DRIFTING BODIES
4-channel artist film, Colour 4K/HD, 10mins 30 secs., 2025
Directed and edited by Jingru (Cyan) Cheng and Chen Zhan
Cinematography by Chen Zhan
Sound design in collaboration with Shuoxin Tan
Drifting Bodies consists of two video works in dialogue, inviting visitors to walk through a projection of Singapore’s Jewel Rain Vortex at Changi Airport into the sensorial environment of Thailand’s Vajiralongkorn Dam Reservoir recreated through a three-channel video installation in a dark room.
The spatial relationship between a public front and a hidden black box collapses the long transnational distance between these two technically mediated natures. The water pulse of the world’s largest indoor waterfall—the Jewel Rain Vortex—appears tame and silent. Meanwhile, connected to the Jewel through a transnational power grid, Thailand’s indigenous Karen Hill Tribe lives on rafts, floating with the rhythm of the Vajiralongkorn Dam’s water pulse as it generates electricity to power the spectacle far, far away.
The film installation is part of the exhibition HOW MUCH WATTAGE IS ONE HANDBREADTH OF WATER at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York (2025).