Islands in the net | Padimai Art & Tech Studio
Islands in the Net: Southeast Asian Futures in the Age of AI at Padimai Art & Tech Studio in Singapore, curated by Kathleen Ditzig, Ryan Ho and Joshua Comaroff, offers an ambitious and experimental exploration of the relationships between contemporary art, technology, artificial intelligence and society, highlighting perspectives from Southeast Asia that are often overlooked in global conversations about technological innovation.
What interested me about this exhibition was the curators’ willingness to challenge conventional narratives around technology, and the openness of Padimai, founded by collector and technologist Vignesh Sundaresan, to support complex, unconventional and sometimes provocative artistic practices. At a time when discussions about AI are frequently dominated by Western technology companies and commercial interests, Islands in the Net creates space for alternative histories, critical perspectives and voices that have traditionally been marginalised in the often male-dominated technology sector.
The exhibition brings together rigorous research-based practices, including Ho Rui An’s A History of Intelligence in ((South)(East)) Asia (2025), with interactive and participatory works that invite visitors to engage directly with emerging technologies. These include Weiwei Hsu’s ASIA MAXXING and I-ching, alongside MIT’s Future You, which explores possible encounters with an AI-generated future self. The programme also demonstrates Padimai’s commitment to supporting new artistic production, including a commission by Grace Quek marking her return to contemporary art, a film project by Fyerool Darma and an evolving participatory work and performance by queer collective Bussy Temple. An inventive online exhibition guide developed by co-curator Ryan Ho adds another layer of interaction, encouraging visitors to navigate the exhibition and its ideas in unexpected ways.
For me, the significance of Islands in the Net lies not only in its engagement with some of the most urgent questions of our time, but also in its demonstration of what an independent art and technology institution can achieve when it gives artists and curators the freedom to experiment, take risks and question established assumptions.
Working closely with the curators and artistic leadership at Padimai, I led the studio’s international communications and media outreach, helping to articulate the exhibition’s curatorial ambitions and position its themes within wider cultural and public debates.