PLASTIC PARTITIONS

JUN ONG (Based in Kuala Lumpur)
PLASTIC PARTITIONS

In today’s data-laden world, there is a conflux of information, offline and online. Our voices become convoluted. “Can our voices be heard in a material world? Can we express an opinion? 
Can artificial light be used to convey mood?”

“Plastic Partitions” aims to create an autonomous space, a physical forum in a public domain where the expression of each voice can be celebrated, as an individual and as a collective.

Inspired by the bulletin board as a local social device, the installation uses artificial light to cast an opinion/question, simultaneously collecting information and expressing mood. Each pixel has three light characteristic; press once for dim, press twice for pulse and press thrice for intense flicker; each representing a certain mood. Questions are posed wirelessly through a mobile application, which can be accessed both in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, connecting these two Southeast Asian metropolises.

The result is a visceral gradient of lights that paints the public’s reaction to a specific topic.

Plastic Partition is one of the three winning projects of the Prototyping Lab in Bangkok “Live the City: Urban Media Project", organised by Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Public Art Lab (Berlin) and the Goethe-Institut Thailand, that took place in December 2015.


Image: © Jun Hao Ong

Artist biography

Jun is a Kuala Lumpur-based architect and artist. His interest lies at the intersection of fine arts and applied arts in the context of South East Asia.

He is currently obsessed with materiality - coupling low-tech materials with hi-tech application primarily with artificial light.

Jun has previously worked at practices in Shanghai, Beijing & KL; most recently at the studio of British designer, Tom Dixon in London and has been featured in Hypebeast, Vice, Ignant & Designboom.

He studied architecture at the University of Westminster in London and at the University of Melbourne.

Website: www.jun-ong.com