SEET YUN TENG

Prompted to consider the unique site of Jalan Besar, and stemming from ongoing investigations in the artist’s practice into urban sites, embedded histories and material culture, ‘warp and weft / as long as it is wide’ is a new site-responsive installation that engages with the physical traces of the location and the (non-)collective memory of its inhabitants. Through the construction of a temporary structure out of scaffolding tubing, alluding to the constant demolition and (re-)construction of the physical landscape in Singapore, it forms a framework for the weaving of tapestries incorporating a multitude of materials gathered from the artist’s self-imposed residency within the neighbourhood.

It speculates: how can one begin to understand a place through the objects, traces and materials that are accumulated from the people who inhabit it? Within a neighbourhood as diverse and shifting as Jalan Besar, how can one trace the changes in its physical and social landscape? How much agency do we have to define the identity of the community we inhabit, and how much of it is controlled by top-down policies and place-making agendas? Can we produce a different understanding of identity and place through a collective act of creation?

Throughout the exhibition, the installation will continue to evolve, encouraging contribution from visitors and participation through weaving, and initiating a material understanding of the neighbourhood.