The Green Crab: A Diagram of Auspicious Spatial Organisation | Singapore

onebite supported the production of Australian artist-duo Zheng Mehler’s site-specific installation, The Green Crab: A Diagram of Auspicious Spatial Organization, a speculative fengshui map of Singapore’s urban environment that juxtaposes the philosophy of qi against the logic of the global economy’s flow through Singapore, providing an alternative guide to navigate and envision the city’s past, present, and future. The installation is commissioned by Singapore Art Museum as part of its signature multi-site exhibition, Lonely Vectors running from 19 February to 11 September 2022.

Qi is a quintessential Chinese belief which could be understood as the metaphysical energies that circulate through built spaces and natural landscapes. It could be harnessed productively by fengshui practitioners to effect positive or negative outcomes on events and people. As part of this work, Zhang Mehler engaged onebiter Ian Tan to conduct architectural and urban research, and subsequently commissioned the studio to produce digital versions of Singapore’s well-known architectural edifices which carried auspicious fengshui connotations. These icons were rendered in psychedelic colours and motifs that express the idiosyncratic visual culture of the Chinese community in Singapore.

Two maps are presented across SAM’s Bras Basah Road and Queen Street sites. The former takes the form of an unfolded scroll that traces the terrain of Singapore by way of the coastline, while the latter provides an oblique aerial perspective with annotations that explained the significance of locating specific buildings and the various incongruous creatures and objects on the map. The 95m long construction hoarding for SAM’s ongoing restoration works offered a striking location in downtown Singapore to display Zheng Mahler and onebite’s first collaborative effort.

The artwork represents an intersection between collaborations with practitioners from different disciplines, supported by the studio’s core skills in design and research. onebite hopes more of such fruitful crossovers will spark new synergy and create interesting visual methods and mediums to appreciate our urban environment.