SINGAPORE – An audio-visual art experience, titled ‘Inner Like The OutAR’ will be taking over Gillman Barracks Block 22 #01-33 from 19 – 31 January 2021. The experience combines augmented reality, set installation and sound design to imitate the magic of nature. Its various interactions subject audiences to the ways in which we use nature as a commodity. Anyone is welcome to visit the installation free of charge from 5 – 11pm daily.
Inner Like The OutAR features psychotropic environments built digitally by artists Reza Hasni and Siah Tiong Hong, amongst set design by Tina Fung (Space Objekt studio) and sound design by electronic producer Intriguant. It is presented by art programming consultancy MAMA MAGNET, part of Singapore Art Week 2021 and supported by the National Arts Council.
An interdisciplinary installation in Singapore using Web AR – or augmented reality via web browsers has never before been presented on this scale. It uses the AR medium to ask how technology can give us more access to our physical reality. The nature theme was conceptualised by artist Reza Hasni as a response to us spending more time outdoors since the circuit breaker. It felt natural for the motion graphics artist to turn to a physical showcase after almost a year of digital events.
Hasni hopes visitors will “have an open mind and form renewed connections with the physical world.” Inner Like The OutAR offers ways for audiences to consider how we view nature as our great reset. The experience is a follow-up to Hasni’s solo digital showcase, Centre For Altered Togethernes (www.c-a-t.world) which launched in August 2020 and offered a virtual trip into six digital worlds. While C-A-T was designed for our period of isolation, Inner Like The OutAR is designed for our transition to living in harmony.
Public Programmes
Each art interaction in the room is interdisciplinary, and combines the expertise of each of the four artists involved: illustration, interaction design, soundscapes and installation. Visitors interested in the collaborative process of the exhibition can sign up for three different artist-led tours that are presented as part of Inner Like The OutAR.
One such example is a tour by Reza Hasni and Tina Fung on 29 January 2021 focusing on building digital illustrations into life-sized physical installations. The duo are regular collaborators and have built unique experiences including Sentosa Island Lights and Singapore Night Festival.
Founder and curator Tulika Ahuja of MAMA MAGNET hopes that “the various perspectives of nature offered by the diverse artists can present Singapore with a fresh lens of our fragile relationship with the natural world, and also with the role of art and exhibitions in general.”
The Audio-Visual Experience
In Inner Like The OutAR, audiences are invited to use their smartphones to participate with the various nature-themed interactions. One installation, ‘Forest Simulator’ allows users the choice of surrounding themselves in four immersive forest AR environments. Users can also exercise control within their chosen environments by selecting the colour of the flora and fauna and ‘sending hearts’ to the forests they like. By subjecting audiences to behaviours that commodify nature, the curator of the exhibition uses interactions such as the Forest Simulator to comment on our transactional relationship with nature. There are multiple such AR interactions in the ‘OutAR’ room of the Gillman Barracks venue.
On the flip side, the experience’s ‘Inner’ room offers users non-commodified, one-on-one time with nature. A deep-toned organic soundscape composed by local producer Intriguant, instructs “Sit back, Relax and Enjoy Nature”. Meanwhile, live plants and textures by set designer Tina Fung transport the user into a rainforest. A surprise awaits in this room — unfolding the nature vs. technology narrative of the experience further.
The exhibition is not anti-technology. Rather, it recognises the need for the coexistence of nature and technology. It uses its public exhibition platform to pose the question: if nature is all around us, why do we need to augment reality to pay attention to it?
Exhibition Information
RSVP to save a spot:
https://linktr.ee/INNEROUTAR
𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣: 19 – 31 January 2021, 5 – 11pm Daily
𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚: #01-33, 22 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks 108939
Should you have any accessibility requirements, please reach out to Jen at i@mamamagnet.org.
Public Programmes
Thematic Artist Tours
Inner Like The OutAR is created by multidisciplinary collaborators, featuring psychotropic environments built digitally by artists Reza Hasni and Siah Tiong Hong amongst set design by Tina Fung and sound design by electronic producer Intriguant. Visitors can sign up for three different artist-led tours themed on collaborative processes of the experience.
Where: #01-33, 22 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks 108939
Artist Tour: Motion Graphics x AR with Reza Hasni and Siah Tiong Hong
22 January 2021, Friday, 7 – 7.45pm
$5 refundable deposit upon attendance
INFO: https://peatix.com/event/1761512/view
An exhibition tour led by motion graphics artist and illustrator Reza Hasni and collaborator Siah of interaction design studio, Screensavers. The session will focus on digital art, interactivity and augmented reality. The duo previously collaborated on an audio-visual digital exhibition Centre For Altered Togetherness (www.c-a-t.world) in 2020. ‘Inner Like The OutAR’ welcomes their second collaboration.
Artist Tour: Audio x Visual with Intriguant and Tulika Ahuja
23 January 2021, Saturday, 7 – 7.45pm.
$5 refundable deposit upon attendance
INFO: https://peatix.com/event/1761515/view
An exhibition tour led by curator Tulika Ahuja; and electronic producer and sound designer Intriguant (Louis Quek). The session will focus on audio and visual as collaborative world-building tools, and the return to physical showcases. This is the first time the duo have collaborated.
Artist Tour: Illustration x Set Design with Reza Hasni and Tina Fung
29 January 2021, Friday, 7 – 7.45pm
$5 refundable deposit upon attendance
INFO: https://peatix.com/event/1761516/view
An exhibition tour led by motion graphics artist and illustrator Reza Hasni and set designer Tina Fung of Space Objekt studio. The session will focus on experiential art and building digital ideas into life-sized physical installations. The duo are regular collaborators and have built unique experiences including Sentosa Island Lights, Singapore Night Festival and Summer Well Festival in Romania.
