Ritual]]> History]]> Mythology]]> Zarina Muhammad]]> Southeast Asia]]> Topography]]> History]]> Mythology]]> Path. (2012 – ongoing), a body of work revolving around migration, movement, and belonging that reframes our existence by recasting our relationship to the past.]]> Boedi Widjaja]]> Asia]]> Mythology]]> History]]> Urbanism]]> Fyerool Darma]]> Southeast Asia]]> Regionalism]]> Politics]]> Mythology]]> The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (2014-ongoing), the artist is currently engaged in a series of works that probe Asia’s political histories and spiritual thought systems. Specifically, he is interested in the histories of revolt and subversion sited at both the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ end of the political spectrum, paying attention to figures, moments, and movements that eschew classification under an obsolete scheme of polarized opposition. At the same time, he is also intent on speculating about the relevance these questions will carry in 50 years’ time when our existing epistemological frameworks will be drastically altered by accelerated technological transformations, geopolitical shifts, and ecological crises at a planetary level.]]> Ho Tzu Nyen]]> Installation]]> Film]]> Performance]]> Southeast Asia]]> Tradition]]> Mythology]]> Jompet Kuswidananto]]> Installation]]> Multimedia Installation]]> Performance]]> Southeast Asia]]> Botany]]> Mythology]]> Animism]]>
- Botanical studies and urban planning
- Regional folklore, ghost myths, animistic practices
- Alternative historiographies

Inspired by the recent felling of Khaya senegalensis (a tree species native to West Africa) in one of Ho Chi Minh City’s oldest streets for urban development purposes, Lêna Bùi’s project revolves around widespread regional beliefs about hungry and unresolved spirits residing in trees. The artist plans to delve deeper into the intersections between botanical studies, colonial histories, and urban planning in Indochina, framing them against the backdrop of ancestral wisdom and haunting presences. The research will eventually lead to an articulation of unspoken stories from times gone by.

The residency of Lêna Bùi was scheduled for April – June 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak rendered international travel impossible. In order to continue to support artistic research and foster collaborations beyond borders, the NTU CCA Residencies Programme initiated Residencies Rewired, a project that trailblazes new pathways to collaboration.


Research Liaison: Elizabeth Ang

Elizabeth Ang is a freelance creative and writer who holds a BA in International History from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research interests include Cold War historiography as well as social, cultural, and religious histories of Southeast Asia.]]>
Lêna Bùi]]> Lena Bui]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Mythology]]> Time Boomerang, a long-term project started in 2013 that explores the lasting influence of colonialism. As a Vietnamese artist whose life has been defined by diasporic experiences, he frames his relation to history from a personal perspective. Articulated in eight phases, this ambitious project has a global scope and moves along a dizzying timeline of 250 millions years. The first phase, titled Phase 1. The Real Distance of Things Measured: The Cast of the Hands and Its Five Fingertips, revolves around the idea of measurement and has been presented at the Bildmuseet Museum of Contemporary Art, Umeå, Sweden, (2015).

UuDam Tran Nguyen’s multidisciplinary practice spans across different mediums often combining sophisticated technological devices with materials such as clay, rubber, wood, and fabrics.]]>
]]> UuDam Tran Nguyen]]> Performance]]> Photography]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Mythology]]> History]]> Zac Langdon-Pole]]> Installation]]> Object]]> Southeast Asia]]> Ritual]]> History]]> Mythology]]> Zarina Muhammad]]> Film]]> Object]]> Performance]]> Southeast Asia]]>
Trinh T. Min-ha. Films.
Online Film Programme: Speaking/Thinking Nearby]]>
Ritual]]> Mythology]]> Performance]]>
Holzfeind is interested in architectural and social utopias that create an alternative living. She documents the shamanistic rituals of the Japanese improvisation/noise duo IRO, Toshio and Shizuko Orimo, in what they call “Punk Kagura”—in reference to Kagura, a ritual dance tradition and music for the gods. Holzfeind uses a visual language that adapts their mystical rituals: breaks in image; the colour and narrative corresponding with the soundscape; the modernist architecture of Takamasa Yosizaka; and the surrounding nature in which the duo performs a choreography for healing our damaged planet. The urgency is underlined in the title the time is now.]]>
Heidrun Holzfeind]]> Ella Raidel]]> Video]]> Asia]]>