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Zarina Muhammad

Singapore

Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil, 2022

Singapore Biennale 2022 Commission

Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil is an audio-visual-tactile installation and a series of performances and activations presented throughout the period of the Biennale. The work examines how hierarchies of knowledge systems may be challenged and how we may attune our senses to alternate ways in which knowledge—whether from the point of view of the human or non-human—may be accepted.

The title of the work alludes to the multiple historical identities of Pulau Sekijang Bendera (currently known as St John’s Island). The work draws inspiration from islands that have lost their names, shapeshifting creation myths, lines plotted by animal navigation, trickster tides, submerged reefs and maritime arteries. The work unfolds over nine archetypal signatures and departure points, namely: The Guide, The Witness, The Wrathful Deity, The Pyramidal Cell, The Gate, The Peculiar Habitat, The Rotating Naga, The Talisman, and The Pragmatic Prayer. These nine points are presented as a diorama of (inter)cardinal directions, palimpsests and constellations that can be read or experienced through a variety of ways and engages with the entanglements of various knowledge systems.

Come explore the nine points as they unfold throughout SB2022 at https://movingearth-crossingwater-eatingsoil.com/ .

BIO
Zarina Muhammad (b. 1982) is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice is deeply entwined with a critical re-examination of oral histories, ethnographic literature and other historiographic accounts about Southeast Asia. Working at the intersections of performance, text, installation, ritual, sound, moving image and participatory practice, she is interested in the broader contexts of ecocultural and ecological histories, mythmaking, haunted historiographies, water cosmologies and chthonic realms. She has been working on a long-term interdisciplinary project on Southeast Asia’s changing relationship with spectrality, ritual magic, polysensoriality and the immaterial against the dynamics of global modernity, the social production of rationality and transcultural exchanges of knowledge. She currently lives and works in Singapore.



RESOURCES

Educational Resource | Artist Folio



INFORMATION

  • Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil. 2022. Mixed media installation. Dimensions variable.

Zarina Muhammad’s Programmes & Events

View Events
Natasha on the Islands
Natasha on the Islands
  • Zarina Muhammad
  • Shooshie Sulaiman
  • Åsa Sonjasdotter and Daniela Zambrano Almidón

Embark on an unforgettable journey on Lazarus and St. John's Island and enjoy a day of free programmes inspired by Singapore Biennale 2022, named Natasha. Whether you're looking to pick up some survival skills, explore the rich history and beauty of nature, be mesmerized by a soul-stirring gamelan performance, or find out more about the Biennale's captivating artworks, there is something for everyone.

To ensure a smooth experience, please read thru the programme guide and safety advisory here.

Programme Highlights

Download full morning programme schedule here

Download full evening programme schedule here

  • [ARTIST INSIGHTS] Zarina Muhammad | 12PM–12.30PM | St. John's Island
    Join artist Zarina Muhammad as she talks about her artistic practice and delves deeper into the making of her work, Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil (2022).
  • [TALK] Jiak Kentang by The Slow Press | 4PM–4.30PM & 5.30PM–6PM | Seringat Jetty
    Explore the history of the potato in Southeast Asian cooking with The Slow Press! While rice is seen as the main carbohydrate that is consumed in Southeast Asia, the potato also plays a huge role in the region’s cuisines—it is in curries, begedil and Vietnamese beef stew—despite having made its way into our region’s culinary culture through colonisation.
  • [SOAPBOX] Singapore Biennale Highlights at Lazarus Island | 4.30PM–5.30PM | Lazarus Island
    Visit the stops on our Art Trail where SAM staff will share about their favourite respective Singapore Biennale 2022 artworks on the islands.
  • [STORY TELLING] A Reading of Kancil Mengadap Beringin by Shooshie Sulaiman | 5PM–5.45PM | Lazarus Island Beach
    Kancil Mengadap Beringin (The Mousedeer Comes Before the Banyan Tree) is an artwork installation by artist Shooshie Sulaiman, which consists of a banyan tree surrounded by 99 kancil (or mousedeer) cement sculptures and two wooden components.
    The artwork is accompanied by a book of the same name, which tells the tale of Sang Kancil’s latest adventure, where he acts as a mediator between animals and the universe, with a banyan tree acting as a spiritual transmitter.
  • [PERFORMANCE] Singa Nglaras Gamelan Ensemble with Angger Widhi Asmara and Dona Dhian Ginanjar | 6PM–7PM | St. John's Island
    Let the Singa Nglaras Gamelan Ensemble, alongside collaborators Angger Widhi Asmara and Dona Dhian Ginanjar take you on a musical adventure inspired by Zarina Muhammad’s artwork Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil.

St. John’s Island and Lazarus Island Sat, 25 Feb 2023 - 10:00 am
Intertidal Walking Trail with Zarina Muhammad and Marcus Ng
Intertidal Walking Trail with Zarina Muhammad and Marcus Ng
  • Zarina Muhammad

Walk the length and draw the shape of the coastline. Pay attention to the texture of soil, sand and sediment. Be attentive to the smooth, uneven or jagged edges where the water meets land.

Discover Pulau Sekijang Bendera at low tide and meet inhabitants of the intertidal zones who thrive, hidden in plain sight. This guided walk is an invitation to pay particular attention to wisdoms and lessons that we can humbly learn from non-human animals and the places we inhabit, pass through and take up space in.

Online ProgrammesMon, 20 Feb 2023 - 04:30 pm
Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil, Sensing Maps, Seeing Spirits: An Artist-Led Workshop
Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil, Sensing Maps, Seeing Spirits: An Artist-Led Workshop
  • Zarina Muhammad

How do we situate ourselves in unfamiliar places? What might we witness when we situate ourselves in places that asks for your whole body to listen? How do we locate the breath and sound in the quiet pauses within spaces?

In this artist-led workshop, participants are invited to navigate through different environmental knowledges, lessons and wisdoms. Through storytelling and engaging with the overarching themes of the artwork, participants will be invited to reorient our senses to the coordinates of unruly indeterminable spaces on maps. This workshop will take you through the process of creating a memory map, a geomantic compass and a handcrafted talismanic memento.

Ferry departs Sentosa Cove Jetty (disembark at St John’s Island): 1.30pm

Participants to board 4pm return ferry (to Marina South Pier) at St John Island

Book here

St. John’s Island and Lazarus Island Sat, 28 Jan 2023 - 02:00 pm
Animal Days on a Geomantic Compass: A Performance as part of Zarina Muhammad’s Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil
Animal Days on a Geomantic Compass: A Performance as part of Zarina Muhammad’s Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil
  • Zarina Muhammad

What cognitive maps and compass bearing abilities do we possess? What lessons might we glean from microfauna and the wisdoms of creaturely companions? What might we find through wayfinding paths that resist linearity?

This performance is presented as part of the first activation of the Moving Earth, Crossing Water, Eating Soil. Alongside guest artists and collaborators who have been invited to respond to the themes of the work, experience Pulau Sekijang Bendera at sunset as we navigate through different environmental knowledges and wisdoms while thinking about the names of places, creatures, ghosts and gods that cease to exist in our immediate memory.

Note: Ferry departs Sentosa Cove Jetty (disembark at St John’s Island): 5pm. Ferry pick-up from St John’s Island (returns to Marina South Pier): 8pm.

Book here

St. John’s Island and Lazarus Island Sat, 28 Jan 2023 - 05:30 pm