This project was realized and executed very quickly while at a workshop at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore. Made in collaboration with Nova Jiang.

Expanding on the concept of the Situationist “Derive”, this series of objects address ideas of disorientation in a foreign city, while at the same time addressing the unique urban landscape of Singapore. A traveler may tote the objects around in a briefcase, using them to enhance the experience of being lost. Each object addresses a specific aspect of ‘lostness’.

Item 1. Blinders that simulate the experience of tunnel vision at any given location.
Item 2. Flag for reclaiming unfamiliar space. Created from a “propagating” branch which will in turn, will yield a new tree as a gesture of thanks.
Item 3. A collaborative compass that affords paired travelers an exercise in compromise.
Item 4. A map of Singapore made of ice.

Here are some videos from other iterations of my “Removial Studies” series. These are the versions that I don’t view as entirely successful, but there are some nice parts to each of them. I wanted to include them because they are an important part of the process; in a way, they document my progress while learning to live with this machine. In this sense, the project fleshes out more as a true domestic intervention.

Here’s an initial sketch and an installation detail.

Removal Studies are a series of videos made using time-lapse photography. These videos are sleep studies that observe the reaction of the unconscious body to the negative stimulus of removing the covers.
The covers are removed by a machine that attaches to the bed and tugs a slight amount off in increments throughout the night. By studying the sleeping body, my aim was to capture something very honest and very animal about human beings. I was interested in this gesture of removal — and subsequently, exposure — and how it could function as a larger metaphor.

The imagery is generated by a DSLR camera taking 30 second exposures every two minutes. This video is what I view to be the most successful iteration from a series of studies. It was shot during a full moon.

Other studies and process work: Link