Heat Waves

2021 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

21:20 minutes

Kent Chan

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Heat Waves by Kent Chan examines the contexts, politics, and proliferation of the different aesthetics of heat by drawing from the aesthetics of regions defined by hot and humid climates and associated with histories of coloniality such as ‘the global south’ and the ‘developing world’. The video takes the form of a curated broadcast or music video of historical and contemporary imagery and videos of both found and filmed footage, including media broadcasts; TikToks; DJ sets; an interview with Keanu Reeves; an excerpt of Ho Tzu Nyen’s 4 x 4 – Episodes of Singapore Art (2005); an interview with KADIST Collection artist Julian Abraham Togar; and DJ sets. The barrage of footage weaves together contrasting tropes about the tropics: depicting it as a diseased paradise; naturally abundant, yet economically poor; filled with people who are at once energetic and lazy; with dynamic aesthetics, but lacking order. Arranging snippets of popular culture into a narrative of contradictions, Chan deconstructs the collective imagination of the notion of the ‘tropics’.

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As an artist, curator, and filmmaker; Kent Chan’s practice revolves around encounters with art, fiction, and cinema that form a trio of practices porous in form, content, and context. He holds a particular interest in the tropical imaginary, in particular, the past and future relationships between heat and art, and contestations to the legacies of modernity. The works and practices of others often comprise Chan’s subject matter, which have taken the form of films, texts, conversations, exhibitions, and music. Chan’s work often draws from popular culture, media, and social media, with a keen interest in electronic music and its association with forms of futurism.

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Colors:

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• trope.n.01
• colonialism.n.01
• narrative.n.01
• aesthetics.n.01
• history.n.01