Territories of Territory Extraction
In Collaboration with Drawing Agency
The work in this exhibition is drawn from the ongoing research project “Territories of Territory Extraction,” which uses Singapore’s physical growth since 1989 as a register of the international sand supply chain in Southeast Asia. Across multiple interlinked publications and a field study in Singapore, Territories of Territory Extraction explores the multiple vectors of forensic architectural analysis used to expose Singapore’s relationship with its supply chains.
Drawing together work published in Faktur Journal, PLAT, Thresholds, and others, the Reading Room is an immersive environment for investigating the material and political ties that link architecture, construction, and geopolitical maneuvering in Singapore.
Projects on display investigate the history and logics of Singapore’s sand stockpiles, locate the international fleet of vessels at work dredging and transporting sand, and construct a chronological index of the origins of Singapore’s coastline reclamation megaprojects.
Presented at the CityxVenice Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Biennale; a partner program of the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial with the MAS Context Reading Room; ar Woodbury University’s Wedge Gallery, and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Research for this project was supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
Photography by Dan Kelleghan, courtesy of MAS Context; and Paul Emberger, courtesy Woodbury University