Asia Art Archive welcomes Singapore and Berlin-based artist Ho Tzu Nyen as an ongoing resident.
Ho Tzu Nyen is working on a research project titled The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia, a creative imagination and rigorous re-examination of the historical specificity of the Southeast Asia region. Springing from the simple question, 'what constitutes the unity of this region?,' the project proceeds by engaging thinkers and artists working on, and in Southeast Asia to speculate on a series of motifs that cut across the boundaries of nation states and slip through the borders of academic disciplines. Their collective impressions promise to deliver a song of the region, a Southeast Asia manifested not by reason, but by resonance. The first entry was launched in AAA's e-journal Field Notes in December 2013 with interlocutor anthropologist Robert Wessing's contribution 'W for Weretiger'.
Ho Tzu Nyen makes films, videos and theatrical performances. His interests include history, philosophy and the relationship between sound and image. Ho was born in Singapore in 1976. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Arts from Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne in 2001 and an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore in 2007. He represented Singapore at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. He has also participated in numerous international film festivals including the 41st Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2009.
Ho Tzu Nyen's residency has been generously supported by Mimi Brown and Platform Projects, Singapore.