Before and after

26th Dec 2012

Photos and text by Zhao Renhui

image

Fisherman boat on top of a house

The dark roof in this damaged building is actually the hull of a fisherman boat that was washed ashore by the tsunami. Today it stands as a tsunami monument for visitors to Aceh

We (Me and Sai) arrived on the eight year anniversary of the Aceh Tsunami.

Eight years ago on this boxing day, Aceh was hit by a tsunami. Around 150,000 people were killed in the 2004 tsunami with some parts of the city becoming permanently submerged.

I’m interested in the aesthetics of representing futures. In the case of my residency, it is representing a prediction of an oncoming natural disaster in Padang. A disaster that is similar to the tsunami that hit Aceh. Scientists estimate that another big tsunami will hit Padang in the next 150 years. The EOS has been doing a lot of research in the Padang area, trying their best to understand the situation.

I felt it would be interesting to see a city that has already been hit by a tsunami before going to Padang. 

Aceh has developed and recovered quite a lot since the Tsunami. There are hardly any traces of the Tsunami still visible. We engaged a local driver to bring us to several of the sites that has been set aside to be visited by tourists.

Disaster tourism.

 

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Photos by Clara Balaguer

Philippines based and EOS Visiting Artist,  Clara Balaguer and her collaborator Carlos Casas sharing with us some of their snapshots during their one week visiting period here at EOS.

Read more about their project for the Visiting Artist Program here.  

“When I was a child, I was eager for the sea and I felt that the sea is mysterious, and I can never touch it. Now, I also feel as before. I come here to seek strong emotional conflicts and rich image pictures, which may with some mawkishness and mood, lose. The sea is the beginning of lives and dreams, at the same time; I am looking for a hometown in my heart.”

-Chinese artist, Zhang Xiao, elaborating on why he chose the Chinese coastline as his main focus of his project for EOS VAP. 

Photo by Sai Hua Kuan “At this stage, I am experimenting with the soil found locally. I am focusing on testing on the charge and amp to find out the sound.” -Singaporean artist, Sai Hua Kuan, updating us on his progress with his project ‘Sound of the Earth’ for the EOS Visiting Artist program. 
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Photo by Sai Hua Kuan

“At this stage, I am experimenting with the soil found locally. I am focusing on testing on the charge and amp to find out the sound.”

-Singaporean artist, Sai Hua Kuan, updating us on his progress with his project ‘Sound of the Earth’ for the EOS Visiting Artist program. 

Photo by Zhao Renhui “It has been an intense one week at the Earth Observatory of Singapore. It was really amazing to speak to all the scientists working at the EOS during my short visit. Everyone of them had a unique story and perspective to tell of our Earth. As I am interested in the visual representations and aesthetics that the EOS utilizes in their research, I found myself attracted to the equipment that they have used in their research. I observed that prediction and forecasting of natural disasters is one of the things the scientists do here at the EOS, and to do that, they have a set of equipment that helps them to collect data and visuals. There is also a huge range of specialized  equipment to collect specific data sets to allow them to look at the earth, sometimes beneath the earth, sometimes a 3D map of the landscape, sometimes from the sky, sometimes to map how the crust moves. To me these equipment highlights the unique perspective that the EOS has when they look about our geological landscape.” -Singaporean artist, Zhao Renhui, on thoughts of his one week visit to the Earth Observer’s Society of Singapore. (EOS) Read more about his project ‘The Earth Observer’s Society’ here. 
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Photo by Zhao Renhui
“It has been an intense one week at the Earth Observatory of Singapore. It was really amazing to speak to all the scientists working at the EOS during my short visit. Everyone of them had a unique story and perspective to tell of our Earth. As I am interested in the visual representations and aesthetics that the EOS utilizes in their research, I found myself attracted to the equipment that they have used in their research. I observed that prediction and forecasting of natural disasters is one of the things the scientists do here at the EOS, and to do that, they have a set of equipment that helps them to collect data and visuals. There is also a huge range of specialized  equipment to collect specific data sets to allow them to look at the earth, sometimes beneath the earth, sometimes a 3D map of the landscape, sometimes from the sky, sometimes to map how the crust moves. To me these equipment highlights the unique perspective that the EOS has when they look about our geological landscape.”
-Singaporean artist, Zhao Renhui, on thoughts of his one week visit to the Earth Observer’s Society of Singapore. (EOS) Read more about his project ‘The Earth Observer’s Society’ here. 

Thai artist Som Sutthirat (right), an EOS VAP grant recipient, with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder.
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Thai artist Som Sutthirat (right), an EOS VAP grant recipient, with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder.

Filipino artist Lobregat Balaguer (center) with her collaborator Carlos Casas (left) with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder, during their visit to EOS. Photo by Chua Kai Qing. 
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Filipino artist Lobregat Balaguer (center) with her collaborator Carlos Casas (left) with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder, during their visit to EOS. Photo by Chua Kai Qing. 

Chinese artist Zhang Xiao (left), an EOS VAP grant recipient, with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder. Photo by Chua Kai Qing.
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Chinese artist Zhang Xiao (left), an EOS VAP grant recipient, with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder. Photo by Chua Kai Qing.

The EOS VAP 2012 program is officially launched! Singaporean artists Zhao Renhui (center) and Sai Hua Kuan (right) with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder (L). Photo by Ng Yu Xin Karen.
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The EOS VAP 2012 program is officially launched!

Singaporean artists Zhao Renhui (center) and Sai Hua Kuan (right) with Isaac Kerlow, EOS VAP founder (L). Photo by Ng Yu Xin Karen.

2012 EOS Visiting Artists

The selected project for the 2012 EOS Visiting Artist Program are:        

- Coastline by Zhang Xiao, China      

- Lupang by Clara Balaguer, Carlos Casas and Martha Athienza, The Philippines      

- Sound of the Earth by Sai Hua Kuan, Singapore      

- The Earth Observers’ Society by Zhao Renhui, Singapore      

- When Greed Moves Earth by Som Sutthirat Supaparinya, Thailand  

Congratulations to the 2012 EOS VAP artists!