Grimaces/ Insulation/ Degrees of De Compositions

A scenography for Tan Kai Syng’s solo LIVE video art performance with sound artists Charles Christophe and Carl Stone
August 2004, Tokyo

conceptual sketch of scenography

This event was held in a gallery in Kanda, Tokyo

It is Tan Kai Syng’s Island-hopping series (Fall 2004 version) – comprising a full-day exhibition and a one-night live performance with electronic musicians Carl Stone and Christophe Charles.

Confronted with a small but unique gallery space boasting of one full-glass facade, the concept was to expand spatial perception by using the reflective nature of the glass while playing with the physical idea of ‘Island-hopping’. The notion of Inside and Outside were deliberately blurred to encourage appreciation of the unique qualities of the site.

PhraZes | フレーズ

A performance in collaboration with Emma Lewis
July 2004, Tokyo

photos of performance

This performance demonstrates the breakdown of communication between three dancers. The collage of whispered phrases in multi-languages encoded in unrecognised meaning aired at the beginning of the performance results in frustration and struggle. As the dance progresses the incoherent jumble of languages eventually becomes one common tongue. Relieved, the dancers were finally able to physically exchange “Chat Bubbles” to each other through this shared language and have a proper dialogue.

 

 

REBOUND I & II| リバウンド I & II

An interactive performance and installation in collaboration with Emma Lewis
July 2004, Tokyo

conceptual sketches and photos of Rebound I performance

Rebound I performance video | リバウンド Iの演出のヴィデオ

photos of Rebound 2 performance

Rebound I is a dance performance appreciation beyond sight. This is an experiment on a sighted audience; shifting the conventions of performance appreciation from sight to hearing. Two dancers, separated in space, adorn a black and white bodysuit of sensors triggered by the movement of specific body parts. ( head, torso, arm and leg )

 

PITCHBLACK | ピッチ・ブラック

An interactive installation in collaboration with Koyanagi Junji
June 2004, Tokyo

conceptual sketches and photos of Rebound I performance

installation live recording >>

Sounding out invisible territories. Inspired by the bat’s use of echolocation to sense its surroundings, the participant to this installation is challenged to be both emitter and recipient of feedback coming from struck piano chords suspended in space when hit by a sounding pendulum, the medium. Based on his own sense of hearing, the participant is asked to mentally chart out the positions of the piano chords like vectors in space.

Kan観

A scenography and performance in collaboration with Lee Jian Long
Feb 2004 , Tokyo

photos of performance

This event was held in a basement exhibition space in Kodaira, Tokyo .

It is an installation that becomes performance space over five days with invited artists asked to give their own interpretations of ‘body in space’.

Crois Quoi

A scenography and choreography for the arts festival – “Vues d’Ici: Scenographie d’un lieu”
March to May 2001, Paris

sketches and photos of performance

soundtrack of performance >>

Dance project with original music and choreography. Inspired by the daily household objects that surround and dictate our everyday life, this is a dance that borders between practical and hyperrealist motion.

Mnemonic- A Thousand Cranes

A scenography and cat-walk choreography for a fashion show by Gim Tok Choo
September 2003, Tokyo

sketches and photo of scenography

This event was held in a garage-turn-gallery space in Shibuya, Tokyo.

In imitation of the fashion designer’s textile weaving techniques and achievement of light nuances through subtle fabric shifts of black, a catwalk inscribed in light was conceived.

Optimising the ‘biais’ of the space, the flow sequence for the models is likened to the diagonal weaving of the fabric. The audience’s eye shifts from spartan silhouettes to crisp detail and back to shadow again in a crescending and decrescending play of light.

The cold solemn aura of silently-advancing ‘faceless’ models moving in surgical precision is enhanced by the atmospheric electronic music of Charles Christophe. A live video projection of the fashion show on the outside of the performance ‘box’ engages the passer-by from the street.

Mediating the Port

NUS M(Arch) Thesis Project
May 2003, Singapore

conceptual sketches and models

Architecture Thesis explores the Singapore Container Port infrastructure as an alternative form of Urban Nature – hence readdressing issues of public versus private Urban Edges, where park and port are reconciled through a re-invented market as mediator.

P.S. – Permutations of Shopping

A conceptual design in nomadic architecture in collaboration with Alonso Toledo, Ole Baggethun and Regein Cox
January 2002, Paris

photos of prototype

View concept video >>

P.S. fuses architecture with couture (archicouture). As a hiker must carry his ‘house’, the travelling salesman carries the genius of a SHOP-HOUSE puzzle, becoming at all times a LOGO for his product. Freed from the constraints of a fixed venue, P.S. takes form during his travel, becoming its context. The act of installation becomes a spectacle; engaging his public while demonstrating the multiple Permutations of Shopping.

X-Culture Phase I & II

Phase I: An interactive live-streaming performance in collaboration with vocalist Tomoe
2005, Tokyo and Seoul
Phase II: A live sound art painting performance-cum-installation with vocalist Tomoe
2005, Super Deluxe, Tokyo

photo of performance

Phase I video recording of live streaming to Seoul

Phase II video recording

[X-Culture] is an exploration of the states of mind of migratory peoples, motivated by varying circumstances to leave their homeland and seek ‘greener pastures’ in foreign lands. The psychological impact of uprooting oneself from a place and resettling somewhere else having to adapt and assimilate old and new cultures; is a recurrent question on identity.