Reading In a Bubble - Kinetic Sculpture (2026)
By Catherine Chia and Kiefer Kong
Exhibited in THIS IS NOT A BOOK for Singapore Art Week 2026 at Basheer Graphic Books (2026), Bras Basah Complex, Singapore.
Material Used: Water, soap, acrylic, 3D-printed parts
Reading in a Bubble is a kinetic sculpture in the form of a book whose pages do not carry text, but generate bubbles. Each page turn produces fleeting, iridescent forms that rise, distort, and disappear.
The work proposes reading as a temporary and interpretive act rather than a container of fixed knowledge. While the words printed in a book remain unchanged, the meanings they produce are shaped by the reader’s memories, emotions, and moment in time. Like bubbles, the worlds created through reading are immersive yet fragile.
Through repetition and automation, the book performs an endless act of “reading” without retaining knowledge. It asks what it means to read, to understand, and to remember.
Reading In a Bubble was exhibited in THIS IS NOT A BOOK at Basheer Graphic Books as part of Singapore Art Week 2026