A tree rings, a tree sings 树龄°述铃
New findings in epigenetics suggest that we inherit ancestral memories. Could we then possibly inherit images and sounds–audiovisual signals–through genetic transmissions?
In 2012, I returned to my grandfather’s hometown for the first time, and snapped close to 700 photos in 5 days using my smartphone camera. In 2021, I decided to re-shoot those photos into moving images. I wanted an analogue process; where the visual outcome encodes the artist’s presence. The camera lens was inverted, producing hazy, oculus images that required manual focusing and refocusing.
The video soundtrack uses inverted gamelan sounds, a metallophone instrument from my birth country Indonesia. The music score is a hybrid DNA code. It consists of my Y-chromosome; DNA of the Chinese parasol tree (which my grandfather is named after); and an encoded text - a chimera of person, plant and poetry. The video is generative, an algorithmic composition that plays differently every time, and almost infinitely. The version that is presented here is a 20-min recorded slice.
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Boedi WidjajaDirector
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Boedi WidjajaVisual and Sound
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Audrey KohResearch
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Assoc Prof Dr Eric YapGeneticist
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Jacky BoenComputer Programmer
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Project Type:Experimental, Web / New Media, Other
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Genres:audiovisual, DNA sonification, algorithmic, experimental
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Runtime:10 minutes
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Completion Date:January 19, 2021
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Country of Origin:Singapore
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Country of Filming:China, Singapore
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Shooting Format:Digital, 4K
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Asian Art Institutum and Gasworks UKSingapore
Singapore
January 17, 2021
Youtube channel -
Cladogram: 2ND Katonah Museum of Art International Juried BiennialKatonah, NY
United States
July 11, 2021
North American Premiere
First Prize -
On Art Film Festival
Poland
Europe Premier
Official Selection -
ULTRAcinema Experimental FestivalMorelos
Mexico
November 15, 2021
Official Selection -
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology)Liverpool
United Kingdom
October 28, 2021
Future Ages Will Wonder exhibition -
Rencontres InternationalParis
France
May 3, 2022
Video Library -
Rencontres InternationalBerlin
Germany
August 15, 2022
Video Library
Boedi Widjaja (b. 1975, Solo City, Indonesia) migrated to Singapore at the age of 9 due to ethnic tensions, separated from his parents. His practice draws on his own transmigrant lived experiences, researching diaspora and homelands; Indo-Asia-Pacific geopolitics; and cross-cultural hybridities. Trained as an architect and with a background in graphic design, the techniques, materials and tools of drawing have become a defining element of Widjaja’s artistic practice. This is expressed through a broad range of media, from photography and new media to architectural installations and Live Art, with an emphasis on process and bodily engagement.
Widjaja was recipient of the Singapore Art Museum and QAGOMA co-commission for Black—Hut, Black—Hut (2018-19), for the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial and the 6th Singapore Biennale. His works were featured prominently in several international exhibitions, including MAP1: Waterways (2017), Diaspora Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale; Jerusalem Biennale (2017); Yinchuan Biennale (2016); From east to the Barbican (2015), Barbican, London; Infinity in flux (2015), ArtJog, Indonesia; and Bains Numériques #7 (2012), Enghien-les-Bains, France. His solo exhibitions include: Declaration of (2019), Helwaser Gallery, New York City; Rivers and lakes Tanah dan air (2018), ShanghART Singapore; Black—Hut (2016), Singapore Biennale Affiliate Project, ICA Singapore; Path. 6, Unpacking my Library 。书城 (2014), Esplanade, Singapore; and Sungai, Sejarah 河流, 历史, 源 (2012), YRAC S-Base, Singapore.