A Symphony of the Displaced
Walking through the sun-drenched corridors of Tanjong Pagar Distripark on a humid Tuesday morning, one is struck by the deliberate silence of the Singapore Art Museum’s galleries. It is a silence that feels expectant, a curated void waiting for the right vibration to fill it. This is the natural habitat for the works of Sriwhana Spong, an artist whose practice does not merely occupy space—it resonates within it.
Spong, a New Zealand-born artist of Balinese descent, has spent the better part of a decade constructing a bridge between the tangible and the ethereal. Her work is a masterclass in what we call "Real Value"—the intersection of cultural heritage, material innovation, and the profound human need to locate oneself in a globalised world. In the following exploration, we delve into her "personal orchestra," her cinematic tapestries, and the specific instruments—sevgi and bengisu—that have come to define her unique contribution to the Southeast Asian contemporary art canon.
The Materiality of Memory: Who is Sriwhana Spong?
Sriwhana Spong is an artist of significant intellectual and aesthetic weight. Born in Auckland in 1979 and currently based in London, her heritage is a dual-narrative of New Zealand (Pākehā) and Indonesian (Balinese) roots. This hybridity is not just a biographical footnote; it is the engine of her creativity.
Her practice is inherently multidisciplinary, spanning film, sculpture, performance, and sound. However, unlike many contemporary artists who dabble in "multi-media," Spong’s transitions between forms are seamless and deeply considered. She approaches a film with the eye of a sculptor and a sculpture with the ear of a musician.
The Balinese Anchor
At the heart of Spong’s work lies Bali—not the Bali of tourist brochures, but a Bali of ancestral memory, ritual, and "the everyday." One of her most poignant works, The painter-tailor (2019), revolves around a painting by her grandfather, I Gusti Made Rundu, a Balinese artist and tailor. Through 16mm film, Spong investigates how images are made, kept, and lost within a family. This work establishes her primary theme: the reclamation of history through the manipulation of contemporary materials.
The Personal Orchestra: A New Gamelan for the 21st Century
Perhaps the most ambitious project in Spong’s repertoire is her ongoing "personal orchestra." Started around 2016, this project is a series of sculptural instruments inspired by the Balinese gamelan.
In traditional Balinese culture, a gamelan is more than a set of instruments; it is a communal entity. Each village’s gamelan is tuned uniquely to that village, meaning an instrument from one cannot be played in another. Spong adopts this concept of "place-specific sound" but abstracts it. Her instruments are not meant to replicate the gamelan’s sound but to evoke its spirit through modern materials like aluminium, bronze, and glass.
Instrument 1: The Geometry of Sound
The project began with Instrument 1, a series of sculptural pieces that serve both as visual art and functional musical devices. These are often named after people who have influenced the artist or the specific context of the exhibition.
The "Real Value" here lies in the craftsmanship. These are not mass-produced objects; they are hand-finished, often involving collaborations with high-end foundries (such as Bristol’s Ore and Ingot) or local Singaporean artisans during her residencies.
Sevgi and Bengisu: The Resonating Hearts
Within the ensemble of her musical devices, two specific components—sevgi and bengisu—hold a particular fascination. These are often bells or bell-like structures integrated into her "bell trees" or hanging sculptures.
Sevgi: Named after a term of affection or "love" in Turkish, this element highlights Spong’s interest in the "mystic style" of female medieval mystics. It represents the softer, more intimate side of her soundscape.
Bengisu: Translating to "water of life," this component often takes the form of resonant bronze or glass that, when struck, produces a sustained, shimmering note that mimics the ripple of water.
These names reflect Spong’s penchant for incorporating linguistic layers into her physical objects. The instruments are not just for playing; they are for "writing" a sense of place through vibration.
Cinematic Rhythms: From Fanta to 16mm
To understand Spong’s sculpture, one must understand her relationship with film. Her early work, such as Villa America (2012), famously used silk banners dyed with Fanta and Coca-Cola.
The Alchemy of the Everyday
Why Fanta? For Spong, the orange hue of Fanta isn't just a pop-culture reference; it is an alchemical byproduct of global capitalism. By using these syrups as dyes, she references the Balinese tradition of daily offerings (Canang sari), where everyday items—flowers, cigarettes, crackers—are offered to the divine. This "low" material (soda) is transformed into a "high" aesthetic object (silk banners), questioning what we value in a post-colonial society.
The Body in Motion
Her films often feature dance, reflecting her own training in classical ballet. She captures the "lines that go on," as she puts it, where the body’s movement becomes a form of drawing in space. This is evident in her survey exhibition Oceanic Feeling, which debuted at ICA Singapore in 2016. The exhibition featured Bells for hooves, a performance where dancers wore costumes adorned with cowbells, turning their every movement into a percussive event.
The Singapore Context: A Hub for High-Value Contemporary Art
Singapore occupies a vital place in Sriwhana Spong’s trajectory. As a global financial hub with an increasingly sophisticated art market, Singapore serves as the perfect backdrop for works that challenge the definition of "asset."
The ICA Singapore Residency and Exhibition
The 2016 exhibition Oceanic Feeling, co-presented with Filipina artist Maria Taniguchi, was a watershed moment. It transformed the 42-metre gallery space into a site of sensory exploration. For local collectors and art enthusiasts, this exhibition demonstrated the "Real Value" of Southeast Asian diasporic art—art that speaks to the region’s history while maintaining a global, sophisticated aesthetic.
Presence in Local Collections
Spong’s work has been featured in major regional discussions and journals, such as Southeast of Now (published by NUS Press). Her instruments have been performed by local luminaries like Vivian Wang (of the band The Observer), further anchoring her work in the Singaporean creative ecosystem.
The Real Value: Why Spong Matters to Collectors and Thinkers
When assessing the "Real Value" of an artist like Sriwhana Spong, one must look beyond the price tag of a bronze bell or a 16mm film reel.
Cultural Synthesis: She provides a sophisticated framework for understanding Indonesian heritage without falling into "tropical" clichés. Her work is rigourous, intellectual, and minimalist.
Longevity of Materials: By using bronze, high-grade aluminium, and hand-blown glass, her sculptures are built to last. They possess a tactile quality that grows more significant with age—the "patina of time."
Intellectual Capital: Her engagement with medieval female mystics and 12th-century Javanese poems ensures that her work remains a subject of academic and curatorial interest, which historically supports the long-term value of an artist’s oeuvre.
Walking back out into the hustle of the CBD, one carries the faint ringing of the sevgi bell in one's mind. In a city as fast-paced as Singapore, the value of Spong’s work is the permission it gives us to slow down, to listen, and to find the sacred in the synthetic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Sriwhana Spong and what is her artistic focus?
Sriwhana Spong is a contemporary artist of New Zealand and Balinese heritage who lives and works in London. Her work focuses on the intersection of body, sound, and memory, utilizing film, sculpture, and performance to explore cultural displacement and the "mystic style" of female historical figures.
What are the musical instruments 'sevgi' and 'bengisu' in Spong's work?
Sevgi and Bengisu are specific sculptural bells within Spong’s "personal orchestra" (Instrument 1). These names are derived from Turkish—sevgi meaning love and bengisu meaning water of life—and represent the artist's interest in how sound can "write" a sense of place and history.
Where can I see Sriwhana Spong's work in Singapore?
Sriwhana Spong has a strong presence in Singapore, notably through her major survey exhibition Oceanic Feeling at ICA Singapore. Her work is frequently discussed in regional art journals like Southeast of Now and has been featured in collaborations with the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and local experimental musicians.
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