Thinker, art maker, film maker, sailor. Charles Lim and his family have close connections with the sea and land reclamation. Charles has been reading maritime charts so often that he discovered the “disappearance” of Pulau Serjahat (“jahat” means “evil” in Malay) due to land reclamation. “Sea state” is a play of words used in ocean matters. “Sea State 2: As Evil Disappears” was the last exhibition of Future Perfect (Gillman Barracks) gallery‘s first Singapore Intensive program. (“Sea state 1: Inside Outside” was exhibited at the President’s Young Talents Exhibition 2005 and The Singapore Show: Future Proof 2012.)
A Singapore conversation with artist Charles Lim and curator David Teh
Coincidentally, there was another exhibition about the sea during the same period. As the curator of the other exhibition also pointed out, Singapore is an island but few Singaporeans truly understand the sea. I only learnt recently that we now probably have to sail out of Singapore to sail around her!
3D profiling of Singapore’s seascape based on data tediously collected by his collaborator
Charles pointed out that unlike land, the sea is dynamic. Maritime traffic and land reclamation affect the flow of the waters. There are therefore complex dependencies as Singapore tries to create more space for our people.
The “textures” on the right are made up of photographs of different stages of land reclamation
Video “Drift (stay still now to move)” on the right was “censored” from an overseas exhibition
In competitive sailing, sailors deal with the time critical challenges of the unpredictable waters, weather etc, making many decisions which have inter-related impact. As a former national sailor, Charles brings this spirit into his creative work — the curiosity to discover where he will be led to next.
Much effort went into the “Sea State 2: As Evil Disappears” exhibition and there are many stories behind each art work. Join the discussions at the Singapore Intensive social media page.
