A Day Without A Tree

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 “A day, without a tree…” In 2007, the National Museum of Singapore (NMS) held an exhibition of drawings on tropical flora and fauna from the British Colonial Period with the theme “Empire of Nature” as part of its 120thanniversary celebration. The artist was invited to create a site-specific work for this exhibition. It showcased the basic ecological framework of nature, featuring “trees,” or “plants,” or “creatures in the forest.” The drawings on flora and fauna reflected the extensive collection and research scope of botanists and zoologists during the British Colonial period. The exhibition’s theme touched on a simple but direct chord. From a reverse perspective, the possibility of there being no “trees” or “plants” or “creatures in the forest,” with the base level of “nature” disappearing in a man-made space that is not “nature,” and the understanding and experience of urban people on “nature” are discussed. Is this kind of “reverse thinking” more targeted and impactful? This is what the creator wanted to know. Therefore, he set the theme of his work as A Day Without a Tree.

•  'A Day Without A Tree 2007' at the National Museum of Singapore, was originally a site-specific conceptual artwork set to challenge the mundane and biased everyday perception’.

• A Day Without a Tree has “dissolved” the popular classical architectural features and “occupied” the inner space of a selected building, forcing the audiences to re-understand a “previously known” scene through a “spilt” puddle that cannot be crossed over.  

The ADWAT Series (2007 - 2019):

A Day Without a Tree has experienced repeated trials in different fields, constantly evolving and shaping its unique vocabulary and context, and perfectly narrating its unique artistic pulse. 

The infinite puddle “spilt” from A Day Without a Tree cannot be collected in the traditional mode of art collection. The infinite capacity of this contemporary material transcends the fixed cognition scope of its volume. Its non-recyclable nature prompts each onsite exhibition to be a single, exclusive experience. Compared with the standard operation mode of contemporary art collection and re-presentation, it can be incorporated into the forward-looking collection mode, “Artwork Production Manual”