Premiere »White Elephant«

In 2013, Malaysian port city Malacca was declared a node in China’s Maritime Silk Road, a sea-based infrastructure project meant to connect China with Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa. Since then, numerous land reclamation and urbanization projects set out to transform Malacca’s coastline in expectation of increasing marine traffic and tourism. However, these expectations would never materialize. Soon after development in Malacca had started, the Chinese government identified a more promising trade connection and developers abandoned their half-finished construction sites. The expression »white elephant« is a contemporary euphemism for costly building projects that fail to deliver on their promises. In Southeast Asia, owning a white elephant used to signify power and prosperity. The animal was and still is considered sacred, validating its owner’s high social status while burdening them with high maintenance costs. The two-channel video installation explores the relationship between architectural models, promotional digital renders, and the actual sites. Malacca’s deserted coastline stands in for the disjunction between future promises, their material premises, and repercussions. Amidst the ruins, the silty plots of land start to form a life of their own.

The Premiere of the installation »White Elephant« took place in the framework of MoA's Annual Conference Deep Material Futures in November 2022 at silent green Kulturquartier.