Works from The Analogue Attachments of Modern Love
Above: Installation view of Dismantled Bed I, Iteration II (Ribs) and Higher and Higher (20 Mattresses and a Pea), 2024, 39+ Art Space, Singapore. Image courtesy of 39+ Art Space.
Dismanlted Bed I, Iteration II (Ribs) (2023 - present) and Higher and Higher (20 Mattresses and a Pea) (2020) were presented at 39+ Art Space, Singapore as part of The Analogue Attachments of Modern Love, curated by Louis Ho.
From the official press release, 20 November 2024
39+ Art Space is please to announce the opening of its latest exhibition, a group show of female artists titled The Analogue Attachments of Modern Love. Comprised of the work of 6 artists from across Southeast Asia, the exhibition is oriented around the making of things. The traditional tools of material manipulation, from the needle to the printing press, are no less utilized today than the appliances of our computerized age. If artists used to sew and knit and draw, they may be said to do the same with the keyboard and mouse today – with surprisingly non-digital results in certain cases. The machines that provide circuits of connectivity are no less instruments of the creative process in the twenty-first century than those tools that have ossified into cultural nostalgia and cottage industry in an era of wired interactivity and abstraction.
These techniques are assimilated into the practices of the artists included in The Analogue Attachments of Modern Love. Their objects and gestures, fashioned from thread and batik and aluminium and computer printouts and, indeed, the human body itself, among a panoply of other materials, simply suggest inflected and decidedly contemporary forms of object-making. The work of Indonesian Elia Nurvista, for instance, is an installation of 4 large batik panels, first shown in the WereldMuseum, the largest ethnographic museum in the Netherlands, that tells the complex history of the of the oil palm plant, which is native to west and southwest Africa. Singaporean Lim E-Lynn Joanne’s multi-component installation sees her grappling with the topic of privacy, both on the internet and in real life; Lim will be performatively covering the walls of the gallery in printouts at the opening of the exhibition. Celline Mercado, who hails from the Philippines, wraps found furniture in fibre threads as part of a body of work intended to convey conditions of liminality and precarity, especially among the Filipino diaspora. Chung Erica, also Singaporean, uses the medium of print to tell the story of citizenship and civic participation, while Supassara Ho, from Thailand, has utilized the methods of needle-based craft, such as crocheting, to address biographical issues.In mid-December, London-based, Singapore-born artist Lynn Lu will activate the exhibition with a performative piece.
Dismantled Bed I, Iteration II (Ribs) (2023 – present) is part of Mercado’s MFA project, Between the Lines, exploring the impact of colonialism on diasporic identity. Living between Melbourne and the Philippines, she wraps found furniture in fiber threads to express feelings of instability and being in-between. Dismantled Bed I, one of four wrapped bed frames, the only one created in the Philippines, symbolizes what is left behind when moving abroad. The wrapped bed represents packing for transit and the struggle to fit into Western society. Mercado sees the Western-style bed as a colonial object, and by dismantling it, she questions and attempts to break free from colonial influences on her identity.
Image: Installation view of Dismantled Bed I, Iteration II (Ribs) (2023 - present), 2024, 39+ Art Space, Singapore. Bed frame wrapped in acrylic wool, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of 39+ Art Space.
Higher and Higher (20 Mattresses and a Pea) (2020) is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “The Princess and the Pea,” and uses the image of a bed to explore personal and social issues. In the story, a princess proves her nobility by showing extreme sensitivity—she cannot sleep, discomforted by a small pea buried under twenty mattresses. This sensitivity is often seen as a symbol of class consciousness or the idea that empathy is not exclusive to nobility. The story also reflects Andersen’s feelings of resentment and aspiration toward those higher in the social hierarchy. Mercado’s work uses this idea to question why women must endure patriarchy to be recognized. It also reflects her own struggles with feelings of inadequacy, where, despite her efforts, she feels she must constantly prove herself.
Image: Installation view Higher and Higher (20 Mattresses and a Pea) (2020), 2024, 39+ Art Space, Singapore. Cold-press board, bamboo, embroidery floss, polyester, cotton, foam, paper clay, acrylic, found object, 11.43 x 22.86 x 54.61 cm. Image courtesy of 39+ Art Space.
Text adapted from the exhibition catalogue. All images courtesy of 39+ Art Space.
