances in the getai. Such structures insert themselves into the cityscape. Mundane spaces are transformed into places of entertainment and worship, a beacon of light for audiences and spirits alike. Such structures exist as heterotopias in the formal city, much like how the Hungry Ghost Festival is often considered a periphery of mainstream religion, and the spirits exist alongside the human realm. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed social interactions by banning public gatherings, including outdoor performances such as getai. Thus a series of work on the getai from 2014 is revisited, digitally re-staging the music performance in the now-quiet city.
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Asyraf Said (b. 1996) combines his training in Western painting with his interests and involvement in Singapore’s underground subcultures to engage with issues around identity, beliefs, life choices, freedom, and how fear looms in society as both a personal and communal experience. His current practice explores superstitions, folklores, and cultural roots of Southeast Asia.
Deed 1
Acrylic on canvas 100cm x 100cm Deed 2 Acrylic on canvas 100cm x 100cm |
Until the moment arrives, death is only a concept that humans get to experience vicariously through stories of the past and the words of others. In many Asian traditions, the beliefs around superstitions, deeds and retributions are deeply embedded in our cultural roots. Today, everything in our daily lives is recorded and shared so when we depart this material world, all this record immortalizes our achievements and deeds during our existence. In that sense, the two paintings are an archive of the artist’s own lifetime as well as his attempt to manifest the mystery of death through writings and scribbles. The incomprehensible result echoes the inexplicable ideas of the afterlife itself, one of which being deeds are the only thing that remains long after we are gone.
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Eugene TYZ (b. 1992) is interested in exploring digital and virtual technology as a site for memory, storytelling, and aesthetic experiences. His works tend to concentrate on contemporary relationships with mortality, remembrance, and time.
29 August (2018)
Website display Variable duration |
Involving the use of multiple pop up windows, in this internet piece the artist investigates contemporary ways of grieving and remembering. In a way, the internet becomes an endless space where memories and histories remain, thereby giving an eternal life even long after someone’s passing. The work invites visitors to interact using mouse and keyboard, with the website displayed on a computer screen.
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Jason Lim (b. 1966) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice encompasses ceramics, performance art, sound, and video art. A sense of ever-changing, fleeting moments is echoed in his performance art that captures the essence of time, space, the artist’s body and the presence of the audience as one single shared experience.
Kai Lam (b. 1974) is an artist who practices multidisciplinary art that is geared towards performative tendencies. Believing that an art practice should span across diverse mediums, he is versatile and prolific in skills of drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed-media installation, sonic art and performance art. Spirit Dusting for Dummies – Everything we do, we do it for you
Installation & Performance Variable dimension and duration |
Revisiting similar work of the same title by Jason Lim, Jeremy Hiah, and Kai Lam, which was exhibited in Germany in 1995, this current version continues to engage with questions around the significance of burning offerings as a way to honour the deceased. During the performance, joss paper-like talismans are set on fire in a steel barrel suitable for burning such items as a way to exoticize the practice and see how death is perceived by the living.
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Nicole Phua (b. 1997) is a performance artist who uses her body as a language to express her relationship with life and death. By continuously learning about different cultures, traditions, and ways of living in Singapore and beyond, she views her practice as an ongoing process to accept the inevitable end.
Altar native
Interactive Installation Artificial grass, fruits, tea, personal artefacts 2 x 3 m |
‘Altar native’ is an interactive installation that attempts to create a time and space to come together to discuss living and dying, the two events that occur in this lifetime that no one can avoid, exchanging energies through eating and conversing, and leaving the space in good spirits and full tummies. The installation will come together as visitors leave personal objects and artifacts on the imaginary altar for their future deceased self, narrowing the interspace between now till then.
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Reza Hasni (b. 1982) is an illustrator and motion graphics artist known for his collage of “noisy, chaotic, textured visuals”. Using the digital medium influenced by pop culture, he reinterprets concepts of religion, ancestral myths, and spiritual practices in today’s world.
Keramat Tamagotchi
Video Projection 1 minute |
The artwork is inspired by the artist’s observation of our constantly changing obsession with electronic animal avatars such as the tamagotchi. The artist draws a parallel with tamagotchis and the old Malay concept of ‘keramat’ or the belief in supernatural responsibilities of a deceased datuk. A fictional afterlife of the digitally dead tamagotchi pets is illustrated in this series of keyboard-inspired artworks that raise questions about where discarded digital characters go after being ‘sent to trash’ and forgotten? From a psychological perspective it also questions how the ancient belief in supernatural powers came about. If tamagotchi pets lived a life of reverence similar to datuk, perhaps they too can possess mystic powers. Audiences are invited to honour the artwork by pausing to absorb the good vibrations being released from the digitally dead tamagotchi characters.
This artwork is accompanied by sound design by DJ Cats on Crack. |
Vimal Kumar (b. 1993) Vimal Kumar is a multidisciplinary artist whose works often explore themes related to culture, heritage, and traditions. By incorporating both traditional and digital media, his works urge the audience to reflect and ask deeper questions about the nature of spirituality and the construction of divine representations.
Crossing the Vaitaraṇî
Installation (photographic prints, found objects, written notes, illustrations) Variable dimension |
The Vaitaraṇî River is a waterbody mentioned in Hindu religious texts (and later found in Buddhist texts as well), that runs like a moat around the realm of hell. The river is described to be one that is extremely frightening, in which souls of the deceased have to make an attempt to cross in order to reach the court of hell and receive their judgment from Yamā, the Lord of hell. Ceremonies conducted on behalf of the dead, including that of donating a cow, help the departed soul cross the Vaitaraṇî and possibly even transported to the upper heavenly realms.
In addressing the situation of death by COVID-19, this work explores how one may help the soul of such individuals in the journey of their afterlife. The image is meant to represent the rituals done at the ocean for a departed soul to ensure their wellbeing in the hereafter, whereas milk as part of the offerings symbolizes the food that we first receive as newborn as well as a sustenance for the dead. This presentation is based on the practices observed by artist himself as a Hindu. It is not a commentary or an inquiry on the rituals and thus it shall not be seen as a fully accurate representation of the entire Hindu community’s belief systems. |