Film

FABRICATED REALITIES
Video Art and Film from Southeast Asia and beyond

Curated by Gridthiya Gaweewong, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok  
In collaboration with Art Science Museum, Singapore  

FABRICATED REALITIES encompasses a compilation of recent video art and films made by artists from the Asia-Pacific region. These three programs address the complexity of contemporaneity, questioning the coexistence of humans, a variety of non-human species and the advanced technology that challenges the perception of our history. As the manifestation of artists’ reality, the works were rendered unconsciously from artists’ anxiety, hopes and fears, particularly during the COVID-19 period and their concern about our planetary situation and Earth’s future. They touched upon the good, the bad and the ugly of the history of the human relationship with non-human, nature and technology. Artists traverse back and forth between the past and future, through technology, archival materials and storytelling. Many films dealt with the migration history of humans and non-humans, unfolding the entangled relationship of pre-nations/states in this region. Some address the complex connection between humans’ relationship with nature & cultures and the changing landscapes from Mongolia to the South China Sea, while others are concerned about the fabricated reality constructed by Artificial Intelligence, games and Virtual Reality. They prompt us to reconsider the critical questions on how we can trust the images, and how we can distinguish the fiction and reality that was fabricated and constructed by both technology and human beings. It is about the reality of the now, how we live and go through these uncertain times together, after COVID-19, and how to cope with an unprecedented global moment such as this.

ART SG FILM is held at ArtScience Museum
ArtScience Cinema
L4, 6 Bayfront Ave Singapore, 018974

Asynchronous Dreams (Running Time: 76 min 35 sec)

This program consists of experimental film, video art, animation and VR games. They are cross-discipline, collaborative, text-based works that touch upon various themes such as the politics of memories, dreams, myths, the body, uncanny landscapes, as well as digital technology. Their self-reflexive, speculative narratives and fictional-making created the fluidity of visual aesthetics shared by these artists and raised questions about today's asynchronous dreams of trans-generation, myth making, and their ability to imagine their possible future.

1. Wu Chi Yu | TKG+ | BI02

2. Apichatpong Weerasethakul | ShanghART Gallery | BG02

3. Taiki Sakpisit | SAC Gallery | FC19

4. Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu | Richard Koh Fine Art | BH03

5. Yao Cong | Capsule Shanghai | FR11

6. Xin Liu | Make Room | FC10

Riding The Boundaries (Running Time: 53 min 50 sec)

Using archive materials, animation and documentary film approaches, these artists deal with the migration of animals and how they ride between the boundaries in the Asian region due to the ecological and environmental problems. Almost like the archeologist of oral histories, they excavate and contextualize the tales of people and animals within the history of China and its relationship to Southeast Asian countries through the riverine, marine routes and beyond, from the past to the present.

1. Robert Zhao Renhui | ShanghART Gallery | BG02

2. Robert Zhao Renhui | ShanghART Gallery | BG02

3. Cheng Xinhao | Tabula Rasa Gallery | FR09

Is It Just Human Imagination? (Running time: 43 mins 5 sec)

The non-human world and vision cannot be understood easily by languages, which constitute the foundation of human experience. When anthropocene cognition shifted from human centric to animals, AI and Robots, could we really understand them and their feelings? Or is it just human imagination? This program explores a variety of non-human species that were once considered as mute or voiceless beings, by looking at the world through the perspectives and pattern of behaviors of non-human beings. It is an attempt to understand the unknown by fabricating alternate reality, compressing time and space, amalgamating the impossible and making the invisibility visible in the virtual spaces.

1. Fei Yining | Hive Center for Contemporary Art | 1D07

2. Jo Ngo | Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery | FC03

3. Yanyun Chen and Alex Scollay | Art Porters | FR03

4. Kara Chin | LINSEED | FR06

5. Choy Ka Fai | Yavuz Gallery | BI09

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