Boedi Widjaja: Immortal Words | PLATFORM

Boedi Widjaja’s Immortal Words presents collectible, editioned DNA artworks dispensed through gachapon machines, playfully illustrating the intricate connections between art and science. In consultation with geneticist Associate Professor Eric Yap, Boedi synthesises ultraconserved words – believed to have survived for 15,000 years since the Ice Age – into DNA. Continuing Boedi’s decade-long research into body, memory, language and encoding, the project explores through the ancient words our deep ancestral past and the memories that we hold within. Immortal Words is supported by the National Arts Council, as part of Singapore Art Week; and produced by Audrey Koh.

Artwork Interaction Explanation
The gachapon machines dispense ultraconserved words in Southeast Asian languages—Ashes, Black, Fire, to Flow, to Give, Hand, to Hear, Mother, Old, to Pull, to Spit, Worm—through editioned vials of DNA-encoded ink for visitors to take home.

Installation view. Photo: Ryan Lim