The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, 2017, ongoing
In 2012, Ho Tzu Nyen began conducting research at Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong for his project The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (cdosea). The question he posed was so complex that the project transformed into years of research: What constitutes the unity of Southeast Asia? — a region never unified by language, religion or political power.
Cdosea proceeds by proposing 26 terms — one for each letter of the English / Latin alphabet. Each term is a concept, a motif, or a biography which together become threads weaving through the tapestry of the region.
The dictionary has, since its inception in 2012 has generated a number of filmic, theatrical and installation variations: Ten Thousand Tigers (2014), 2 or 3 Tigers (2015), The Nameless (2015), The Name (2015), Timelines (2017), One or Several Tigers (2017).
Working with a group of collaborators to manifest the dictionary as a whole, Berlin-based programmers Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lütgert (0x2620) developed a platform for absorbing and annotating online audiovisual materials which feed into the editing system of the work and endlessly compose new combinations of audio-visual materials from the region according to the 26 terms of the dictionary.
The Artist
Ho Tzu Nyen’s (b. 1976, Singapore) complex practice that primarily constitutes video and installation, features work that unravels unspoken layers of Southeast Asian histories whilst equally pointing to our own personal unknowns. Permeating Ho’s work is a sense of ambiguity, theatricality and unease, augmented by a series of deliberate literary, art historical and musical references. Centrally, Ho charges the viewer emotionally and physically to deliver a multisensory consideration of what we know and crucially, do not.
Ho Tzu Nyen has been widely exhibited with one person exhibitions at Kunstverein, Hamburg (2018); McaM, Shanghai (2018); TPAM, Yokohama (2018); Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong (2017); The Guggenheim, Bilbao (2015); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); Artspace, Sydney (2011) amongst others. He also represented Singapore at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). Select group exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 14, Sharjah (2019); Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2018); National Gallery, Singapore (2018); Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka (2018); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017); Guggenheim, New York (2016); QAGOMA, Brisbane (2016); Times Museum, Guangzhou, China (2013); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2012) amongst others. He has participated in numerous international film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah (2012) and the 41st Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival in France (2009). He was an Artist-in-Residency at the DAAD (Berlin) from 2015 to 2016, and the Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong (2012 to 2015).
Constructions of Truths is presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila in partnership with the Han Nefkens Foundation and in collaboration with Edouard Malingue Gallery, Kurimanzutto, Ruya Foundation and Silverlens.
Constructions of Truths runs until 12 April 2020.
#MCADCoT @fundhannefkens #HanNefkensFoundation
Read about the exhibition here.
Artwork: Ho Tzu Nyen, The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, 2017
Courtesy of the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery
Source: https://edouardmalingue.com/artists/ho-tzu-nyen/
Artist’s image courtesy of: www.council.art
