Akin to an organism, The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (CDOSEA) is part of an ongoing project that grows, generates and provides critical insight into the pluralistic definitions of the territories under this nomenclature.
Born out of the ambiguity inherent in the term ‘Southeast Asia’, the work considers what makes up an area not unified by language, religion or political power and uses an algorithmic system to generate an “endless series of possible Southeast Asias”, which collectively form a torn yet interconnected terminological territorial tapestry.
Described as a platform facilitating ongoing research, a matrix for generating future projects and an oracular montage machine, the CDOSEA consists of a is an algorithmic “Abécédaire” in an infinite loop, made up of video materials detourned from online sources and recomposed in endless variations by algorithms created in collaboration with Jan Gerber and Sebastian Lütgert (0 x 2620).
Ho Tzu Nyen will speak about the Dictionary and the projects it gave rise to, for example The Nameless (2015), One or Several Tigers (2018)
Biography
Ho Tzu Nyen (*1976 in Singapur, lebt und arbeitet dort) arbeitet in den Medien Film, Video, Performance und Theater.
Ho Tzu Nyen verwebt in seinen Arbeiten zahllose Bezüge aus Kulturgeschichte und Philosophie zu beeindruckenden Bildwelten, die formal durch Barock, Tableau vivant (Lebendes Bild) und Popkultur inspiriert sind. Sein zentrales Thema ist die vielschichtige Kommunikation zwischen westlicher und östlicher Kultur, wie sie sich in den komplexen Identitäten Südostasiens widerspiegelt. Kolonialgeschichte, Mythen und kulturelle Symbole verbinden sich in seinen großformatigen Installationen zu einem einzigartigen Oeuvre.
Er hat Bildende Kunst am Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne und Southeast Asian Studies an der National University of Singapore studiert. Einzelausstellungen u.a.: Substation Gallery, Singapore (2003); Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide (2010); Artspace, Sydney (2011); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong (2017); McaM, Shanghai (2018); TPAM, Yokohama (2018). 2011 hat Ho Singapur auf der 54. Venedig Biennale repräsentiert. Er hat an zahlreichen internationalen Filmfestivals teilgenommen, z.B. 41. Directors’ Fortnight des Cannes International Film Festival (2009), 66th Venice International Film Festival (2009); Sundance Film Festival (2012). Gruppenausstellungen (Auswahl): Singapore Biennial (2006); Video Killed the Painting Star, Contemporary Center of Art, Glasgow (2007); Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (2007); Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2009); No Soul for Sale, Tate Modern, London (2010); transmediale.11, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2011); Surplus Authors, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2012); Autonomous Zones, Times Museum, Guangzhou, China (2013) und Social Factory, 10. Shanghai Biennale (2014); Guggenheim, Bilbao (2015); Guggenheim, New York (2016); QAGOMA, Brisbane (2016); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017); Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka (2018); Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2018); National Gallery, Singapore (2018); Sharjah Biennial 14 (2019). Im Januar 2015 erhielt er den Grand Prize Award des Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize.