Lost & Found: Sea Chanty Project

Lost & Found: Sea Chanty Project is the first pillar of Lost & Found, a multi-phased curatorial project by the Singapore Art Museum, exploring the significance of archival documentation and records through artistic practices. By studying how artists collect what seems uncollectable, assemble that which resists assembly, and present that which defies visibility, Lost & Found engages with questions concerning the authoritative voice of archives and history.

The Sea Chanty Project expands the conventional understanding of work songs from maritime areas through contemporary interpretation. It draws inspiration from the synergy of action, collectivism and storytelling at the heart of this practice. The project consists of three commissioned music videos: Tirta Maya by Rosemainy Buang & Zachary Chan, Larung by Riar Rizaldi and Imprint of an imprint of an imprint by Vien Valencia. They re-envision various musical genres by employing contemporary audio-visual assemblage techniques and the popular format of short-form streaming videos. Engaging with the resonances between humans and non-humans, these music videos explore connections between water-based communities and the contemporary politics of labour. The videos evoke themes such as displacement, sonic politics and the poetics of memory. 

Tirta Maya by Rosemainy Buang & Zachary Chan
Forthcoming 15 June 2024

Tirta Maya (sacred or still waters in Javanese) is composed of three levels, each symbolising a distinct depth: the cosmic ocean, the womb and the underworld. Flow between the levels and navigate the video’s archipelagic landscape borne by an ocean. 

Larung by Riar Rizaldi
Forthcoming 15 July 2024

Larung focuses on the predicament of Indonesian seamen. Whilst larung means to float or cast something out to sea, it has also taken on a second meaning, that is commemorative funerals organised by a deceased’s colleagues. Drawing on the genre of Pop Melayu, Larung features a crooning, melancholic tune that recounts the sailors’ experiences of being marooned at sea and their deep longing for shore.

Imprint of an imprint of an imprint by Vien Valencia
Forthcoming 15 August 2024

A dam construction threatens the existence of the Tinipak River and the indigenous Dumagat-Remontado community in the Philippines. This multimedia experience captures the essence of the river, and the cultural and economic precarity of the community whose way of life is intimately intertwined with the river.

Banner Image: Riar Rizaldi, Larung (2024), Music Video. Image courtesy of the artist

about the artists

Rosemainy Buang & Zachary Chan
In navigating their composite backgrounds across diverse mediums, the artists engage in art-making with a multidisciplinary and experimental ethos, frequently manifesting through collaborations with co-creators. Rosemainy Buang & Zachary Chan share a foundation in central Javanese gamelan. Within her role as a sound artist and gamelan practitioner, Rose endeavours to interrogate, augment, and extend the boundaries of traditional gamelan soundscapes, philosophies, and aesthetics. Zachary’s practice spans several mediums, reflecting his multidisciplinary background in visual communications, graphic design, and sonic arts. His collaborative practice engages artists across mediums and interests from installation, performance art, experimental films, theatre plays and design.

Riar Rizaldi
Riar Rizaldi works as an artist and filmmaker. His works have been shown at various international film festivals (including Locarno, IFFR, FID Marseille, BFI London, Cinema du Reel, etc.) as well as Centre Pompidou Paris (2021), Museum of Modern Art (2024), Whitney Biennial (2024), Taipei Biennial (2023), Istanbul Biennial (2023), Venice Architecture Biennale (2021), Biennale Jogja (2021), National Gallery of Indonesia (2019), and other venues and institutions. In addition, recent solo exhibitions and focus programs of his works had been held at Z33 Hasselt (2024), Centre de la photographie Genève (2023), and Batalha Centro de Cinema Porto (2023) amongst others.

Vien Valencia
Centering his artistry on community-based works, Vien Valencia founded Nomad Projects to address changing landscapes in various local communities. As an artist, his body of work tends to be more process-centric, with a particular emphasis in involving the local voice in his method of creation. In his shortlisted exhibition your age, my age, and the age of the river, Valencia travels to Tanay, Rizal to work with the Dumagat-Remontado indigenous group in saving the Tinipak River from the Kaliwa Dam project, which threatens to destroy not only the community’s means of livelihood, but also effectively erase the cultural and environmental history of the landscape.