Stones and Elephants

2019 - Installation (Installation)

12:59 minutes

Chia-Wei Hsu


Stones and Elephants by Chia-Wei Hsu derives from the Malay literary classic The Hikayat Abdullah . The author Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, who once served as the secretary of Major General William Farquhar, chronicled his life in Malaysia and published his writings in 1849. Hsu’s video installation excerpts two chap- ters from this classic. The artist invited a Malay shaman to read these two stories as a voiceover and to pray for a peaceful filming trip. The chapter “Melaka Fort” depicts how the British destroyed the strong fortress to weaken Malacca and return control of the region to the Dutch East India Company, while the other describes the locals, William Farquhar, and his interest in ecology. The perspective offered by the drone creates a unique relationship between the human and the non-human. The artist can only use technology and the internet as a vessel for memories. As stated in the narration, “all these have passed, showing that everything is so fragile.” Algorithms ensure that every keyword search will show different results, presenting elements of truth among the uncertainty of this work. Through this, Hsu attempts to retrace historical scenes that have been lost to time.


Embarking from myriad audio-visual narratives, Chia-Wei Hsu pursues imaginative interrogations of cultural contact and colonization in Asia, oftentimes amalgamating his primary narratives with non-human actors including technologies, animals, gods, environments, traditions, and material objects. Bringing these diverse subjects together results in a bumpy ontological bleed between them, forming the topography of a historical geography without a straightforward objective position. By reinterrogating what histories and relations coexist within a given locale, Hsu’s work manifests new imaginative potentialities for their revitalization, an uncertain, profound terrain throughout his films and installations. While his work has consistently probed regulatory systems including religion, science, architecture, and military action, Hsu’s work has increasingly explored digital ontologies and the Internet of Things, in which previously luddite household objects have become connected to the internet. The digital, as a territorializing field produced by components largely manufactured in Asia, allows Hsu to attempt the detournement of western knowledge-bases to formulate new, imaginative archipelagos.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

Leading Collector of Middle Eastern Art to Sell Dozens of Works at Sotheby’s - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

Abdulrahman Al Zayani is selling more than 80 works by Middle East artists....

The Power of a Poem
© » ARTS EQUATOR

The Power of a Poem | ArtsEquator Skip to content Zakir Hossain, a celebrated poet and migrant worker in Singapore, wrote a poem, which sparked a response from the state...

Showing: José Parlá – ‘Phosphene’ @ Ben Brown (London)
© » ARRESTED MOTION

Showing: José Parlá – ‘Phosphene’ @ Ben Brown (London) « Arrested Motion Closing today after a four week run, Phosphene is José Parlá ’s second show at Ben Brown Fine Art ’s London location...

Untitled
© » KADIST

Gabriel Sierra

2010

Untitled consists of a small wooden sculpture that leans against a wall...

Field Guide - Imagined Specimens and Ecosystems
© » ARTNOME

Field Guide - Imagined Specimens and Ecosystems — Artnome Menu Blog Exploring art through data using the Artnome database...

Fellowships and Residencies Fall 2023 by
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Fellowships and Residencies Fall 2023 Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

SEE WHAT SEE (May 2021): SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES
© » ARTS EQUATOR

SEE WHAT SEE (May 2021): SOUTHEAST ASIAN DOCUMENTARIES | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints May 15, 2021 By Joel Tan To borrow and distort the title of David Shield’s lyrical manifesto against fiction: I’ve been HUNGRY for reality in the month of May...

Texas Hold ‘Em: Beyoncé drops two country-tinged singles
© » DAZED DIGITAL

Texas Hold ‘Em: Beyoncé drops two country-tinged singles | Dazed ⬅️ Left Arrow *️⃣ Asterisk ⭐ Star Option Sliders ✉️ Mail Exit Music News The singer announces the second stage of her Renaissance trilogy, and releases a duo of new tracks 12 February 2024 Text Dazed Digital During the Superbowl last night, Beyoncé announced that her new album – Act II – will be released on March 29...

The Nightwatch
© » KADIST

Francis Alÿs

2004

The Nightwatch , which is an ironic reference to the celebrated painting by Rembrandt, follows the course of a fox wandering among the celebrated collections of the National Portrait Gallery in London...

