The term “virtual waste” points to the now-overflowing data and material generated online. Thinking about mass consumption — particularly images and videos — on digital social environments such as the Internet and social media, Singapore-based creative studio Such A Mood embarked on an exercise to explore how images are created, organised and responded to online.
The project took on three stages — a Telegram “dumping ground”, an Instagram takeover and finally, an installation site displaying the works of three visual artists informed by findings and perceptions garnered throughout their process of inquiry.
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Commissioned by ARTCADE, a movement led by Pico Pro (a subsidiary of global agency Pico Global), the first iteration of the studio project responded to a query of “Play With Art”. Presenting Such A Mood as their first resident takeover on Instagram (one may visit @artcadeworld to find out more), they posed a question to the studio — what are you playing with?
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Play with virtual waste, they did. The studio began their inquiry with a Telegram channel that invited public submissions of photos and videos. These submissions grew from pop culture, astrology and political memes, the occasional cat pictures, to screenshots of games, personal notes and footage stored on one’s mobile phone.
Experimenting with interactions, the studio invited four creatives to “takeover” the channel with a persona — referencing users’ tendencies towards social media performativity in this day and age. During these takeovers, users who subscribed to the channel responded however they wanted to with little to no intervention from the organisers.
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Next was the Instagram takeover, completed alongside visual artists Denise Yap and Roopt. Such A Mood was interested in learning further about Yap’s interests related to queering environments and how their knowledge could develop the project’s exploration of shifting image and material cultures. At the same time, Roopt’s investment in the tactility of images and sounds alongside animation technicalities nurtured a greater understanding towards how existing content can be further sampled to create new narratives.
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A key part of the storytelling — derived from design, visual art and message-making — was getting audiences to think about the subconscious effects and feelings one experiences from consuming images daily. The gaze of desire and obsession that seemed fundamental to related acts — sharing of memes, images, news and portrayal of identities online — formed underlying notions that contributed to the art direction for the installation, which presented itself as a “shrine”.
Questions guiding the viewer’s experience and contextual knowledge of the project were one of the first encounters on-site. These questions were, “Why the preservation of virtual symbols? What are the potentials of image and material culture? Can the appropriation of artefacts serve meaning?”
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The show, “i worship u worship me” held at Upstairs (by The Council), sought a two-part installation from a third artist, Chok Si Xuan. Interested in her kinetic sculpture works and with initial knowledge of her research on technology, digital infrastructures and systems, the studio invited Chok to interpret sensations and gestures related to digital behaviours. The possibility of creating an instrument that symbolised virtual-physical dimensions was explored, seeing Chok’s work as a bridge connecting all elements of the shrine.
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Roopt produced a video installation for “i worship u worship me” — an animated karaoke with lyrics derived from digital interactions such as Tiktok videos and Facebook comments. The visuals were remixed, serving as a performance of digital movements while inserting new meanings to existing footage . Such processes brought upon questions about the ethics and methods of appropriation — whether it can be well-intentioned or meaningful, and what these expanded creations or narratives could mean for the original creators.
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Denise Yap’s installation, which explored queer desires and ways of transforming digital environments — such as character customisation tools in games — reflected androgynous characters and bodies created by the artist on Sims 4. The act of using the interface as a space of constructing non-binary identities translated to the artist’s use of the physical installation space, turning the washroom facility at Upstairs into a gender-neutral toilet and presenting a “televised” fashion runway of the characters above Roopt’s karaoke work.
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The approach to this project seems detailed and time-consuming. However, this is just the beginning for the creative studio as more facets of digital consumption can be explored. While the current stage adopts practices of image appropriation, the studio will be looking into ways of humanising content creation and navigating consent next. What are the implications of making someone or something an entity on the Internet, and how can one mediate the physical effects of ‘memefication’?
These curiosities would hopefully uncover a deeper research process for Such A Mood as they continue their sociological and psychological interests relating to the cyber world.
This story about “i worship u worship me” first appeared in our April 2021 issue.
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