HARENA
Like an empty frame showcasing living nature, Harena highlights the Asian domestic gecko. Attracting nearby insects, including relentless mosquitos, this open stage becomes the spectacle of a salutary night feast.
Singapore's hot and humid climate is conducive to the proliferation of nocturnal insects like mosquitoes who are also vectors of tropical viruses. They are attracted to artificial lighting just like their predators: the Asian Domestic Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus), who has learnt to live around these providential traps.
It is one of the few species demonstrating such commensal behaviour, living closely with humans, receiving board and lodging in exchange for pest control. Invisible during the day, its song punctuates the nocturnal dampness of an endless summer.
Harena pays tribute to this discreet yet helpful host, changing the perception from disturbing reptile to benevolent friend, from fear to curiosity. When the day darkens, Harena lights up. On walls that could display a still life, the natural spectacle of life then takes place. Attracted by the light, the insects offer themselves to hungry geckos in an endlessly renewed choreographic feast.
A sculpture by day, the empty frame becomes a functional light at night, illuminating both space and minds by making this spontaneous show an opportunity to learn to live in harmony and reciprocity with nature.
DESIGNERS
KIANNE LIM
CELINE CHAN