The universe we call home was born from the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago, of which light has travelled further than we might expect. This caused an eternal inflation where our universe becomes an infinite fractal of different pocket universes, separated by an inflating “ocean.”

The installation is a mind-bending implication of the multiverse theory, where doppelgangers can exist in parallel universes. Decades-old roots of Mentaling trees, native to the swampy lands of Simpang Renggam, Johor were harvested and sculpted to form a singular, complex branch form. These drift roots were formed by mud and soil flows over time, creating the unique grains and embellishments on them.

If there are an infinity of universes but a finite number of ways to arrange particles in any individual universe, the same patterns are bound to be repeated. A doppleganger is born. A twin, an apparition, a look-alike, an alter ego. In a galaxy far away, an identical branch is forged from glass neon tubes, each containing a noble gas to emit a cool, stark white illumination with passing electricity. Using fire and time, each neon tube is hand-sculpted to mimic the form of the organic branch, yet remain slightly different in its manifestation. An immersive soundscape composed by Malaysian electro-acoustic sound artist, Flica creates an ethereal and otherworldly “forest in space.”

The duality and parallels of both these objects, one organic and the other man-made is a speculative conundrum of existence, time and space where we as terrestrial beings constantly strive to emulate and echo in this expanding universe.