The Room that Grew Buoyant, Little by Little by INDEX

By jaclynchong, 4 February, 2022
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“A poor secret house, as in an old print, that only lives in me, where sometimes I return to sit down and forget the gray day and the rain.” – 1913, André Lafon

In the blue house that lives within, there is a room outside. Inside this room, there is a tree that the room enjoys listening to. Above this tree, there is a chair that rocks in tune with the tree. Under this chair, there is a table that creaks in silence as the chair sings. Within this table, there is a forest that the table was made of. In the middle of this forest, there is a fan that keeps the forest cool. Next to the fan, there is a door that  opens when the fan stops spinning. Beyond the door, there is an ocean in which a blue house lives – the blue house with the room outside and the tree and chair and table and forest and fan and door and ocean. And when the stars align perfectly, the universe shall fold infinitely into the heart of this room as the windows crack and lift the room out of its solidity, dissolving the remnants of its geography of being.

The Room that Grew Buoyant, Little by Little was developed under Centre 42's Basement Workshop (now known as the Creation Residency). Read about Basement Workshop here.

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Development Milestones
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March 2018
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by Centre 42
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In-Residence at Basement Workshop
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15 - 18 March 2018
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at various spaces, Centre 42
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World Premiere
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The Room that Grew Buoyant, Little by Little marks INDEX’s next foray into bridging theatre and installation. Developed in residence at Centre 42, this site-specific installation seeks to contemplate the room as a medium to frame the innate narratives of our world, blur the line of dualities, and open up a free space where the visitor is invited to spend time with/in. This site-specific work is generated through observations of the environment, including the mundane and minute. It explore the concept of contrast as they attempt to bring the indoors outdoors and vice versa.

Dubbed as the collective’s “happy project”, the collective’s key mode of working this time is happiness. While the project was conceptualised in 2017, and inspirations about the space collected from January to March 2018, the physical development of the work manifested only in the week before it opened to the public in March 2018. In contrast to the usual need for a predetermined plan or product before the ‘theatre bump-in due date’, the collective has had the freedom to grow, tweak, refine their installation even as it was opened to visitors. The blue house – the room – literally grew richer, day by day.

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An image of the top of the stairwell where an object resembling a blue deck chair can be seen.
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Small blue tiles scattered across a manhole cover along with larger hexagonal tiles. The tiles reflect light off them onto the facade of the Centre 42 building, creating a kaleidoscopic effect.
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An image of the Black Box, lit only by the sunlight streaming through the windows. The silhouette of a large pile of dried leaves can be seen.
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An installation of a shelter structure made out of pipes. A bath mat and small white stool line the entrance, with a pair of flip flops to the right. This leads to a white bath tub and shower head.
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A loft bed-like structure with a weaved netting and cushions laid atop on the first level. Steps lead up to a second level where a large air column cushion is laid across, topped off with a pillow and a basket structure containing a book.
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An outdoor staircase structure leading up to the second floor of the Centre 42 building.
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Photographs by Gwen Pew
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Other Resources
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  • The Room that Grew Buoyant, Little by Little Facebook Page
  • The Room that Grew Buoyant, Little by Little trailer
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