Propositions for Planetary Attunement

STAR Residencies (Science, Technology, Art & Research) is a pioneering initiative by the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, designed to foster meaningful cross-pollination between artistic and academic research. By embedding artists within world-class research institutes at Nanyang Technological University, the programme creates a unique site for exchange between creative practitioners and academic researchers.

For more information about STAR Residencies, please visit LAUNCH OF STAR RESIDENCIES (2025-2026).

PROGRAMME

7.00pm | Welcome
Ute Meta Bauer, Acting Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

7.10pm | Overture
Anna Lovecchio, Curator, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

7.20pm | Performance Lecture
The Observatory | Resonance
Ft. Benoit Taisne
Concept and Music: The Observatory; Producer: Deanna Dzulkifli; Dramaturg: Tang Fu Kuen; Editor: Daniel Hui; Video Operator: Lynette Quek.

The planet moves and vibrates in rhythms often too deep, too slow, or too vast to be captured by the human ear. If Earth is a sonorous yet silent being, what wavelengths thread its silence? In Resonance, The Observatory studies geological forces and the ways that Earth signals before change takes form. In a sonic excavation of the hidden registers of the planet, they follow frequencies that exist beyond our perception across deep time and the sonic sensing of animals and machines. Drawing on scientific knowledge of seismic events, sonic archeology, anecdotes and lived experience, Resonance lingers at the threshold where vibration becomes event and event becomes narrative. Through storytelling, sound, image, archival records, and speculation, it bears witness the hidden pulse of the world as it resonates from the cavity of time into the substance of our bodies.

8.00pm | Screening
Ng Hui Hsien | Ways of a Mountain
Video Written, Directed, and Filmed by: Ng Hui Hsien; Second camera: Noah Lee; Editing: Nicole Chai and Gladys Ng; Sound: Yuen Chee Wai.

Ways of a Mountain contemplates an active volcanic terrain as a living presence—an entity shaped by forces both geological and spiritual. Oriented by a score of meditative reflections, the camera explores the transience of water flows, light shifts, minerals, and human life, to tell a story of a land in constant formation. Through a poetic synthesis of empirical observation, scientific knowledge, and ancestral cosmologies, the volcanic mountain emerges not as a static object, but as a dynamic participant in the planetary becoming. Expanding our perception of time and human agency, the film invites viewers to sense forces larger than ourselves and consider the animacy of the Earth in an era of environmental strain.

8.30pm | Intermission
Planetary Archives
Display of Research Materials from the NTU Earth Observatory of Singapore

Over the course of STAR Residencies, scientists from the NTU Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) have engaged in an extended dialogue with the artists, introducing them to the fundamental data, processes, and methodologies of the geosciences. Curated by EOS, Planetary Archives presents a selection of research materials representing the three primary areas of study the artists have delved into throughout their year-long residency. Through this display, EOS provides the scientific context for the complex planetary phenomena that informed the artists’ inquiries during the residency.

9.00pm | Overture
Lauriane Chardot, Assistant Director, Community Engagement, NTU Earth Observatory of Singapore

9.10pm | Performance
Zarina Muhammad | Observing Omens Drawn by Lightning
A Ritual and Performance Constellation Drifting Across Southeast Asian Waters and the Indian Ocean (Singapore iteration). 
Performers: Prashant Somosundram, Hafiz Rashid, Ruby Jayaseelan, Firdaus Sani, Zarina Muhammad; Live Music: Asnida Daud, Eswandy Sarip; Masks: co-created with Per Brahe, I Wayan Erik Wahyudi, L.A.R. Nandana.
Moving Image and Field Documentation: Zarina Muhammad, Diana Tay; Editor: JunYears; Soundscape: Aqilah, Eswandy Sarip, Diana Tay, Hafiz Rashid, Izharul, Linus, Matiin.

Arising from the entanglement between artistic practice, earth-marine sciences, and traditional knowledge, Observing Omens Drawn by Lightning merges ecological fieldwork across intertidal zones and the fluid thresholds of port cities in the Indian Ocean with multi-sensory inquiries into microatolls, storms, shipwrecks, and submerged coastlines. The work unfolds in two movements. A quiet flow of voices, stories, and bodies around the space turns mythic narratives and scientific data into ritual and movement. This polyphonic opening yields poetic insights into the histories and ecologies of Tanjong Rimau and Cyrene Reef, situating local shores within vast transoceanic networks. As these currents converge, handcrafted masks—co-created with master carvers in Bali—emerge and bring to life marine entities. In the second part, the performance is anchored by a moving image essay, live-scored by musicians and witnessed in stillness by the performers. In this manifestation of a multi-year project, Zarina Muhammad’s ongoing research on practices of ecological witnessing is enacted as a performative drift towards the invisible ecologies, submerged histories, and ancestral currents in the waters around us.

Credits

Propositions for Planetary Attunement is the culmination of STAR Residencies – Cycle 1, a programme developed by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore in collaboration with NTU Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Lead Scientists
Assoc Prof Benoit Taisne
Asst Prof Euan J. F. Mutch
Asst Prof Aron Meltzner

Other Researchers
Dr Yoonhee Jung (InVEST)
Dr Andrea Verolino
Dr Yizhou Luo
Wan Ling
Jing Ying Yeo