Inside the Design Process of Zen Teh’s “Reclaimed Sculpture” a Series of Artworks Commissioned by Mercedes-Benz

For Mercedes-Benz, embarking on an electric future is an ongoing conversation. The German automaker opened its Concept Store in Singapore, in partnership with authorized distributor Cycle & Carriage and Hypebeast’s media agency HYPEMAKER, on April 11, 2022, where the flagship electric Mercedes-EQ lineup debuted. The immersive space, located in Great World, thematically incorporated textural motifs of moss, glass, stone and panorama screen displays to envision the bounds of sustainability and future EV developments by Mercedes-Benz. Ahead of its closing, a panel discussion entitled “It All Continues From Here: A Conversation on Greener Possibilities” featured educator and interdisciplinary artist Zen Teh as an invited speaker. Under the concept of “sustainable circularity,” Mercedes-Benz commissioned Zen Teh to repurpose elements of its Concept Store into an artistic statement of her own.

Zen Teh’s work is known for examining the nuances between human behavior and nature through sculpture, photography and installation art. In 2021, she received the Young Artist Award from The National Arts Council, known as Singapore’s highest accolade for artists under the age of 35. Joined by product designers Zim (Abdul Azim Bin Awalluddin) and Timothy Tang Wei Mun, Teh’s series of artworks envision a future of circular economies, where production, waste and recyclables live within a renewable feedback loop.

“Reclaimed Sculpture: Land, Sea, Air” incorporates a mirror, parts of a moss wall and plywood materials repurposed from installations featured in the Mercedes-Benz Concept Store. Using a pyramid-shaped template, the team developed wooden configurations that would live within a collage of natural materials. Individual plywood strips were meticulously cut by machine and hand tools in dynamic shapes and combined with glass panels and photographic prints.

To communicate rising environmental awareness and sustainability initiatives rooted in contemporary discourse, glass and wooden components of the sculpture emerge from soil and moss. As visitors engage with the artwork from different angles, its photographic collages morph and multiply, embodying the symbiosis between earth, water and air.

Get a glimpse of Teh’s design process in the gallery above. To learn more about “Reclaimed Sculpture: Land, Sea, Air” and to see the finished sculpture, visit the Mercedes-Benz website.