A String Theory

In our increasingly sedentary reality, we must find moments for active lifestyle throughout our daily routines. For children, moments of play are commonly sought after reality. While we as adults often save these for intense moments for the gym or sports fields. This investigation seeks to integrate bursts of activity in everyday life.

The installation generates a form to activate numerous muscles throughout the body. It does this by creating a ‘crawl space’ for folks to climb, wiggle, and generally find their way through. The colourful straps frame a series of sequentially layered spaces open for interpretation. It encourages not just strength and fitness, but also the embrace of the unknown and the tactile.

The experience is akin to that of a worm crawling and shifting through an interpretable colourful web. Challenging the participant not only to enter but to find their way.

Sympoietic Landscape

Public space ‘furniture’ is often treated as so – standard furniture that one picks off a shelf and inserts in a community. This installation seeks to engage in Tsuen Wan itself for the design of a public space furniture.

Sympoietic systems are complex, self-organised, collaboratively and collectively produced, and boundaryless. This piece references the human and nonhuman sympoietic landscapes of Tsuen Wan in terms of its forms and patterns. Further, the piece picks up on the history of fabric production in the area by using cloth as its structural basis.

Functionally the piece serves as a place of seating for the community. Yet it seeks to provide something often not seen in public space furniture – a place of retreat. It functions as a place to gather together in an intimate space and allows protection.

This piece is not a standalone object, but a connected, part and member of the community, its landscape, and its heritage.

The Lennon Merlion

How can Singaporeans construct their identity while destructing collective memories? Singapore is well-known for its icon--merlion which is a combination of a lion head with a fish body. It is regarded as a national pride by Singaporeans. As a 24-year-old landmark of Sentosa carved by James Martin (1995), Sentosa Merlion has been demolished on October 21, 2019 to avail the land for the new tourist resorts. To conserve Sentosa Merlion which carries the collective memories of Singaporeans born in 1990s, Steven Lim started an online petition to the Singapore Government. Lennon walls are substantial walls formed by colorful notes with people’s demands writing on. They are common in the public areas in Hong Kong since the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement started. The Hong Kong Government heard those heart voices, held several dialogs with Hong Kong citizens and finally withdrew the bill. Therefore, I intended to materialize and commemorate this failed online petition into a Lennon Merlion--an installment art consisting of an iron framework of Sentosa Merlion with tinfoil and clay, stories related to Sentosa Merlion on 10-color octagon notes forming its main body. Through this approach, the Sentosa Merlion is ‘brought back’ by the collective efforts and hopes that the governments around the world can really hear people’s voices.

Aromatic atomic 3D printer earing

It is said that “recognition influences on behaviors”. As human beings with emotions, our mental reactions can affect our physical actions and thus lead to different results. Apart from personal control of our spirits, aromas are able to adjust our moods. Hence, I design an aromatic atomic printer earring.
It consists of two solar power panels, a storage battery, a heart rate monitor chip, a spring, six PET atom containers and a reactor. When the LED green gleam inside the chip penetrates the earlobe, the reflection from the blood can indicate the heart rate. The built-in program will detect the emotion and recommend a fragrance. Then the gates of atom containers will open letting the atoms enter the reactor. The printer nozzle will form the fragrance molecules. After that they will be released. The astronaut takes into the odor and adapts to the best mental status to continue the Martian mission. Meanwhile, the earring can identify the molecular formula of new odors and copy it. Hence, all the earring owners can share multiple fragrances.
However, it can merely offer partial experience associated with memories. It can never substitute the enjoyment of having real goodies or meeting beloved ones.