An online moving-image exhibition
November 3–6, 2016
Artists: Bani Abidi (Germany/Pakistan); Fernando Arias (Colombia); Kannan Arunasalam (Sri Lanka); Sammy Baloji/ Lázara Rosell Albear (DR Congo/Cuba); Tiffany Chung (Vietnam/USA); Bakary Diallo (Mali); Andrew Esiebo/Annalisa Butticci (Nigeria/The Netherlands); Shanaka Galagoda (Sri Lanka); Ayrson Heráclito (Brazil); Sasha Huber (Switzerland/Haiti); Claudia Joskowicz (Bolivia/USA); Amar Kanwar (India); Mikhail Karikis (Greece/UK); Jompet Kuswidananto (Indonesia); Dinh Q Lê (Vietnam); Giovanna Miralles (Bolivia); Nguyễn Hương Trà (Vietnam); Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai (Vietnam); Nguyễn Trinh Thi (Vietnam); David-Douglas Masamuna Ntimasiemi (DR Congo); Phan Thảo Nguyên (Vietnam); Renata Padovan (Brazil); Chulayarnnon Siriphol (Thailand); Sutthirat Supaparinya (Thailand); Kidlat Tahimik (The Philippines); Trần Lương (Vietnam); Trương Công Tùng (Vietnam); Vandy Rattana (Cambodia/Japan)
Co-curated by Zoe Butt (Executive Director and Curator, San Art, Ho Chi Minh City), Gabriela Salgado (Independent curator, London), and Lê Thuận Uyên (Independent researcher, Hanoi)
Embedded South(s) is an online moving-image exhibition examining particular cultural phenomena, within the complex social geographies of those who identify with a “south.” Screened across three continents from November 3–6, 2016, with unique thematic each night, this program showcases the work of 29 artists from South Asia, South East Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
By “south” we understand this to be a geo-political terminology that labels a particular “tropic,” often economically considered “developing” and culturally suffering the trauma of coloniality. However, we also understand this “south” to be a mobile entity in its diaspora, with many “souths” now in transference within the global flows of migration (forced, voluntary, political, or economic).
Embedded South(s) seeks to share a window, through film, via four differing themes:
1. Mythology:
The transformation and influence of mythology, as an institutionalized form of spiritual guidance (such as Islam or Buddhism); as popularized contemporary phenomena (such as Bollywood); as a system of language constructed to signify meaning and value, exploring how creative visual vehicles utilize and reference historical narrative to speak about the complexities of contemporary life.
2. Social science and collective memory:
The artistic employment of social science methodologies in contemporary visual culture, exploring the diverse and often traumatic impact of colonial histories, racial formations, and the consequence of ideology and armed conflict on the creation of collective memory and cultural archive.
3. Materiality:
The origin and history of use of material resource, considering the migration of raw materials and human ingenuity/labor and how they have become key components employed and questioned within artistic practice. The creative innovation of natural and man-made materials as local symbol; and the origin and subsequent conflict in international trade of goods (e.g. cobalt, a rare mineral, found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among others) will also be explored.
4. Special Feature: Vietnam
The role of an artist in building social conscience, exploring attitude and motivation of an artistic practice, via impact of socio-political contexts; exploring how these differences gives rise to differing valuations of aesthetic, technique and meaning of artistic production in Vietnam.
Due to government restrictions in Vietnam, where obtaining license to show critical investigations of history and work by foreign artists is increasingly censored, Embedded South(s) is delivered online, thus a program available from anywhere in the world, focusing on three time zones for ease of scheduling content – Saigon (Vietnam), Kampala (Uganda), and Sao Paulo (Brazil).
Viewing is free and by registration only.
Acknowledgements:
Embedded South(s) is sponsored by San Art, Vietnam with the support of the Prince Claus Fund Network Partnership; co-hosted/promoted by 98BCOLLABoratory and Los Otros (Manila, The Philippines); New Zero Art Space (Yangon, Myanmar); 32 Degrees East (Kampala, Uganda); Lugar a Dudas (Cali, Colombia); Videobrasil (Sao Paulo, Brazil); Sa Sa Bassac (Phnom Penh, Cambodia); Sri Lanka Archive of Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design (Jaffna, Sri Lanka); Clarkhouse Initiative (Mumbai, India); Asia Culture Station (Chiang Mai, Thailand); Sinema Kolekan (Jakarta, Indonesia).
Embedded South(s) forms part of “Conscious Realities,” a three-year initiative of San Art (2013-2016).
