<i>Trinh T. Minh-ha. Films</i>
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<i>“The making of each film transforms the way I see myself and the world. Once I start engaging in the process of making a film or in any artistic excursion, I am also embarking upon a journey whose point of arrival is unknown to me.”—Trinh T. Minh-ha</i> <br /><br />Trinh T. Minh-ha. Films. is the first institutional exhibition of filmmaker, music composer, writer, anthropologist, feminist and postcolonial theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha in Asia, presented in an exhibition format. Five of her films—<b>Forgetting Vietnam</b> (2015), <b>Night Passage</b> (2004), <b><i>The Fourth Dimension</i></b> (2001), <b><i>A Tale of Love</i></b> (1995) and <b><i>Shoot for the Contents</i></b> (1991), filmed over a quarter of a century, in different parts of Asia—are simultaneously on view in five small-scale movie theatres in The Exhibition Hall. As the viewer wanders from one theatre to the next, the proximity of the films enables their narratives to interrelate. This spatial configuration took its point of departure from Trinh’s exhibition at the Secession, Vienna, in 2001. <br /><br /><b><i>Forgetting Vietnam</i></b>, framed by two ancient Vietnamese myths, was made in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, touching on the memory of trauma. <b><i>Night Passage</i></b>, inspired by Miyazawa Kenji’s novel <b><i>Milky Way Railroad</i></b> (1927), narrates the spiritual journey of a young female immigrant and her two companions, into a world of in-between realities. Shot in Japan, <b><i>The Fourth Dimension</i></b> is Trinh’s first digital film. Using special video effects to composite images and sound in multiple layers, this film is an exploration of time through rituals of religion and culture, new technology and everyday reality. <b><i>A Tale of Love</i></b> is a retelling of 19th-century Vietnamese poem <b><i>The Tale of Kiều</i></b> (1820), through a modern-day Vietnamese immigrant in the United States. In this film, Trinh experiments with various cinematic techniques and elements. <b><i>Shoot for the Contents</i></b>, an excursion into allegories, explores cultural and political shifts in China, as refracted by the June Fourth incident in Beijing. <br /><br />Presented in the Centre’s Single Screen from 31 October 2020 is Trinh’s newest cinematic work, <b><i>What about China?</i></b> (Part I of II, 2020–21). Initiated by NTU CCA Singapore, and co-commissioned with Rockbund Art Museum (RAM), Shanghai, the film takes the notion of harmony in China as a site of creative manifestation, and draws from footage shot in 1993 and 1994, in Eastern and Southern China, specifically from provinces Anhui, Hubei, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangxi—linked to the remote origins of Chinese civilisation. <br /><br />Through <b><i>Trinh T. Minh-ha. Writings.</i></b>, a display of Trinh’s books on reading platforms along the passageway connecting the five theatres in The Exhibition Hall, as well as Why are they so afraid of a lotus?, presented in The Lab by CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (Wattis), San Francisco, that showcases its year-long research season on her multifaceted practice, viewers are able to encounter her extensive writing that is core to her practice. <br /><br />Trinh’s early films, <b><i>Surname Viet Given Name Nam</i></b> (1989), <b><i>Naked Spaces—Living is Round</i></b> (1985), and <b><i>Reassemblage</i></b> (1982), are part of an online film programme, <b><i>Speaking / Thinking Nearby</i></b>. Other films selected echo strands of discussions in Trinh’s layered practice, ranging from ethics of representation, to aspects of migration, global socio-politics, and feminism. <br /><br />Besides the film programme Speaking / Thinking Nearby, other public programmes include Mother Always Has a Mother, an online convening presented by the Centre, Wattis, and RAM, and “There is no such thing as documentary”, a conference that brings together filmmakers, film historians, and curators to question the politics embedded in presentation and representation, perception, context, and the spatial. <br /><br />This is NTU CCA Singapore’s final presentation in its current exhibition space, its opening coinciding with the Centre’s seventh anniversary. By the end of this exhibition, the Centre would have hosted 55 exhibitions since its inception in 2013, inaugurated by the show Paradise Lost (2014), featuring works by Trinh T. Minh-ha alongside those of Zarina Bhimji and Fiona Tan. <br /><br />Trinh T. Minh-ha (Vietnam/United States) is Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies and of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, and an award-winning artist and filmmaker. She grew up in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and pursued her education at the National Conservatory of Music and Theater in Ho Chi Minh City. In 1970, she migrated to the United States where she continued her studies in music composition, ethnomusicology, and French literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She embarked on a career as an educator and has taught in diverse disciplines which brought her to the National Conservatory of Music in Dakar, Senegal, where she shot her first film, Reassemblage. Trinh’s cinematic oeuvre has been featured in numerous exhibitions and film festivals. She has participated in biennales across the globe including Documenta11, Kassel (2002), and most recently at Manifesta 13, Marseille (2020). A prolific writer, she has authored nine books. <br /><br />Trinh T. Minh-ha. Films. is curated by Ute Meta Bauer (Germany/Singapore), Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, NTU ADM. <br /><br />This project focuses on the multi-layered practice of Trinh T. Minh-ha as a filmmaker, writer, music composer and educator, generating a multi-year (2019–2022) research and programme partnership between NTU CCA Singapore, RAM, Wattis, and the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart.
