ShanghART Singapore Annexe Presents Immortal Words :: 字基, a Solo Exhibition by Boedi Widjaja

Poster credit: ShanghART Singapore Annexe

Boedi Widjaja’s solo exhibition “Immortal Words :: 字基” is now on view at ShanghART Singapore Annexe, running through 1 March. The project splices poetry with genetic code, meditating on the diasporic condition.The artist asks: if history is displaced, how might it take up new space through the body? His four-line toponymic poem spatialises as DNA nano-sculptures—line, circle, cube—released through a gachapon machine, with a microfluidic molecular writing process unspooled on video. A living participatory work realized with geneticist Eric Yap, and with the support of NAC Creation Grant, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and Institute of Digital Molecular Analytics and Science, NTU Singapore.

Boedi Widjaja (b. 1975, Indonesia; based in Singapore) explores migration through the conceptual frames of house, home and homeland, engaging with space and semiotics. Trained in architecture and design, Boedi works across media—from bio art and performance to experimental photography and architectural installations—often combining scientific phenomena with poetic gesture.

Widjaja received the inaugural QAGOMA and Singapore Art Museum co-commission for his Black–Hut series, presented at the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial (2018-19) and the 6th Singapore Biennale (2019-20). His works have been included in international group shows such as Thailand Biennale: The Open World, Chiang Rai, Thailand (2023); Cladogram: KMA’s 2nd International Juried Biennial, Katonah Museum of Art, New York (2021), in which he was awarded First Prize; MAP1: Waterways, Diaspora Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale (2017); Jerusalem Biennale (2017); Yinchuan Biennale (2016); From east to the Barbican, Barbican, London (2015); Infinity in flux, ArtJog, Indonesia (2015); and Bains Numériques #7, Enghien-les-Bains, France (2012) amongst others. Recent solo exhibitions include Kang Ouw《侠客行》(2022), Esplanade Tunnel, Singapore; Declaration of (2019), Helwaser Gallery, New York; Rivers and lakes Tanah dan air (2018), ShanghART Singapore; and Black—Hut (2016), Singapore Biennale Affiliate Project, ICA Singapore. He was an Artist-in-Residence at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Temenggong Singapore and DRAWinternational France.