The Dead or Alive lamp is a symbol of the human tendency to separate animals as living beings from their all-too-common end, as farmed products to consume. It is a call to wrestle with the overwhelmingly messy origins of our food and re-evaluate our relationship with the churn of the industry that enables this process.
Reality is difficult to swallow, and the reality of the origins of what we eat is no exception. Until they are neatly packaged or served on a plate, the animals we consume for nourishment are divorced from our reality. This process of abstraction, perpetuated by the food industry and fostered by our amenity-driven way of life, particularly in urban Singapore, exists even in the language we use to describe animals as living beings, and animals as products: pig and pork, cow and beef, rooster and chicken. In Singapore, 90% of food products are imported, only serving to amplify our disconnect with the animal world. Ironically, the product pipeline of farmed animals is rarely questioned here, and instead is often accepted at face value and consumed in ignorant bliss. To highlight this stark dichotomy, Dead or Alive offers itself in two dissociated states of being. When alive, brimming with light, this lamp can illuminate any space wirelessly and without constraint. When dead and in need of recharging, however, it must hang limp on a specially dedicated metal hook, devoid of light and life, a cold and uncompromising allegory for the many ways in which we perceive farmed animals.
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DESIGNERS
Chua Jia Hui
Annabelle Chan
DINING
DEAD OR ALIVE
The Dead or Alive lamp is a symbol of the human tendency to separate animals as living beings from their all-too-common end, as farmed products to consume. It is a call to wrestle with the overwhelmingly messy origins of our food and re-evaluate our relationship with the churn of the industry that enables this process.
Reality is difficult to swallow, and the reality of the origins of what we eat is no exception. Until they are neatly packaged or served on a plate, the animals we consume for nourishment are divorced from our reality. This process of abstraction, perpetuated by the food industry and fostered by our amenity-driven way of life, particularly in urban Singapore, exists even in the language we use to describe animals as living beings, and animals as products: pig and pork, cow and beef, rooster and chicken. In Singapore, 90% of food products are imported, only serving to amplify our disconnect with the animal world. Ironically, the product pipeline of farmed animals is rarely questioned here, and instead is often accepted at face value and consumed in ignorant bliss. To highlight this stark dichotomy, Dead or Alive offers itself in two dissociated states of being. When alive, brimming with light, this lamp can illuminate any space wirelessly and without constraint. When dead and in need of recharging, however, it must hang limp on a specially dedicated metal hook, devoid of light and life, a cold and uncompromising allegory for the many ways in which we perceive farmed animals.
DESIGNERS
Chua Jia Hui
Annabelle Chan
DINING
DEAD OR ALIVE
The Dead or Alive lamp is a symbol of the human tendency to separate animals as living beings from their all-too-common end, as farmed products to consume. It is a call to wrestle with the overwhelmingly messy origins of our food and re-evaluate our relationship with the churn of the industry that enables this process.
Reality is difficult to swallow, and the reality of the origins of what we eat is no exception. Until they are neatly packaged or served on a plate, the animals we consume for nourishment are divorced from our reality. This process of abstraction, perpetuated by the food industry and fostered by our amenity-driven way of life, particularly in urban Singapore, exists even in the language we use to describe animals as living beings, and animals as products: pig and pork, cow and beef, rooster and chicken. In Singapore, 90% of food products are imported, only serving to amplify our disconnect with the animal world. Ironically, the product pipeline of farmed animals is rarely questioned here, and instead is often accepted at face value and consumed in ignorant bliss. To highlight this stark dichotomy, Dead or Alive offers itself in two dissociated states of being. When alive, brimming with light, this lamp can illuminate any space wirelessly and without constraint. When dead and in need of recharging, however, it must hang limp on a specially dedicated metal hook, devoid of light and life, a cold and uncompromising allegory for the many ways in which we perceive farmed animals.
DESIGNERS
Chua Jia Hui
Annabelle Chan