"For Singaporean artist Brandon Tay, the age of new media comes replete with its own newer inversions of digital space, spatialization, and perspective. Tay’s installation, FACADE, was part of F(r)iction@KONA, one of Indian art non-profit St+art India’s recent exhibitions on new media, and installation art. The exhibition also featured the work of artists such as Marc Lee, Martha Cooper and Akshat Nauriyal.
Tay’s installation is a meeting of the anthropomorphic with the interactive and the digitalized. Some would say, in the present state of affairs, the former implies the latter. The set-up features a screen reflecting back the viewer, who comes face to face with a creature bipedal but decidedly not human- with black fur covering a body crowned by a square of effervescent pink. While you stand before the installation, the creature, through a series of body sensors and object motion technology, mirrors your movements. Upon immediately entering the room, one encounters immediate darkness and the surprise of this creature mirroring movement. A number of other elements establish the frame as well, such as two hooded neon figures, who rest in the background. On the side we see another reflective surface, dancing enticingly: it is a smartphone."
