ANNEX B List of 10 Featured Artists and their Art Installations No Artist Gender Born Country of Birth Base 1 Olivia d’Aboville F 1986 Philippines Philippines Martin Bevz M 1986 Australia Australia 2 Kathryn Clifton F 1985 Australia Australia 3 Li Hui M 1977 China China 4 Takahiro Matsuo M 1979 Japan Japan 5 Wiyoga Muhardanto M 1979 Indonesia Indonesia 6 Dev Harlan M 1978 USA USA Vertical Submarine: Loke Kian Whee, Justin M 1979 Singapore Singapore 7 Yang Kwang Yong, Joshua M 1974 Malaysia Singapore Koh Wen Chii, Fiona F 1983 Singapore Singapore 8 Edwin Tan M 1981 Singapore Singapore 9 Olivia Lee F 1985 Singapore Singapore 10 Ryf Zaini M 1980 Singapore Singapore Coral Garden (2012) Olivia d’Aboville, The Philippines Bio Olivia d’Aboville is an emerging French-Filipino artist who graduated with honours from Duperré, a prestigious Textile Design school in Paris in 2009. D’Aboville specialised in tapestry and textile structures and she rapidly adapted the techniques to create her own woven forms. She has been exploring sculpting with textile techniques since then and had her first solo exhibition Chasm of Fantasies at the Ayala Museum in Manila, the Philippines, in 2010. She was nominated and shortlisted for the Ateneo Art Awards 2011. From plastic spoons to pins and water bottles, d’Aboville is fascinated by ordinary mass-produced objects. These objects, due to our society and our lifestyle, are inevitably destroying our environment and polluting our seas. She manipulates materials at hand to create new work, recycling them to generate objects which are completely different. For every interesting element which inspires her, d’Aboville asks herself what she can do this it: can it be cut, bent, heated, stretched, or accumulated to create a new form? D’Aboville is very sensitive to light, fluidity and movement and finds endless inspiration from the ocean. She is fascinated by the mystery, beauty and creatures of the underwater world and tries to raise awareness about the importance of preserving marine biodiversity through her work. Her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, hotels and festivals in France, Hong Kong, Manila and the United States. It ranges from textile jewellery to sculptures, lighting design and installation art. Concept Coral reefs form some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems on earth. They occupy less than a tenth of 1% of the ocean surface, yet provide as home for 25% of all marine species. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems which are dying. They are under threat from climate change, ocean acidification, blast fishing, over-use of reef resources, urban and agricultural runoff and water pollution. Coral Garden is an installation of a multitude of coral-like sculptures made of transparent cocktail stirrers and an acrylic base. The composition of the sculptures resembles a coral reef which viewers will be drawn to and can interact with, as fish do with actual reefs. Coral Garden makes reference to ongoing restoration projects which seek to stimulate the reformation of damaged reefs. The work promotes the beauty and importance of coral in the well-functioning of our ecosystem. The cocktail stirrers from which the work is composed is a symbol of consumerist society, an element which is polluting our seas. Coral Garden is a festival commission. Immersion (2011) Martin Bevz & Kathryn Clifton, Australia Bio Martin Bevz has worked in the events industry for the past decade as a production manager at a bespoke lighting company. During this time, he has acquired vast experience in short turn-around events, effective creative concepts and energy-efficient solutions. Kathryn Clifton draws inspiration from her studies in primary education, considering ease of interaction for the young and old whilst developing a concept for an installation. Bevz and Clifton designed Immersion for the 2011 Vivid Festival in Sydney, Australia. As a collaborative team, they have proven to be successful in translating design concepts into fully interactive lighting installations. Concept The inspiration behind its design comes from watching children run through a water fountain. Seeing the children’s faces light up as they ran through the water inspired the concept of a digital water fountain. Interaction is by movement within the installation – a waving gesture is symbolic as the viewer meets light. Immersionis a self-supported 8-metre wide circular array of vertical LED strip lighting which is pixel-mapped to form a complete video display. Textural content is then displayed that can be instantly manipulated by the viewer’s motion which is captured by infrared cameras. Cameras within the installation capture live footage which is used to manipulate the displayed textural content. The interaction is instantaneous, fun and easy to use. During “off-peak” times, Immersion continues to display interesting content which will lure curious onlookers. The Gate (2007) Li Hui, China Bio Li Hui (born 1977) graduated