Every Step Counts is a project by Amanda Heng comprising a two-day walking workshop, a large-scale text work, archival footage, a video projection, and a series of live performances. The monumental text work is displayed on SAM’s hoarding along Bras Basah Road, while the video projection appears in the Esplanade tunnel as part of the Singapore Biennale 2019.

The project highlights six core principles in Heng’s practice:
(1) Walking as a fundamental practice, influenced by Taoist ideas of moving with nature and serving as a form of meditation and a way to reflect on the ageing body.
(2) Inner stillness and renewal, encapsulated in the phrase “One step at a time walking the way to stillness within,” which the artist sees as a vision for both the museum and its audiences.
(3) Simplicity as a meditative force, expressed through the minimal presentation of a single line of blue-and-white italic text designed to create a moment of pause amidst the city’s bustle.
(4) The audience comes first, demonstrated in the workshop where nine participants charted their own walking routes, later filmed and projected so that passers-by can “walk alongside” them across time and space.
(5) Transforming the world into a stage, a principle rooted in her iconic work Let’s Walk, where Heng broke free from traditional art spaces and brought performance directly into public environments.
(6) Openness to unpredictable reactions, since spontaneous encounters—positive, negative, or bizarre—are integral to each performance’s uniqueness.

Shown as part of the Singapore Biennale 2019 until 22 March 2020 at SAM’s Bras Basah hoarding and in the Esplanade tunnel, Every Step Counts reinforces Heng’s long-standing commitment to participatory, walking-based practices that invite introspection, renewal, and bodily awareness amidst the flow of everyday life.

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Based on information provided by the Singapore Art Museum website.