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<i>Trees of Life — Knowledge in Material</i>
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NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore is embarking on an inquiry into natural materials, exploring the knowledge they embody as biological forms as well as within social, geopolitical, and historical contexts.<i>Trees of Life – Knowledge in Material</i> is part of the Centre’s long-term research cluster Climates.Habitats.Environments. <br /><br />This exhibition focuses on materials from four plants deeply rooted in Asia: <b>indigo</b> (<i>Indigofera tinctoria</i>), <b>lacquer</b> (<i>Rhus succedanea and Melanorrhoea usitata</i>), <b>rattan</b> (<i>Calamoideae</i>), and <b>mulberry</b> (<i>Morus</i>). The works trace the ongoing involvement with these plants in the artistic practices of <b>Manish Nai</b> (India) with indigo, <b>Phi Phi Oanh</b> (United States/Vietnam) with lacquer, <b>Sopheap Pich</b> (Cambodia) with rattan, and <b>Liang Shaoji</b> (China) and <b>Vivian Xu</b> (China) with mulberry silk. While the featured installations serve as a starting point to uncover the materiality of the chosen plants, the study of their natural and cultural DNA allows further exploration into their biological processes and diverse usages at their locale. <br /><br />The artworks intertwine with selected research documents that address the complex histories and circulation, as well as the effects of human intervention on these natural resources. Starting from the properties and characteristics of the materials themselves, the project expands into their cultural representation and significance for communities and their crafts. <br /><br />The longstanding social and cultural practices associated with indigo, lacquer, rattan, and mulberry silk have accumulated a vast repository of knowledge, whether formal or tacit. Beyond the format of the exhibition, topical seminars will be dedicated to each of the four materials, further investigating their social applications over centuries in terms of their materiality, cultural references, or expanded ecology, and as arising from technological advancements. The lectures, panels, talks, and workshops feature the participating artists, as well as craftsmen, scientists, ethnobotanists, anthropologists, scholars, and designers who are working with these materials and researching innovative applications. From the diverse perspectives offered by the contributors, the public programme excavates layers of meanings and reiterates the deeper role art and craft traditions have in supporting local communities and their ecosystems. <br /><br />Topical seminars take place between <b>21 July and 8 September 2018.</b> <br /><br /><b>On Lacquer</b>: 21, 22 July <br /><br /><b>On Rattan</b>: 25, 26 August <br /><br /><b>On Indigo</b>: 4, 19 August, and 1 September <br /><br /><b>On Mulberry</b>: 8 September <br /><br />The project <i>Trees of Life – Knowledge in Material</i> is led by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore and Professor, NTU School of Art, Design and Media (ADM); <b>Laura Miotto</b>, Associate Professor and Co-director, MA Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, NTU ADM; and <b>Khim Ong</b>, Deputy Director, Curatorial Programmes, NTU CCA Singapore.
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<i>Ghosts and Spectres – Shadows of History</i>
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<i>Ghosts and Spectres — Shadows of History</i> features video installations and films by <b>Apichatpong Weerasethakul</b> (Thailand), <b>Ho Tzu Nyen</b> (Singapore), <b>Nguyen Trinh Thi</b> (Vietnam), and <b>Park Chan-kyong</b> (South Korea). The artists’ research into their own cultural and historical backgrounds gain shape through allegories that re-evaluate the social and political reforms in Post-War and Cold-War Asia. The cinematic works in the exhibition combine fact and fiction. They not only allude to rarely discussed subject-matters but also raise crucial questions about power and authority, construction of narratives, repression of identities, and collective trauma. <br /><br />Embedded in the vernacular, ghosts, myths, and rituals present systems of knowledge that enable the expression of unknown worlds. <i>Ghosts and Spectres — Shadows of History</i> brings to light clouded histories at times not officially recounted but those that remain a lingering presence in collective memories through local mythologies, ghostly figures, and traditions. The works create their own language and systems of reference, reflecting current efforts of exposing written historical accounts and contemporary situations that subvert mainstream narratives. <br /><br />In parallel, The Lab, NTU CCA Singapore’s platform for research in-progress, will be featuring projects by <b>siren eun young jung</b> (South Korea) and <b>Choy Ka Fai</b> (Singapore/Germany), both recent NTU CCA Singapore artists-in-residence. While jung focuses on <i>Yeoseong Gukgeuk</i>, a vanishing form of traditional Korean theatre featuring only female performers, Choy brings up his long-time research into <i>Butoh</i> dance, also called “dance of darkness,” and looks at its evolution and influence through one of the <i>Butoh</i> founders, Tatsumi Hijikata. <br /><br />Ghosts and Spectres—Shadows of History is curated by <b>Ute Meta Bauer</b>, Founding Director, NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU, and <b>Khim Ong</b>, Deputy Director, Curatorial Programmes.
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<i>Paradise Lost</i>
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<i>Paradise Lost</i> is NTU CCA Singapore’s inaugural exhibition, curated by Ute Meta Bauer (Founding Director) and Anca Rujoiu (Curator for Exhibitions). Conceived as a constellation of three artistic productions that together explore narratives of travel and migration, place and displacement, the personal intertwined with colonial history, <i>Paradise Lost</i> introduces an imaginary Asia — Asia as a space of projections and desires stemming from an experience of dislocation and asynchronicity. <br /><br />The exhibition juxtaposed trans-generational perspectives, bringing together three major installations of moving image: <i>Surname Viet Given Name Nam</i> (1989) by Trinh T. Minh-ha, <i>Yellow Patch</i> (2011) by Zarina Bhimji and <i>Disorient</i> (2009) by Fiona Tan. <br /><br />While all three artists are of Asian descent, their education and artistic practice unfolded in Europe and the U.S., gaining international exposure from there. Paradise Lost marked the first time these works were shown in Asia in an exhibition context.
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