Dari Tanah Ke Mesin (From Land to Machine)
Syafiq Halid
Solo Exhibition
3 - 11 May 2025, 11am - 7pm
Our instruments, our machines, our bodies, our selves. Everything is connected, the nature of our existence is cyclical - as expressed in the Malay saying "dari tanah kembali ke tanah", which signifies that everything which comes from the land eventually returns to it. And that no matter how complex our technology is, or humankind, what are we against the complexity of the universe?
So, what happens when we start from the beginning? What happens when we take everything apart and put them together?
In Dari Tanah Ke Mesin (From Land to Machine), Syafiq questions the relationship between man, machine and instrument through their connection with land. Using soil as a conduit, Syafiq extracts, strips and fuses sounds - from his artistic practices - Malay drums and sounds, electronic music, and field recordings. In the installation and space, these sounds and the environs intertwine, communicating freely and seamlessly, being their authentic selves even as the ecosystem changes rapidly - simplicity and complexity co-exist in synchronicity.
"Manusia asalnya dari tanah, makan hasil tanah, berdiri di atas tanah, dan akan kembali ke tanah. Tapi kenapa masih bersifat langit?" — Buya Hamka.
About the Artist(s)
Syafiq Halid is a manipulator of sound, an electronic artist and an experimental percussionist based in Singapore. His experience spans traditional, multidisciplinary and contemporary performance projects as an artist, sound designer and composer. He has presented work in Asia Pacific such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia and has worked with collaborators and companies at platforms like the Esplanade, National Gallery Singapore, ArtScience Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Nusasonic, Goethe Institute. *SCAPE and Bus Projects.
Summoning sounds, aesthetics, metaphors, and experiences of the Malay world, Syafiq's compositions traverse the grey realms that exist between the traditional and the contemporary. His creations deconstruct, exploit, bastardise and reimagine these sounds, manifesting them into an experimental sonic language unique to Southeast Asia. His explorations speak deeply to the realities and fluctuations of living and being Malay in Singapore and the region. They compel us to confront our relationship with the region through artistic and cultural wisdoms rooted deep within us.