This artist's talk considers the construction of a tropical identity in the Southeast Asian region through a survey of Elizabeth Gabrielle Lee’s ongoing documentation of a semiotics of hotness, visual research that has informed the development of her artist film, Tropic Temper (2024).

With references across media studies, consumer products, architecture and interior design, we will explore how Southeast Asia has historically constructed its tropical identity amid colonial legacies and contemporary climate interventions. As temperatures rise and atmospheric technologies proliferate, how does the vernacular of heat translate across cultural, technological, and ecological domains? This talk interrogates the thermal politics of paradise, examining how ‘tropicality’ becomes both brand and burden in an era of planetary heating.

This event has been organised by Bloc Projects (Sheffield) for the Kaleidoscope Network, a collaboration between Eastside Projects, Spike Island (Bristol), Primary (Nottingham), Bloc Projects (Sheffield) and The NewBridge Project (Newcastle). EOP Members are automatically part of the Kaleidoscope Network and can attend selected events programmed by each partner for free.