Nicholas Jun Hao Ng

"Relay"

Section MS9, Keren Kuenberg

Keywords: labour, moving image, documentation

With our new climate, the way we converse and connect with others is now outsourced. Previously, physical conversations were made, both socially and professionally, that was the norm of pre COVID 19. Our social interactions embedded within society, where the partaking of conversations, led to an invincible network we do not see as we are conditioned in this reality.

Shifting from normality to a new way of living, means we are forced to transition and adapt to new situations and moments within the containment of our individual homes. Technology becomes our friend. It is now a tool and device for us to stay connected. Using our laptops and phones, we converse via video calls. Moreover, the act of shopping is now translated online, a conversation with our screens will trigger an intermediary device that allows us to feel some form of normality no matter where we are.

This device is the medium, the person, that goes between the ordering and receiving. This middle person acts hidden from our naked eye. He or she is the reason why there is some form of normality. A group of unsung heroes that keep us connected with our realities as we recondition ourselves in this new life. We rely on them to fulfil our needs and necessity, a communication that starts from gestures of our hands to the phone.

The project then examines this invincible labour. The compilation looks at the journey in relation to the urgency of time to deliver from one location to the next, positioning them precariously in a constant relay, a repetitive action. With the pressures of time, delivery is so efficient that we cannot seem to see where, what, and how the in-between actions are being carried out. Recapturing the moments of these invincible happenings by going against time, that clarifies the repetition and series of motion and social connections through its choreography as a response to our order.