Robert Zhao’s Albizia brings secondary forests into Esplanade space

SINGAPORE – Over three days, a forest will be transported into the Esplanade Theatre Studio, the plants and substrate specially treated to make sure this ecological experiment does not destroy the pristine performance space.

No effort has been spared to get rid of insects that could disturb audiences, though Singaporean multidisciplinary artist Robert Zhao says there is no guarantee they will not still be abuzz.

His immersive performance installation Albizia is on at the Esplanade from Aug 31 to Sept 3.

“The insects are part of nature anyway,” says the 40-year-old. “Part of the challenge of the work is bringing natural elements into this sterile space. There are a lot of things to consider, such as making sure the humidity does not destroy the equipment.”

Part of Esplanade’s The Studios theatre season, which is centred on the theme of land, Albizia is a one-hour condensed nature walk.

Instead of people going out to nature, Zhao – working with landscape designer It Meng Landscape & Construction – has brought the forest to them via a curated nursery.

Embedded in the verdant greenery are screens showing footage that capture the eco-drama in secondary forests around Singapore. Zhao, who says “nature is the only thing that has sustained my curiosity”, filmed most of the footage from his window in Bukit Panjang and on his daily walks during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has worked on projects related to nature since he was 16.

In July, he was selected to represent the Republic at the Venice Biennale in 2024 by the Singapore Art Museum – a recognition that his artistic concern with nature is now mainstream and important.

His eccentric encyclopaedia cataloguing organisms changed by human intervention, A Guide To The Flora And Fauna Of The World, was also acquired by Britain’s prestigious Tate collection in the same month.

Zhao says the intermeshing of nature and technology is a natural extension of his experience as a veteran nature guide. When leading walks, he regularly uses photos and videos to help people imagine the larger context of the spaces they are in.

“It’s very hard to see things happening on these walks because most of the time, the animals are very shy,” he says. “You always rely on how good the guide is to narrate the story to you, and historical photographs of the space, to see into the past things that are not immediately present.”

He clarifies that Albizia’s multimedia has not been fashioned to supply definitive commentary. “Because we are quite helpless when we are walking in the forest, it’s always out of context. We are also trying to highlight that it’s okay to be weird, it’s okay to be mysterious. Most of the time, we don’t know what a tree is doing there or what the animal is doing.”

Zhao’s focus on secondary forests, which are forests that have naturally regenerated after deforestation usually caused by human activity, adds an extra historical element to the drama.

In the clips, it is not uncommon to see trash, debris or bricks from past kampungs in various stages of being reclaimed by nature.

Adding on to Zhao’s belief that “nature always finds a way” is also the titular Albizia, non-native trees introduced into Singapore in the 1870s. Though they have shallow roots and tend to fall, they have emerged as one of the tallest species here and are a common nesting site for native eagles.

“I read something that was very beautiful, which was that secondary forests are a second chance and not second-tier,” he says.

Joel Tan, 36, whose play Mosaic is also part of The Studios season and was staged from last Friday to Sunday, has been roped in to give Zhao’s extensive footage shape and dramaturgy.

Tan cops to not being a very rugged person, but says he has more recently been thinking about nature in his works, including its relationship to the political and the spiritual.

There are no live actors in Albizia, presenting a different kind of challenge to the Singaporean playwright of distinguished scripts such as Cafe (2016) and Tartuffe (2022).

“The dramaturgy is not strictly about narrative ideas. It’s about taking what might seem like random forest impressions and giving trajectory to a thing that is quite impossible,” Tan says. “We want the space to act on people in the way a play with a script would.”

But the lack of actors does not make Albizia less of a theatrical experience. “Something about the artifice is also very useful here, because I’ve been very cautious about making sure it never feels like this simulacra. But I do think that there’s something in the disconnect between this space and the real, which is always going to be bigger, messier, more chaotic than the work itself,” Tan says.

Zhao agrees, and says nature walks and such immersive experiences can go hand in hand.

“In this imported studio space, we can have audiences think more about the connections, and we are throwing in a lot of things into the pot, so they can draw their own connections.

“But my work still pales so much in comparison to a walk, when you can walk on wet earth and smell the fresh rain. It won’t work if you keep going only to these virtual environments.”

Book It/Albizia

Where: Esplanade Theatre Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive
When: Aug 31 to Sept 3; weekdays, 7.30pm; weekends, 1, 3, 5, 7.30 and 9.30pm
Admission: From $38
Info: str.sg/i5ub