This Is Not A Screen: Rethinking Perception and E-Waste at i Light Singapore 2025

It all began with a handful of curious conversations between coursemates—an unlikely group connected not only by our discipline, but also by a shared Burmese heritage and a restless desire to express our ideas. Our academic pursuit in NUS Architecture has taught us to find common ground in the drive to create, to respond, and to make sense of the world around us through design. Inspired by a fellow coursemate’s participation in last year’s i Light Singapore, whose work ignited our belief in the power of public art, we decided to answer this year’s student call with a proposal of our own. In the few short weeks we had to conceive and develop our project, our shared motivation to express ourselves and engage in the wider cultural discourse became our anchor, shaping our process and fuelling our ideas. For us, design is not just about form-making; it is a method of reflection, critique, and dialogue—allowing us to engage with the present, draw from the everyday, and question what often goes unnoticed. Through this collaboration with Aedas Architects, we hope to create works that are both personal and collective, offering new perspectives and opening up space for reinterpretation and conversation.
Our installation, “This Is Not A Screen”, began as a reflection on the subtle yet pressing degradation of social well-being and media literacy, as well as our over-reliance on technology and the relentless waste it generates. In Singapore, around 51% of the workforce—roughly 1.7 million people—are employed in white-collar jobs that require constant screen time. 97% of residents aged 18 and above own a smartphone, and in 2022, the number of smartphone users reached 5.57 million. While digitisation has broadened our horizons and changed how we perceive the world, it has also distorted that perception.
Team members: Thinzar Hlaing, Hnin Ei Lwin, Saw Hnin Thundray, Kaung Htet, Moe Htet Nyunt Aung (from left to right)
As artists and social commentators, we see our role as sparking conversation. With the advent of the ‘Algorithmic Gaze’, what we see online is increasingly curated beyond our control, distorting our sense of reality. We hope to provoke a critical dialogue about this ‘representation’ and its growing influence over our everyday lives. Our work draws inspiration from René Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images”, challenging viewers to reconsider what it means to “see” in today’s digital age.
“This Is Not A Screen” challenges the notion of seeing in the digital age. The installation consists of a dense forest of frames fitted with polarised films—recycled from smart devices—surrounding a monolith of light, which symbolises raw, unfiltered reality. The monolith appears unassuming until viewed through the polarised screens, which reveal a hidden spectrum of colourful geometry. The polarising films distort visible light based on the viewer’s angle, creating unique visual experiences for each perspective. By using recycled materials from everyday devices, the artwork invites viewers to question the reality of looking through a screen and reflect on their digital and physical impact on the world and one another.
Our immersion in digital life often blinds us to its environmental consequences. In 2022 alone, 62 billion kilograms of e-waste were generated globally, with only 22.3% recycled—a figure projected to rise to 82 billion kilograms by 2030. Our installation addresses this concern by repurposing e-waste, specifically TV and monitor screens and their polarising films. These salvaged materials serve as both components and metaphors, symbolising the omnipresent technology that frames our view of the world. By integrating them into the artwork, we highlight the overconsumption of electronics and the mounting e-waste crisis, inviting visitors to reflect on how our dependence on digital devices leaves a trail of environmental harm.
i Light Singapore returns from 29 May to 21 June 2025, bringing visitors a festival that is more connected than ever. Drop by South Beach Avenue, Level B1, to experience our installation, “This Is Not a Screen”. Through polarised screens that alter light, the work invites visitors to create new visual perspectives and reflect on how personalised information shifts collective experiences and discourse. Rather than judging digital life, the installation seeks to make visible the invisible process of filtering. Come and explore how screens transform not just what we see, but how we see.
To learn more about i Light Singapore, visit https://www.ilightsingapore.gov.sg/
This article was contributed by the following members: Saw Hnin Thundray, Moe Htet Nyunt Aung, Thinzar Hlaing, Hnin Ei Lwin, and Kaung Htet. They are Year 2 Master of Architecture students (Graduating Class of 2025).