Energy is Always Conserved, Never Created or Destroyed | Xi Jie Ng
Energy is Always Conserved, Never Created or Destroyed, Ng Xi Jie, Singapore
Installation with embroidered textile, digital audio, and collaged collection materials.
To explore ideas about the way that energy circulates and changes form in a closed system, Salty created a ritual zone at the base of the Toy Bin on the first floor where visitors can harmonize themselves with the cosmos above them. Lying on a blanket that has been embroidered with the outline of Salty’s own body and a series of chakra wheels, visitors can listen to a guided meditation, which calms and transports them to an ethereal realm. This audio track blends the sound of musical saw and sitar (performed by Luther Bangert), with the intimate sounds of Elsewhere staff and artists whispering and breathing, and dreamy fragments of old songs from Elsewhere’s record collection. The ritual zone is adorned with imagery and objects that evoke the balancing of energy. Two beaded works created by Brenda Oelbaum have been positioned here to represent the harmonizing of masculine and feminine energy. Looking up, one sees a constellation blanket with seven chakra wheels represented by round objects from the collection. Salty prepared the materials for this space carefully– selecting each for its calming qualities, washing them in salt water and cleansing them with reiki before installation.
