Future Tense

Future Tense stages a speculative Third World Pavilion, drawing on the history of World Expos, including the 1964 New York World's Fair and the 1970 Osaka Expo, to explore how visions of a Third World future have shifted and unraveled since. Rather than a critical dismantling of these visions, the exhibition treats the pavilion as a medium for channeling them, staging what the artist describes as a séance in which architecture, history, and sound interact.

Central to the exhibition is Quantum Palm, a large-scale sonic and thermal sculpture referencing the talipot palm. Native to Southeast and South Asia and later transplanted to South America, the talipot lives for decades, flowering once before it dies. Other works include Invisible Anthem, a sound installation which the artist made in collaboration with Indonesian composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah. A choreographic score activates the works at set intervals, so the exhibition moves between states: silent and sounding, still and moving, dormant and active.