Restless Energy


2020
Motor, modified plastic parts,
plywood chair, pants, socks
81.5 x 54 x 51 cm

Restless Energy is a kinetic sculpture of the human lower limb with a fidgeting foot. Articulated legs, clad in dress pants, socks and crossed in a seated figure-four, incorporates a motor which drives a camshaft to twitch the hanging foot up and down constantly.

This automation of a highly unconscious gesture places emphasis on its mindlessness and creates a rhythmic tempo. Linked to focus, anxiety and boredom, this prolonged repetitive shaking of the foot oscillates between these states and becomes idle.

Presented at Alliance Française Galerie as part of Chrysalis, Desiring Bodies (2021); SOTA Art Gallery as part of Hi_atus (2021), with curatorial mentorship by Ang Song Nian; and Lim Hak Tai Gallery as part of The 25th Annual Ngee Ann National Teochew Artists’ Exhibition (2023).