&#8220;Blows&#8221; and Send a &#8216;Dandelion&#8217; Virtually to Japan at Gardens by the Bay

“Blows” and Send a ‘Dandelion’ Virtually to Japan at Gardens by the Bay

Singapore – From today until November 15, Gardens by the Bay’s Supertree Grove plays host to Dandelion, an interactive installation that allows people in Singapore and Japan to interact with each other via dandelion fluffs. When someone in Singapore “blows” at the dandelion of the installation, dandelion fluffs will travel virtually to Dandelion installations in Japan and bloom into peonies there. In the same way, dandelion fluffs from Japan will bloom into sakuras in Singapore when someone in Japan “blows” at the Dandelion installation there. Launched simultaneously in Singapore and Japan today, Dandelion is a way for people to connect with each other during the pandemic, when international borders are closed to the majority of travellers.

dandelion multimedia installation at Gardens by the Bay — PHOTO – NAKED, INC

Dandelion is a collaboration between Gardens by the Bay and Tokyo-based creative company NAKED, as part of the latter’s Breath / Bless Project. Breath / Bless is conceptualised by the founder of NAKED, the artist Ryotaro Muramatsu, as an expression of peace in difficult times, and a collective monument of mankind’s solidarity and unity with one another. It is particularly poignant now as people across the world cope with a global pandemic. This is the first time Mr Muramatsu is presenting a work that connects across international borders in real time.

Dandelion in Singapore is a 2m-tall dandelion structure set against the spectacular backdrop of the Supertrees. People scan a QR code and point their smartphones at the dandelion structure to “blow” at it, which will trigger floating dandelion fluffs that appear via projection on the ground and “bloom” as peonies in the Dandelion installations in Tokyo Tower and Shibuya’s Miyashita Park. Whenever sakura spontaneously bloom on the ground at Gardens by the Bay, it means someone in Japan has blown at the Dandelion installations there, sending dandelion fluffs Singapore’s way. NAKED hopes to install the Dandelion network in other major cities to connect various communities around the world.