"It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again." – John Steinbeck

Gezeitentümpel is a collection of visual poems and questions about the brevity of life and the vastness of time. They are archeological meditations, presenting hidden parts of Singapore that symbolize the infinite glory-- and futility-- of existence.

Tidal pools are spaces caught between the extremely different forces of land and sea; they know the silent glare of sunlight and the surging power of ocean tides. The forces around them change constantly, yet they remain the same.

They hold yesteryear’s dreams, today’s chimaera, tomorrow’s fleeting love, next century’s great disasters; all these fragments slowly drifting towards the bottom of the ocean of time...disquietingly silent.

I found tidal pools beneath Singapore’s highways, in the wayside scrub, on cemeteries and in abandoned buildings. I saw physical metaphors, spaces caught between the logical forces of the rational and the unpredictable forces of the absurd.

Maybe one has to descend to the tidal pools’ ground in order to discover – whether you see stars or you see dirt, it is OK.

Please scroll to the right >>