GEZEITENTÜMPEL | tidal pools

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Klartraum vom Nebel | A Lucid Dream of Nebula

“It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again.”
John Steinbeck

Tidal pools are spaces caught between the extremely different forces of land and sea;
they know the silent glare of sunlight and the surging power of ocean tides.
The forces around them change constantly, yet they remain the same.

In the future, when nearly everything has been flattened and streamlined into a
simulacra of reality, they might carry the narratives for alternatives.

GEZEITENTÜMPEL is a collection of visual poems and questions
about the brevity of life and the vastness of time. They are archeological meditations,
presenting hidden parts of Singapore that symbolize the infinite glory-- and futility-- of existence.

Maybe one has to descend to the tidal pools’ ground in order to discover.
Whether you see stars or you see dirt, it is OK.

Höhlenbewohner | Cave-dweller

Chinatown

Endmoräne | End Moraine

Zeitgeist

Mangrove | Manggi-Manggi

Längengrad | Longitude | 103°48’0”E

Bollwerk | Bulwark

Aufbegehren | Rebellion

Was mag denn wohl der alte Urwald träumen?
Er ist ja selbst ein üpp’ger Traum der Zeiten,
Wenn, grüßend nach des Meeres Silberschäumen,
Hoch auf ihm hin sich Blumengärten breiten.

What might the old jungle dream of?
He himself a lush dream of times,
When, saluting the ocean’s silver foam,
Gardens of flowers are sprawling high upon him?

Gottfried Keller, Gedichte/Poems, 1846