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The Apocalypse Project: Showcase at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands

December 2, 2013
Art, Creative Learning, Design, Drawing, Environment, Exhibitions, Play, Science, Singapore
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Last November 10th, The Apocalypse Project was exhibited at the Sunday Showcase at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. Here are some photos of my part of the show at the Inspiration gallery:

There were five mannequins dressed Climate Change Couture, four standing projectors that introduced the parts of the project and the Mission Apocalypse game, and screen at the back that showed all the drawings made during The Apocalypse Workshops.

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The Apocalypse Project – Sunday Showcase at ArtScience Museum

On the left is an interactive station where people can do The Apocalypse Workshop.

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Climate Change Couture: The Trash Suit and The Bubble

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The Apocalypse Project – Sunday Showcase at ArtScience Museum

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It was great to see  friends and strangers alike. Here’s Vinod, a Tembusu student and part of the Earth vs Humans: The Court Trial trying on the Smell Mask:

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Dr. Stamatina Rassia of the Future Cities Laboratory dropped by.

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And here’s Dr. Ingmar Lippert from Tembusu College.

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Here’s squad member Yuen Kei Lam manning The Apocalypse Workshop. I’m so happy to see this photo—she started out being a participant in the first workshop I held, and now she’s facilitating one. Dr. Connor Graham of Tembusu College is also at the table.

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I also had a photo booth where people can try on some of the Climate Change Couture clothes. On the right is squad member (and taekwondo classmate) Yerim Ku, an exchange student at the National University of Singapore.

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I turned the Inspiration Gallery into a game of a sort, called Mission Apocalypse. The audience had a piece of paper with tasks on it.

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The paper had 25 clues in a 5×5 grid that made them explore the gallery.

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Each clue led to a question about climate change.  If you get five correct answers vertically, horizontally, or diagonally (like in Bingo), you get an Apocalypse Project sticker. Or you can answer everything and get a poster.

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Oh hey, here’s Professor Gregory Clancey, Master of Tembusu College (and also my neighbor):

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This is one of my favorite photos. This kid was so great. He’s seven years old and working on climate change questions in Mission Apocalypse.

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He also drew this superpower for The Apocalypse Workshop:

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This is the happiest I’ve been in a show. You can tell—I’m grinning like a Cheshire Cat on the left and in mid-frolic. 
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Lastly, but most importantly, thank you, Apocalypse Squad, Batch 1. The more complex my projects get, the more I’ve learned to delegate. Thank you, all.

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I’ll be putting everything about the project online here. It’s crunch time again for me (a chronic problem for chronic travelers), but it’ll all get done. The other day, I finished posting all the workshop submissions, which led to me reaching Tumblr’s posting limit for the day. I think I broke the Internet that day. Do follow that site for more updates!

Photos in this post by artist and Apocalypse Squad member Sandra Goh. Now this is exhibition photography, people. I’m taking down notes. 

Weekend Report: Sunday Showcase at ArtScience Museum, The Apocalypse Project, and Super Typhoon Haiyan

November 12, 2013
Art, Creative Learning, Design, Drawing, Environment, Exhibitions, Korea, Science, Singapore, Workshops
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This weekend was the first time I exhibited The Apocalypse Project in our group showcase in ArtScience Museum. This was a stressful installation, but not quite as much as climbing more than 43 mountains, or mowing a mountain in a monsoon with a sickle. But everything went alright in the end, and I was quite happy with how it looked:

The Apocalypse Project at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, 10 November 2013

The Apocalypse Project at ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, 10 November 2013

The Apocalypse Squad

I have learned so much from all the shows I’ve done in the past, but this is hands down my favorite one, mainly because of the team of students who made up the Apocalypse Squad. Without them, everything would have fallen apart. They worked on everything— helping to assemble the actual pieces,  making each interactive station work well, and helping the audience win the Mission Apocalypse game. It was quite a production for a one-day show. I was so proud of how they worked that day—a clear indication of me getting old. Here we are, after takedown:

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The Apocalypse Squad. (L-R) Sandra Goh, photographer. Yuen Kei Lam, Elaine Sam, me, Yerim Ku, Jethro Leong, Yuqi Liew, and Ingmar Salim.

Kudos as well to Tembusu students and faculty who helped me set up the installation.

