The Vault: #3.2 For The Time Being

The second of the series, #3.2 For The Time Being is an intimate sound installation in response to selected themes from the play Invisibility by Quah Sy Ren.

It takes an approximate 80 milliseconds for our brain to process all the relevant sensory input from our perceptions, before it experiences the “now”. As such, we are constantly living in the past, an 80 milliseconds of liminal disjuncture.

Set as a quiet transitional experience, the sound installation highlights the restlessness of this ephemeral and liminal state of “now”; and the meaninglessness and futility of living in the present. For The Time Being hopes to accentuate the dichotomy of being and nothingness by augmenting the sound of ice melting as a way to alienate and/or heighten meanings from our perceptions.

Visitors will engage in this discreet and metaphysical conversation brought about by chance, as a matter transits from one state to the other in time and space. 

In this series of three installations, the focus is brought to a theatre designer’s response to text. In the absence of a prescribed directorial vision, design collective INDEX connects directly with the play, interprets its narrative and re-imagines it using their specialized language of design.

Read more about the first of this series, #3.1 In/Visibility by lighting designer Lim Woan Wen, here.
Read more about the third of this series, #3.3 scale 1:333333.333… by spatial designer Lim Wei Ling, here.

About the Playwright
“Invisibility” was written by Quah Sy Ren and was first staged (in Mandarin) by The Necessary Stage in 1996. The mandarin play was translated into English by Sim Pern Yiau.

Playwright Quah Sy Ren is an associate professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Chinese division at Nanyang Technical University. His main research interests are in Chinese Literature and the history of Singapore Theatre. Quah also sits on the board of directors for Practice Performing Arts Centre and The Finger Players. In addition to Invisibility (1996), Quah has also authored other plays as well as written and edited several books.

INDEX is a design collective winged under The Finger Players, comprising of spatial designer Lim Wei Ling, lighting designer Lim Woan Wen and sound artist/music composer Darren Ng. Finding common grounds in quiet aesthetics and subtractive work ethos, the collective focuses on design-centric installations and performances, using space, light and sound to weave meanings and narratives. While the three designers have been working together for a substantial number of years, the collective was kick-started in May 2013 with the performance installation IN:dex, presented under The Studio’s R.A.W series at the Esplanade Theatre Studio.

As a collective that focuses on design-centric installations and performances, INDEX is primarily interested in exploring the possibilities and potential of creating narratives using the elements of space, light and sound. In their third collaboration The Vault: #3 three, the three artists seek to experiment and further expand their vocabulary through developing a series of three entirely separate showcases based on one chosen script.