Multidisciplinary series State of Motion returns for its sixth edition this Singapore Art Week 2021. This year's theme, State of Motion 2021: [Alternate / Opt] Realities, explores our visually engineered futures as conjured up by the science fiction genre and the magical efficacy of its images.
State of Motion 2021: [Alternate / Opt] Realities features 11 exciting art installations which span Marina One alongside 16 Southeast Asian sci-fi films from the last 30 years. Curated by Syaheedah Iskandar and Thong Kay Wee, the visual art exhibition conjures pathways into multiple worlds by exploring the science-fiction genre through audio-visual technologies. Most of the works are on display in Singapore for the first time, including nine new commissions by Singapore and regional artists such as Shawn Chua, Debbie Ding, Divaagar, Bani Haykal and collective PURE EVER.
Artist-musician Bani Haykal's commission momok elektrik is an audio installation of voice samples that speculates how machines of the future will codify speech; Divaagar's Shelter Skelter, held in an "ancient" bunker built for the 2000s epidemics, projects audiences 200 years into the future to look back at Singapore in the year 2022; and Debbie Ding's The Legend of Debbie is a single-channel projection that takes the form of a gameplay video.
The film programme will be screened at Marina One auditorium and the Oldham Theatre. It consists of 16 Southeast Asian sci-fi cinematic imaginations of the future – including For My Alien Friend by Manila-based filmmaker Jet Leyco, Kuo Jian Hong’s Avatar and a double bill screening of Geomancer (2017) and AIDOL (2019). For the full film schedule, visit asianfilmarchive.org.