Night of Desirable Objects
Post Primavera 2
Grey Projects, Singapore
Bruce Quek & Melissa Tan
Curated by Andrea Fam and Jason Wee
7 May - 31 May 2015
Press release by Andrea Fam:
Night of Desirable Objects opens up the space for the viewer to contemplate the relationship between objects and their desired states.
With references to the philosophy of Object Oriented Ontology (OOO) and Speculative Realism, this exhibition takes as its point of departure and indeed its point of arrival, the considerations of humans towards objects that are ‘real’ – objects that are accessible to us.
Reading: The Democracy of Objects by Levi R.Bryant
How do we access the being of objects? How do we understand the object in its own right? What must the world be like in order for the object to exist?
Such questions form the basis of this body of work. In continuation with the works from Paris, in which I take images of the ground and transfer the patterns and impressions onto paper that run through a music box. For this piece I create a cast of the object similar to a pin drum as I feel observation is key to understanding the object and here I will be able to be closer to the material via casting. To catch the imperfections of the terrain, nooks, notches and all its faults.
By putting together a system of objects-a cast of the texture of the rock, a comb and a motor, they respond to each other. Referencing Levi Bryant, the object in motion shares a similar language to something “minimal like gestures or … very complex like chains of signifiers capable of self-reflexively commenting on themselves”. The simple act of movement and the observation of this movement possibly will help me uncover the object; not intending to master nor predict the object but to find a balance of its objectivity.
The objects come from different parts of Singapore- the coast, the city and a forested area. The juxtaposition of the mechanical music piece along with the actual object explores the correlation between the physical stimuli and sensations they effect, being sound and unfamiliarity respectively.
Special thanks to the Grey Projects Team, Jason Wee, Sebastian Low, FMB Trading And Engineering Pte Ltd, Kenneth Tay and Samantha Yap
