Waterloo Street Stories 2024: Cor Machina (Heart of the Machine)

Cor Machina (Heart of the Machine) is an immersive and interactive experience combining poetry, sound, and light. Part of "Waterloo Street Stories 2024: Interplay" and Centre 42's 10th Anniversary celebrations, this event celebrates the rich histories and communities of Waterloo Street.

Waterloo Street represents Singapore's diverse heritage, and Cor Machina explores the connections between communities and the arts, symbolised by the typewriter as a relic with the poet as its beating heart. The typewriter's mechanical clatter echoes modern life's relentless grind, yet within this noise, there is beauty—a reminder that even in the machine, the human heart creates with hope.

Cor Machina captures this playfully, by inviting participants to explore these themes through creation. Audiences first enter an installation of pre-made prompts that draws from personal, communal memories and stories of the street. They’re invited to send in an order for a poem to the Proletariat Poetry Factory, which becomes a meta memory machine. Poets, musicians, and artists create new memories and stories from their inputs, blending them with the street's past. 

The work evokes collective remembrance and celebrates the street’s heritage in a contemporary context. The intent is to spark meaningful conversations, weaving together past and present, individual and collective experience. This performance is also in conjunction with Centre 42's 10th Anniversary, serving to commemorate our placemaking and memory making on Waterloo Street.

Stretching from Rochor Road to Bras Basah Road, Waterloo Street has been home to a diverse array of communities: the local Chinese who knew the street as the fourth road or “si beh lor” (四马路) to the former Jewish families who lived in the pre-war bungalows as well as the umbrella vendors, craftsmen, trade merchants, religious devotees, school children and creatives. While they may seem like ordinary people who never made the news or rose to fame, each overcame adversity to find fulfilment in their craft, trade, religion or community. Importantly, they found a sense of place at Waterloo Street.

This experience hopes to be a stepping stone for you to connect with the overlooked yet relatable and edifying stories of the communities of Waterloo Street from yesteryear to present day. We hope you will be inspired to explore Waterloo Street and spend time with us here.

Lead Artist: 
Rachel Goh

Servile Poets:
Teo Dawn
Raey A.
Andrew Y.
Anna Tan
Ryan M Ang
Kai
Prasatt
Loopy
FD
David Furhman Lim
Khaniff Lau
April Chan
Danial Matin
Daren Goh
Magnus Eon Tay

Servile Artist:
Sara Navjord

Servile Workers:
Sam Goh-Teo
Wang Jun
Issac Poh
KC Teo

Supreme Controller:
Case Woo

Lighting Designer:
Henrik Cheng

The text in the installation is loosely inspired by the cultural mapping, research and documentation undertaken by Dr Hoe Su Fern as part of the Arts and Culture Management Programme at Singapore Management University (SMU-ACM).

The installation soundtrack includes excerpts from ‘Waterloop’, a foley track produced by PK Records, as part of SMU-ACM.

Experience Waterloo Street Stories 2024: Interplay, a collaborative project by Centre 42, Objectifs, P7:1SMA, SMU-Arts and Culture Management, and The Theatre Practice, also known as #WaterlooStKakis, at Singapore Night Festival. Join us for the second year to celebrate the dynamic cultures of Waterloo Street, spotlighting the rich interplay of relations and interactions which shape and define the everyday cultures and communities. Discover captivating movement performances, vibrant Getai shows, interactive poetry experience, inspiring outdoor photography exhibition, and interactive experiences like culinary pop-ups, and photo collage-making.

Programmes include:

• Getai Performances: Live getai performances inspired by the street performances from yesteryear Waterloo Street and featuring the beloved songs dedicated by Waterloo Street residents and tenants.
• Movement Performances: Experience two unique movement interpretations set in different locations, inspired by the zero-point game and enriched by the diverse narratives of Waterloo Street.
• Cor Machina (Heart of the Machine): An immersive and interactive experience of poetry, sound, and light that celebrates the rich histories and communities of Waterloo Street. Audiences are invited to submit their orders for a poem to the Proletariat Poetry Factory, a meta memory machine, where new memories and stories are created from their inputs.
• Culinary Experiences: F&B pops-up featuring the iconic food and drinks of Waterloo Street such as Indian rojak, chicken rice and Manhattan cocktails, will keep stomachs full and cups filled all night long
• Photo Exhibition: An outdoor photo exhibition featuring the photo projects of 3 emerging photographers who will undergo a two-month residency programme that aims to pair artists with Waterloo Street personalities together in the hopes of building long-term relationships and connections.
• Workshop: A photo collage-making workshop that will invite festival go-ers to create collages of their own versions of Waterloo Street.