Mixed media, 2026
Aini Azidah
Jurong Pioneer Junior College
Aini Azidah’s mixed-media practice is a playful engagement with the unseen mechanisms that sustain our modern tropical life. Her current exploration shows a fascination with the air-conditioning compressor, a ubiquitous fixture of Singapore’s urban landscape. Often relegated to the periphery of our consciousness, these “white boxes” serve as the silent, churning engines of a nation’s comfort, even as they contribute to a mounting environmental paradox.
Aini’s inquiry began with a striking visual from a Channel NewsAsia documentary: a graphic depicting HDB blocks seemingly “on fire” due to the collective heat exhaustion of stacks of air-conditioning compressors. Also inspired by Tang Da Wu’s, “The Product of the Rain and Me” in which the artist collaborated with forces of nature, Aini adopts a similar philosophy of collaboration with the inanimate by attempting to create work with the compressor as a co-creator. By bringing this inert, background object into the foreground, the machine is no longer a tool, but a primary collaborator.
Her work invites the viewer to reconsider their relationship with the technology that keeps us cool, questioning the cost of a comfort that simultaneously warms the world outside our windows.
What surprised you when you allowed yourself to start with play?
When I started with play, I discovered that the ideas flowed easily, unhindered by expectations of a final outcome.
What is one play hack you would like to share to help fellow teacher-artists experiment and create without expectations?
One play hack I would like to share is to give yourself permission to make every single idea you think of no matter how small
Click here to view the artists’ process!
Read more about ►EDGE 2026 and the existing artworks.
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