Under the bonnet: €300,000 Ferrari-funded restoration completed on 13th-century Cimabue fresco
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Under the bonnet: €300,000 Ferrari-funded restoration completed on 13th-century Cimabue fresco Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Conservation news Under the bonnet: €300,000 Ferrari-funded restoration completed on 13th-century Cimabue fresco Maestà di Assisi, located in the saint's home town, which survived a deadly earthquake in 1997, has been returned to its original luminosity James Imam 8 February 2024 Share Cimabue’s Madonna Enthroned with the Child, Four Angels and St Francis underwent two previous restorations: in the late 19th century and again in 1973 Tecnireco A fading fresco by the 13th-century artist Cimabue that survived a deadly earthquake 25 years ago has been returned to its original splendour following a €300,000 restoration funded by the luxury car manufacturer Ferrari...

Landed / Untitled XII (orange string)
© » KADIST

Moshekwa Langa

2004

Hybridized drawing is a continued exploration in Moshekwa’s practice, integrating elements of graffiti, thread and yarn to enrich his abstract drawings of maps and space...

Seven Deadly Sins
© » KADIST

Ruijun Shen

2006

In Seven Deadly Sins (2006), Shen utilizes abstraction to produce complex topographies of color that evoke associations with violently tumultuous landscapes...

Images of an El Salvador Town Transformed by Migration (Published 2019)
© » NYTIMES LENS

Images of an El Salvador Town Transformed by Migration - The New York Times Lens | Images of an El Salvador Town Transformed by Migration https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/lens/images-of-an-el-salvador-town-transformed-by-migration.html Give this article Share Advertisement Continue reading the main story The political has long been the personal for those who decided to abandon all they knew in El Salvador to search for a safer, but uncertain, future up north...

Liu Wei: China’s Trickster Mixer-Upper
© » ARTNEWS CN

Liu Wei: China’s Trickster Mixer-Upper – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Barbara Pollack Plus Icon Barbara Pollack View All February 26, 2014 5:00am When the Rubell Family Collection opened its doors with an exhibition of 28 Chinese artists in time for Art Basel Miami Beach last December, one of the stars that emerged from the show was Liu Wei , whose brand of geometric abstraction surprised many Americans looking for more stereotypical hallmarks of Chinese art ...

Hikaru Fujii
© » KADIST

Artist and filmmaker Hikaru Fujii (born in 1976) lives and works in Tokyo...

Sliman Mansour Preserves Palestinian History Through Art
© » HYPERALLERGIC

Sliman Mansour Preserves Palestinian History Through Art Skip to content Sliman Mansour, “Rituals Under Occupation” (1989), oil on canvas, 47 1/2 x 40 inches (all images courtesy Zawyeh Gallery and the artist) Nearly every day, Sliman Mansour makes the hours-long journey between his home in Jerusalem and his studio in Ramallah...

‘100 Hooks’ at JB Blunk Estate: a design exhibition to get hung up on
© » WALLPAPER*

100 Hooks at JB Blunk estate pays homage to the late artist | Wallpaper Left, hook by Martino Gamper...

Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs
© » KADIST

Tarek Atoui, Mariana Castillo Deball, Jimmie Durham, Sulaiman Esa, Edgar Fernandez, Meschac Gaba, Simryn Gill, Ion Grigorescu, Taloi Havini, Ho Siu-Kee, James T...

You have given the world your songs
© » KADIST

Francisca Benítez

2018

You have given the world your songs by Francisca Benítez is a poem in American Sign Language (ASL)...

Top Art Auction Houses: A Comprehensive Look at Titans of the Art World
© » ART CENTRON

Top Art Auction Houses: A Comprehensive Look at Titans of the Art World - Artcentron Home » Top Art Auction Houses: A Comprehensive Look at Titans of the Art World ART AUCTION Feb 9, 2024 Ξ Leave a comment Top Art Auction Houses: A Comprehensive Look at Titans of the Art World posted by ARTCENTRON Christie’s is one of the top art auction houses in the world...