‘CosmicWander: Expedition’ by Choy Ka Fai
Singapore art Museum, Singapore
January 16 – February 21, 2021

CosmicWander: Expedition, which is also part of Singapore Art Week 2021, is a work-in-progress presentation of Choy’s ongoing research into the metaphysics of the human body, taking the body as a conceptual device for explorations into “post-human” choreographic ideas and alternative states of consciousness.

“CosmicWander: Expedition offers insight into Choy Ka Fai’s artistic process, highlighting his multi-faceted art practice, which situates itself at the intersection of dance, media art and performance. Ka Fai’s practice resonates with SAM’s commitment to present multi-disciplinary and innovative exhibitions that combine technology, multimedia and performance. As an ex-periential platform, CosmicWander: Expedition offers audiences an immersive art experience that challenges and opens up new ways of how we perceive the world, an undertaking SAM is committed to as a contemporary art museum,” says Dr Eugene Tan, Director, Singapore Art Museum.

The exhibition is an investigation into the human desire for transcendence, through exploring shamanic dance cultures in Asia. Having ventured into the region in search of spectacular trance experiences, the artist has met over 50 shamans and filmed extraordinary dance rituals, from the wilderness of Siberia to the mythological practices in Java.

Set up as an experiential installation, it features the artist’s perspective on humanity’s attempt to connect, to question, and to perceive and interact with different states of reality. Stories and images composed from his invigorating encounters with “altered states” are weaved with the artist’s speculations, resulting in a choreographic sequence of moving images, text and spectacle, inspired by practices observed in Singapore, Indonesia, Siberia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Elaborating on his research and practice, Choy explains, “I imagine new futures of the body by appropriating technologies and narratives where lines between the spiritual and the secular, the virtual and the material, are blurred to project a new choreography of the body. Cosmic-Wander: Expedition invites you to commune with us, and to think about our bodies and our spiritual states in these strange times.”
For CosmicWander: Expedition, Choy presents his project in three parts – an exhibition comprising video installations and a costume; a multimedia performance; and a lecture.

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