On the week of 29 April 2024, artist Genevieve Chua did an Instagram takeover of The Everyday Museum’s account and allowed us a peek into their thought process for the massive public art commission that is strewn across Singapore Art Museum at Block 39 Tanjong Pagar Distripark’s facade.
Mon, 29 April 2024
CAPTCHA code is a puzzle, a labyrinth in a grainy image, the world seen through a lingering fog. In an attempt to decipher distorted letters and numbers, I think of the CAPTCHA as more than a mere digital gatekeeper, bringing meaning to snippets of human experience such as (1) your seemingly undecipherable scrawl on a post-it, barely legible yet unmistakably warm, when finally understood; (2) a ballet of wrists and fingers in motion, as generated by AI, getting more accurate by the day.
A CAPTCHA code is a challenge to determine who gives the most haphazard result in its degree of ambiguity, an exercise in patience, and perception amidst the ostensibly mundane.
Tue, 30 April and Wed, 1 May 2024
We produce the “rrrr” sound by pointing our tongue tip upwards and slightly back in a prevocalic position, mimicking a playful growl of an animal with a child or the rolling “rrrrr” of an alveolar trill. The latter, a sound that your Indonesian, Spanish, or Italian colleagues might perform more adeptly, adding an extra layer of richness to a dish’s description. Similarly, this “rreor” can evoke the hustle of traffic or specifically, the echoing roar of a modded car on the AYE.
In Wilful Machine1, I use some audio skeuomorphism such as phone tapping sounds, when using our buttonless touch screens, as though still depressing buttons. There is a warmth and nostalgia for preserving such aspects in digital alternatives.
Other examples of simulated sounds used to evoke sensory experiences include the crackle of a vinyl record, the ticking of a clock, the shutter sound of a mirrorless camera, and the coughing sound a car makes when the ignition is switched on.
The shift from analog to newer systems often prioritizes silence, incorporating features such as haptic feedback systems or custom responses intended to make machines appear more empathetic. These additions introduce a softness to interactions with human users.
1 – Wilful Machineis a Festival Commission by Singapore International Festival of the Arts, organised by Arts House Limited.
Thu, 2 May 2024
These days, as you know, Misalignment is a mood.
Most of the letters used on the building are an amalgamation of serif-san-serif. An extension of a leg, arm, shoulder of (the anatomy of a) typeface coupled with a sometimes tipsy stem lends to that same fuzzy throwback feeling of the 90s. The building was a large document of fractured letters and numbers forged together, harmonious simply because of their difference.
Fri, 3 May 2024
The simplicity of the vector graphics used on the SAM building lends a versatile and modern way to communicate a motif, letter, numeral, or an icon.
In a general sense, an icon can refer to any person, place, or thing that is widely recognised and regarded as representative or symbolic of a particular concept, idea, or cultural significance.
It is my hope that the building and the way it houses ideas, people, and things would be iconic in the cultural landscape of Singapore.