Spotspotting

Spotspotting is an ever-growing archive of 616+ urban markers collected and mapped from 2009 to 2013 in cities such as Singapore, London, Paris, Berlin, Seoul, and Jakarta. These markers can be seen all over urban cities; usually only temporary and used as informal guides for people working in construction, civil engineering, or surveying, these symbols can also be considered as the most honest, authentic form of graffiti that can still be found in a city like Singapore. The work celebrates the search for these small landmarks and monuments of everyday city life by archiving and mapping these signs.

Since 2009 I have been making a collection of hundreds of images of survey markers. In Singapore, these ubiquitous marks are all over the cities wherever construction work is being done, particularly now around the CBD/town area where the Circle Line and Downtown Line MRTs are under construction and heavy demolition works and construction of new skyscrapers dominates the urban landscape.

Singapore is a city which is constantly under construction, and the constant appearance of new spots (as well as the gradual disappearance of older spots) underscores the transitory nature of buildings and roads and our changing experience of spaces which we experience every single day.

These spots can be used to encourage people to look out for small and unusual details in their urban environment, and to walk around the city with a sense of play – like playing a game of hide and seek with these signs.