More detailed photos about what went on in future posts by this week, but for now, I think I need to rest for a couple of days and get my sleeping patterns back to normal.

But in more important news:

Donate to Haiyan victims

As the world knows, Super Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) tore through my home country, the Philippines, a few days ago. Being here in Singapore, I have been feeling very heartbroken, helpless, and distracted at seeing all the photos of the devastation. I also couldn’t help noticing the irony of exhibiting The Apocalypse Project, which I intended to make people visualize a dystopic future brought about by climate change, and actually have that apocalypse a reality in my motherland. I am not kidding—some of the things people drew for The Apocalypse Workshop became true this weekend. At the last minute, I changed one dress for Climate Change Couture as a reference to this catastrophe. (More on this in a future post.)

Thank you, Lion City, for lending the Philippines a hand.

Find out ways to help Haiyan victims here and here.

Photo by Romeo Ranoco for Reuters

Photo by Romeo Ranoco for Reuters

Recruiting for The Apocalypse Crew

October 31, 2013
Exhibitions, Singapore
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(Or maybe re-crew-ting for The Apocalypse Crew. Haha. Ha. Ha. Uhm. Yes. Anyway, back to this post.)

Last week, I was busy recruiting students to be exhibition attendants for our Art/Science Residency Showcase on November 10th. There are too many pieces in my part of the show that I can’t do it alone. I posted this ad in Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore, where I currently live.

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I was expecting to have to beg the students, as it’s midterm crunchtime for most of them. However, I now have six awesome people who have agreed to help! And for two of them, they come with this interesting application letter:

Dear Catherine,

It is with great interest (and perhaps some desperation) that

XXXXX / Chinese Male / Year One Law / Year One Tembusu

and, I,

XXXXX / Chinese Male / Year One Architecture / Year One Tembusu

enlist as exhibition attendants for impending The Apocalypse Project.
After having read your A4 print of a woman wearing a hazmat respirator in our recently-LED-lit elevators of Tembusu (the dimly lit environment did enhance the dystopian intent of your exhibition, though making posters slightly harder to read) , here prize two eager students at your disposal.

We believe that your exhibition would prove valuable, enlightening and practical if we were to face the brink of extinction (have you yet not seen the signs?).
Perhaps we could also offer our insights during the tour, perspective of a Law and Architecture student (if our professional endeavours prove relevant, if not useful).

We will be faithful minions to your cause – to educate people in end of the world preparations, as gaily as possible.
We will be the last two remaining outlasting volunteers, lasting in resolve, even if it were the last few days to the end of the world. Last.

I hope you find our response to your conch call and enthusiasm appealing, if not incredibly weird (both strange and funny).
Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
XXXXX and XXXXX

I replied back with a ‘yes’ and an attempt to be as clever in language—something about how I didn’t know whether to laugh or to lock the front door—and here was their reply:

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What crazy person wouldn’t hire these two?

On another note, I wonder what kind of emails I’ll get if I design something more complex, such as a dating service or something.

Hacking a Garbage Bag as a Dress. Because Apocalypse.

October 16, 2013
Art, Design, Environment, Singapore
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Today in the lab, I figured out some ways to turn a garbage bag into a dress. You know, in case that day may come when we can’t afford clothes any longer and will have to resort to trash to clothe ourselves.

Naturally, for The Apocalypse Project.

Here are some photos taken by Lin Kuek of the Future Cities Lab. Thanks, Lin!

A garbage bag can be a skirt:

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A sarong:

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An off-shoulder dress:

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Or a halter:

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Coming Soon on The Apocalypse Project

October 9, 2013
Art, Design, Environment, Experiments, Nature, Sight, Singapore, Smell, Taste, Technology
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Here are some sneak peeks into the things I am working on for this residency.

I am reaching that point when my projects are deemed too crazy by people that I have to be the one to model it. The first photo is by the lovely Cheryl Song of the Singapore-ETH Future Cities Laboratory, who has patiently put up with me.

1 - Climate Change Couture - Catherine Young

2 - Climate Change Couture - Catherine Young 3 - Climate Change Couture - Catherine Young 4 - Earth vs Humans - Catherine Young

 

Follow the project site at http://www.apocalypse.cc.

