Proposals for Waterloo begins on the 15th floor with Kayleigh Goh’s painting installation. Visually inspired by the cracks and peeling paint around Waterloo Centre, she incorporated construction materials and debris as both canvas and paint. Adopting the language of aging architecture, combined with a soft palette, the artist invites us to contemplate the impermanance of the structures around us. 

On the level below, Chan Jia Yu’s work explored the idea of temporality through the medium of plastic bags, which are objects that quickly transform from an essential into trash. The installation focused on the lightness and translucency of the plastic bag, and how natural elements like wind and light alter our experience of this common object. 

Unwanted items collected from residents formed the foundation of this spatial collage of drawings and objects. Woven together with imagery inspired by Waterloo Centre as well as the artist’s personal items, the resulting installation resembled an imagined temporary residence, overlapping the memories and experiences of both the artist and the residents. 

Within a darkened area, the artist created a camera obscura that reflected the landscape surrounding Waterloo. This natural projection was then overlapped with a digital projection. By distorting audiences’ vision of the exterior, the work paralleled our modern ways of seeing and understanding the world through digital screens.

Waterloo Centre is an aging building with aging residents, yet is surrounded by constant redevelopment. In response to these juxtapositions, the artist appropriated the domestic form of the bed, using the coarse material of tulle to represent how wrinkles in bed sheets record the movements of the bed’s user(s). Suspended within a cell on the 12th floor, the bed took on an overwhelming shrine-like quality.