from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2003. He currently lives and works in Beijing. As a conceptual artist, he works in diverse mediums including transparent neon-lit acrylic sculptures and laser beams and visualizes the uniqueness and new boundaries of the new age of Chinese New Media Art in his sculptures. With the help of modern techniques, Li Hui articulates philosophical considerations and an almost poetic aura surrounds the result. Li Hui has exhibited extensively, including major solo exhibitions at Schering Stiftung, Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei and Museum Kunstlicht in de Kunst, Eindhoven. His work has also been featured in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Seoul, the Busan Biennale (2006), Shanghai Biennale (2006), and Chengdu Biennale (2005). Concept The idea of a doorway or a gate has always been central to many cultures and religions. Whether a path to another realm, another level of spirituality or simply another beginning, a gate is a symbol of many things. In Li Hui’s work, The Gate becomes a powerful image of passage and enlightenment. Hundreds of small beams of light frame the door, coming straight past the viewer, splashing red into eternity. Blinded if you transgress beyond the narrow path offered by the doorway, you end up confronting your own reflection as you approach the gate, barricaded from advancing past it by your doppelganger. In this case, the gate is ‘false’ and you will have to step into the laser beams and around the structure to get to the other side. The juxtaposition of the ostensible path and the inability to walk through the gate offers many layers of interpretation, not least regarding the idea of enlightenment as a goal that can never be reached. At the same time, one can also consider the idea that it is the path one walks that is important, not necessarily the destination. Mysticism aside, Li Hui’s The Gate is pure visual poetry and bound to be appreciated for its sheer dramatic impact as well. White Rain (2011) Takahiro Matsuo, Japan Bio Takahiro Matsuo was born in Japan in 1979 and graduated from the Art and Information Design Department of the Kyushu Institute of Design. Matsuo has created many installations for exhibitions and stage performances. Combining the physical movement of participants with computer graphics, sound and light in interactive creations, Matsuo’s work is a fantastical experience which reminds viewers of their imaginations and memories. His light installations produce a sense of being between reality and unreality, rousing in each viewer a sense of humanity which transcends nationality and age. In recent years, Matsuo has exhibited his work at global art and design festivals, including Ars Electronica (Austria), Siggraph (USA), FILE (Brazil) and Milano Salone (Italy). Concept White Rain is an installation of white light which focuses on the sense of infinity produced by the behaviour and the beauty of light. Participants experience the poetry and beauty of light which falls like rain around them. An irregular rain of light falls and changes as the visitor moves inside the space, creating a truly immersive experience. White Rain makes use of a specially-designed acrylic bar encasing LED, sensors and other motion-sensor equipment. The bar was developed for this installation in collaboration with Color Kinetics Japan. Tangible Gallery (2012) Wiyoga Muhardanto, Indonesia Bio Born in Jakarta in 1984, Muhardanto studied Fine Arts at the Bandung Institute of Technology. He graduated from the university in 2007. In his work, Muhardanto is known for creating replicas of various objects to raise concerns relating to consumerist culture. Since 2005, he has exhibited his work in Indonesia and abroad, including at platforms such as ArtStage (Singapore), 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Japan) and the Saatchi Gallery (UK). He is currently interested in creating installations which encourage interaction by visitors. Concept Tangible Gallery is a self-contained art gallery which will show approximately five to seven artworks, which are replicas of famous art works. Playing with the idea of the absence of light, Wiyoga will keep the entire gallery in darkness. If visitors want to see the artwork inside it, they will have to provide their own light source, for example, using their own mobile devices. In Tangible Gallery, the light is in the hands of the visitor. The artist hopes that visitors to the gallery will approach the art in the gallery like they would treasure in a cave, gradually perceiving what they find inside it. At the same time, the work deals with issues of authenticity and the art market, as well as the role of the spectator is deciding what actually is art. Tangible Gallery is a festival commission. Parmenides I (2011) Dev Harlan, USA Bio Dev Harlan is a multidisciplinary artist whose hybrid practice combines the physical and the virtual in the use of sculpture, light and projection.