BIO
Daniel Chong (b. 1995, Singapore) is an artist-curator that works between the quiet slippages of function and sentimentality. Chong subtlety exposes the emotive qualities attached to these objects. From strength to grief and recently, intimacy, Chong engages with materialism as a means to unearth our emotive connections through objects, but centred in our understanding of them through its use. His practice is often characterised by the ability to softly nudge our preconceived notions of objects through minute interventions. His works seem irreverent and casual but in it lies a thorough process of listening and working an object through its materiality.
A resumption, 2023
Repurposed floodlights, LED tube lights, mix medium
Encountered the floodlights, artist felt a strange sense of calm. These objects, raised and towering over audiences, were lying in tender rest. Displaced from their original context, they felt small and nestled in its body an even smaller bulb. But they did not feel sad. It felt like these tired vessels were finally able to rest. No longer required to remain upright and at attention, they laid curved and rested. These lights were resting after years of work and wanted to allow them to rest.
After learning these lights were decommissioned for younger, more efficient lights, it made them feel all the more human. Retired from the literal spotlight they were going to be an artefact of the past soon. The seasons were changing.
Titled A resumption, its name signifies a start after a pause, both acknowledging rest and a new beginning. A nod to the changing to a new era of LEDs. Artist likens this series to an ikebana floral arrangement. The celebration of a changing of seasons and this moment in time. Using the sleeping body of the old floodlights as a vase, these new lights will grow from its centre.
