Vertical Submarine is a collective group of artists based in Singapore. The group, founded by Justin Loke, Joshua Yang and Fiona Koh was formed in 2003 and the name was taken from a word subvert that is rotated to be vert-sub and expanded to form Vertical Submarine. The group has been appearing in local exhibitions of intricate installations involving everyday objects, text and an acquired sense of humor. The group won the Singapore President's Young Talents Award of 2009. Vertical Submarine will participate in ROUNDTABLE: The 9th Gwangju Biennale, which takes place September 7 – November 11, 2012 in Gwangju, Korea. Exhibitions Selected exhibitions Penetrations Taking a playful stance on otherwise serious discussions of language policies and identity in Singapore, the series of work by Vertical Submarine exercises a tongue-in-cheek preservation of quickly disappearing pockets of colloquial conversation among Singaporeans. Despite the gradual loss of vernacular language, the presence of lyrical rhymes recited in the local Hokkien dialect still stands as endearing figures of expression in Singapore. The collective’s tribute to the unique verbal vestiges of the local dialect culture is sold to audiences via a selection of rhyming verses presented in forms archetypal of olden-day advertisements and illustrations. Presented at Chan Hampe Galleries, Singapore. Planting Shadows In Singapore Botanic Gardens they created an in-situ installation, Planting Shadows consisting of a patch of gray sunflowers in the middle of the garden. It comes with a small note at the bottom referring to Chien Swee-Teng’s poem about a sunflower plantation owner’s pact with a bottle imp where he gives up his sense of color for the success of his business. But there is a hidden twist to this exhibit: There is no Chien Swee-Teng or poem – the collective invented the writer and his poem about avarice. Analogic Analogic, is an antithetical exhibition by Vertical Submarine. The title, Analogic with prefix ANA- means “against”, suggests a frivolity, nonsensical exercise of wit. Exhibition Text:“Vertical Submarine’s ANALOGIC features a series of paintings inspired by the concept of analogy and its proximity to the past as expounded in Umberto Eco’s novel, Foucault’s Pendulum. In the exhibition, the paintings are presented as image sequences of related words, concepts and objects. Based on Eco’s concept of tying things up and linking seemingly diverse and unrelated concepts into one work, Vertical Submarine delves into an exploration of ‘analogy’ and ‘analogue’, creating in the process a nostalgic act