SAW Dialogues 2022 | Rethinking Cultural Programming as A Tool to Activate Community and Belonging

28 Jan

Written By Margins Print

Itamar Kubovy, Khoo Eng Tat and Lim Chye Hong
By Sara Lau

Screenshot of talk. In clockwise direction: Lim Chye Hong, Head of Education, Programmesand Access, Singapore Art Museum, Khoo Eng Tat, Senior Lecturer, Engineering Design & Innovation Centre; Principal Investigator, Immersive Reality Lab, NUS, Itamar Kubovy, Co-Founder & Co-Leader, Inside LIVE, Freeman; Inaugural Executive Director, Pilobolus.

Key points:

The accelerated digitalisation of systems and social relationships across the world is a key turning point in history.

Digital experiences should not merely replicate physical experiences but endeavour to be meaningful in their own right.
Embodiment and the sensation of presence are goals that have yet to be achieved for digital experiences.
Increased intersectional collaboration among the fields of art, science and technology would be beneficial for all.

‘Rethinking Cultural Programming as A Tool to Activate Community and Belonging’, took place on 20 January 2022 at 8pm, as part of SAW Dialogues 2022, and was a dialogue on the digital revolution and what it meant for cultural programming, engaging communities, as well as the intersections between art, science and technology. The panel featured Itamar Kubovy, Co-Founder & Co-Leader, Inside LIVE, Freeman and Inaugural Executive Director, Pilobolus; and Khoo Eng Tat, Senior Lecturer, Engineering Design & Innovation Centre and Principal Investigator, Immersive Reality Lab, NUS.The session was moderated by Lim Chye Hong, Head of Education, Programmes and Access, Singapore Art Museum.

Here are the takeaways from the panel:

The accelerated digitalisation of systems and social relationships across the world is a key turning point in history. Itamar opened the discussion by stating that he believed the push towards the digital world was already happening and was merely accelerated by the pandemic. He went on to compare this rapid digitalisation to the Industrial Revolution, based on the similarity in scale and impact it has on society and its various systems. One analogy that he raised was how technology stops being seen as technology once it becomes fully integrated into everyday life. Eng Tat agreed with this, pointing out that pen and paper were once considered technology as well. He also talked about the proliferation of the metaverse and how the pandemic propelled this discussion, and how more research was being conducted on mixed or augmented reality technology.

Digital experiences should not merely replicate physical experiences but endeavour to be meaningful in their own right. Itamar introduced two projects that he worked on over the pandemic: Decameron Row and LA Opera’s Modulation, and explained how the structure of each project added meaning to the digital experience. The former brought together artists from New York city and later all over the world into a digital space and attempted to organise culture and create community in a way that is not limited by distance, time or space. The second project was more focused on creating an immersive experience, where the digital world was not one that replicated reality, but represented an otherworldly space while still tackling the themes of isolation, identity and fear through opera. This grew out of the need to engage audiences at a time whereby onsite performances were either not viable or severely hampered by COVID.

Eng Tat talked about his work with the National University Hospital (NUH) and how pedagogy in medicine has evolved with the pandemic and the advent of digital technology. He explained how he and his team have been trying to use augmented reality for teaching purposes, such as creating AI avatars coded with natural language abilities to interact with medical students, in order to simulate consultations between a doctor and their patient. He likened his work to Itamar’s, stating that his work also requires the need to create an immersive environment that has utility and can also create meaningful experiences. The panel agreed that physical and digital experiences complement one another and are part of an individual’s larger continuous journey from the home to the museum, or in Eng Tat’s case, the hospital, and vice versa.

Embodiment and the sensation of presence are goals that have yet to be achieved for digital experiences. Itamar mentioned how embodiment is a key part of how people experience life and interact with one another, using the example of body language during meetings to explain how gestures and facial movements are essential to how we relate to one another. This has not yet been achieved in the digital sphere, and how this differentiates the online experience from physical ones. Eng Tat concurred and gave an example from his own research using gloves to monitor the movements of medical students. One of the breakthroughs they are hoping to have is to replicate the sensation of holding an object in one’s hand as an embodiment of force and weight in a virtual environment. The gap between the physical and virtual is one that has yet to be bridged.

Chye postulated that we are social animals that can only function when our emotional needs are met as we communicate. She further underscored the importance of optimizing live, five-senses, and in-person experience in navigating the digital realms.

Increased intersectional collaboration among the fields of art, science and technology would be beneficial for all. The panel agreed that while they were working in different fields, their goals, core ideas and perspective on technology were similar, and hence increased interdisciplinary collaboration would be beneficial for all parties. Itamar mentioned that for artists, digital tools and skills such as computer programming have become essential tools for art-making. Eng Tat said that a deep understanding of the five senses and what embodiment entails has been important to his research, and that the aesthetic experience is equally important in the creation of virtual teaching and medical environments.

All in all, the panel was in agreement that the digital world is an important part of community building and social relationships, but more still needs to be done to bridge the gap between the physical and virtual for a seamless integrated experience. The sentiment expressed throughout the conversation was that the digital and material worlds complement rather than compete with each other.

Watch the full recording of ‘SAW Dialogues 2022 | Rethinking Cultural Programming as A Tool to Activate Community and Belonging’ here:

About the writer:

Sara Lau is a writer with overlapping interests in visual and performing arts, ethnographic narratives and cultural histories. She enjoys writing in all its permutations, particularly poetry and creative non-fiction. In 2019, she graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Sociology and a second major in Southeast Asian studies. By day, she works as a content marketing executive