The Apocalypse Workshop: Speculative Scenarios, Fashion, and Superpowers for the End of the World

September 13, 2013
Art, Creative Learning, Design, Drawing, Environment, Play, Science, Singapore, Workshops
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This week, I got two groups of students from Tembusu College here at the National University of Singapore, to voluntarily participate in my Apocalypse Workshop. The goal was for them to imagine a climate change apocalypse.

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The first activity was called My Apocalypse. These were my instructions:

Name and describe your favorite place in 50 years as climate change affects it. (Write about it and draw it.) This could be a city landmark, the family farm, your apartment building, your favorite cafe, or any other place you feel like speculating on. Please be as specific as possible. Scenarios can be positive or negative. (Some questions to ponder, but please don’t limit yourself to these: What does it smell like? What plants and/or animals are present, if any? How hot or cold will it be when you are sitting there? How will you get there? Can you see clearly? Will your pet be happy living there? What is the color you see when you look up? Are there walls, and what are they made of?)

I asked them to name the actual place (and not just write, “the world” or “the city”) because I wanted them to be as specific and detailed as possible. The participants were also more likely to choose different places and thus provide a wider range of descriptions.

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The second activity was called Superpowers for the End of the World. These were the details:

If you had a superpower to navigate through what you described in Activity 1, what would it be?
Examples of superpowers can be the ability to: smell an incoming tsunami, be invisible to animals, turn into ice during a heatwave, or anything that your current senses and abilities can’t let you do right now. It can be an extension of your biological abilities, or a device that performs it. You can list more than one superpower.

I wanted to frame it in this way so that people will find it more fun and exciting and really think outside the box when it comes to climate change. Nothing like superpowers to get the creative juices flowing!

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The last activity was called The Apocalypse Lookbook, where I gave them fashion design templates:

What will you wear to the apocalypse? Use the templates provided. Define the function of each wearable.

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I let them do each activity for twenty minutes, and afterwards, they shared what they made to the  group. These university students all had taken a class on climate change, or were in the middle of one.  They came from business, economics, engineering, and communication majors. I also had one participant who is a professional environmental engineer.

Here are some photos from the sessions:

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I’ve given lots of workshops in the past few years—this definitely yielded among the most imaginative results. I’ll be sharing those soon. Thanks to all the participants, and also to those from all over the world who sent their answers online!

Climate Change’s Branding Problem

September 11, 2013
Art, Environment, Science, Singapore
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The first few weeks in Singapore, apart from battling a tropical superflu, one other war I was waging was contextualizing climate change in a way that was, well, less boring for people.

Put it this way, during the beginning of this residency, I was reading up on UN documents on the environment and we all know how enjoyable that is. I was beginning to be afraid that this project will be the most boring one I’ve ever done. When finally, it hit me.

Climate change has a branding problem. Not that I didn’t think so before, but it’s different when you are doing a project that is supposed to get people to want to act on climate change. My initial responses for my project were, well, meh. I felt like people were humoring me because I was a guest in their lab / college / country. I don’t blame them. People think climate change is too dry and inaccessible. Or more precisely, I believe it is seen as something separate from other concerns, when I think environmental “mindfulness” should be integrated in our lifestyles.

When I see climate change campaigns in schools and organizations, it’s mostly about recycling. Don’t get me wrong—recycling is important and we all should do it. I just don’t think that it is the cure-all for all our environmental woes. Climate change-related events are getting bigger and more serious—it’s critical to think beyond our current solutions.

Another field having a branding problem with respect to climate change is art. I think for the most part, people see it as frivolous. “Oh that’s nice,” but thinking “but let the important people do the important work” type of attitude. Again, I don’t blame them. The ivory towers and walls that distance disciplines from each other have served to alienate. (I also think that this is a one of the causes of professional burn-out, but that’s another post for another day.)

I need to get people in a state of “play” so that they will think outside the box. Hence the formation of this Apocalypse Project. It’s tricky to turn something as serious as climate change as something “fun,” but I believe that making it so will get people to start thinking beyond the box.  Dystopias and apocalypses pave the way for that. We already have these ingrained in literature and pop culture. But beyond that, ideas that seemed crazy in the beginning sometimes become the best solutions. Science fiction becomes speculative fiction and eventually reality, doesn’t it? As an example, just check out this TED talk by Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu on manipulated memories. 

Stay tuned for the next post on The Apocalypse Workshop, when the very creative minds of students here at NUS’ Tembusu college take a stab at thinking about a climate change apocalypse.