Worms Festival? You must be wondering; a festival where different types of worms are celebrated? Definitely not for the faint hearted, but the Worms Festival is actually a multi-disciplinary annual art festival comprising of artists from a diverse array of creative disciplines. This ranges from the performing arts, music, film, and visual art to digital art.

In its third running year, the organization behind the Worm Festival, Plastique Kinetic Worms, hopes to promote public access to contemporary art., Plastique Kinetic Worms is an art space and support organization set up and run by local young artists to create space in the local art scene. Allowing artists to expand and explore their boundaries of artistic practice in Singapore.

Worms Festival 3 sees participants from around the region, including Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. True to its intention of multi-disciplinary art, featured work see different disciplines merging.

Daiki Wakachi, Melting Cube Salon

Sculptural performance for example, by Kirin Art Award winner Daiki Wakachi sees the process of deconstructing a sculpture presented as a performance. Entitled “Melting Cube Salon”, this prelude to his upcoming exhibition allows participants to witness the melting of a cube right before their eyes. As the cube disintegrates, ball bearings within come tumbling down, spreading themselves across the space communicating the transient and precarious nature of life.

Jakraphun Thanateeranon, Draw by Light”

Another merge is seen in Thai Jakraphun Thanateeranon‘s “Draw by Light”. An art installation and video presentation that as suggested by its title deals with the theme of light and its relation to the human psyche. Resulting from years of experimentation with various photographic elements and techniques, Jakraphun’s work is result of a background exposed to traditional beliefs influenced by incense and candle flames together with modern day technology in photography.

Codedpixels//, morris.exe (Saraswati Gramich remix)

In line with the advancement of the internet’s influence on art and design, local representative Codedpixels//, the first web art gallery in Singapore was also featured in this festival. Showcased through “morris.exe (Saraswati Gramich remix)”, it explores the world of computer viruses, drawing an analogy to social issues in relation to the world of disease.

Featuring over ten different programs over a span of thirteen days. With free admission to all of them, it most certainly was a case of the early bird catching the worm. Worm Festival indeed makes contemporary art more accessible to the public.

Worm Festival 3
Date: October 18th – November 3rd, 2001
Place: Plastique Kinetic Worms
Address: 199A/B South Bridge Road, Singapore 058748
https://www.pkworms.org.sg