NEIRO presents: OYSTER WHISPER – Whale Song | an exhibition of Singaporean conseptual artist Aarti Meyappan Pillai at Zhor near Krakovec.
The solo audiovisual show inspired by Anna Vtípilová’s composition Whale Song will be held at Zhor near Krakovec in the heart fo Central Bohemian region between August 10-11. The exhibition is a part of Aarti’s summer residency at Neiro Studio and will include a tasting of exotic Singaporean cuisine. On Saturday 10 August at 2 pm, the exhibition will be complemented by a concert featuring Marian Friedl playing folk instruments from The Beskids. Experience Singaporean art and the sounds of forgotten Beskid instruments in the heart of Europe.
Aarti Meyappan Pillai (b. 2000, Singapore) is an artist and researcher working in sculptural installation, sound and new media. Her works are an invitation to intuit viscerally and occupy a space of curious tactility: drawn from memories of braiding grass, weaving fallen leaves, tracing patterns in sand, and playing amidst seafoam.
At the core of her practice is the principle of ramuan emphasising ecological reciprocity, care, and radical abundance, which involves a harmonious blend of natural elements and human effort. Aarti’s practice threads connections to nature, the ocean, the preservation of oral histories, femininity, and queerness as she is deeply influenced by her ancestral migration to the Malayan Archipelago. Her artistic works construct a liminal utopia where dreams and memory meld, drawing the viewer into a textured sensory experience as she seeks to address questions of origin and ecological kinship through emphasising the restoration of pre colonial folklore in her works.
Marian Friedl is devoted to reviving the playing of forgotten instruments of the Beskids, music production, music composition, popularisation of folk music and improvisation. He performs on double bass, clarinet, folk flutes, bagpipes, kobza, small dulcimer and other instruments in genres ranging from classical music, folk music, world music and jazz.
