Peel Here

Peeling is amongst the many actions that we perform daily, unremarkable. Very often, it is to remove a barrier to accessing the intended content. When we peel, we are either separating, unsealing or revealing what lies beneath. The motion of peeling is often gentle, slow and careful, and we rarely notice ourselves doing it.

In a society that celebrates the spectacular and the sensational, it is unsurprising that we are no longer attuned to the mundane and the commonplace. This exhibition aimed to present a fragment of our world where the gesture of peeling is frequently performed in a swift action, but quickly forgotten.

Peel Here is an interactive exhibition which examines the art of peeling, encouraging audiences to revisit their everyday gestures and other menial tasks in the scrim of our sensorially-overloaded world. Driven by independent research lab Atelier HOKO, alongside six design researchers from NAFA’s Faculty of Art & Design, their explorations were unravelled across 17 exhibits at the Lim Hak Tai Gallery from 11 to 30 October 2022.

In collaboration with Singapore-based creative tech studio, The Doodle People, Augmented Reality (AR) installations were placed around the campus for the audience to digitally peel away surfaces to reveal hidden artworks and digital augmentations to their surroundings. Featured artworks embedded within AR included pieces by NAFA alumni and visual art luminaries Koh Kai Ting, Ho Seok Kee, Chong En, William Sim and Lush Tan.