Known for his installations and performances, Singaporean contemporary artist Tang Da Wu has been at the forefront of contemporary arts in this region. Tang graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art from Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham Institute of Art and Design) in the UK, and subsequently pursued his Master of Fine Art at Goldsmith College in 1985. With the emergence of contemporary art during the late 1960s, Tang ventured into installation and performance in the 1970s. Today, he is also an educator and collaborates with the community to nurture the next generation of artmakers. Tang’s artistic practice holds an important place in the development and history of contemporary art in Singapore.
Thing that fell out of the Island was featured together with large installations and performances in the second double-bill project by Tang Da Wu Sembawang the D.D. Land and Sembagraphie at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 2019. The metal sculpture is a residual part from the installation of Seletar Island, an island formation turned on its side vertically, causing things to fall out of it. The object resembles a raindrop. Raindrop resonates with the idea of natural forces and time passing–the historicity of Sembawang in the natural landscape and the urban community.