The Cloud of Unknowing

2011 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

Ho Tzu Nyen

location: Singapore
year born: 1976
gender: male
nationality: Singaporean
home town: Singapore

The Cloud of Unknowing (2011) is titled after a 14th-century medieval treatise on faith, in which “the cloud of unknowing” that stands between the aspirant and God can only be evoked by the senses, rather than the rational mind. In the video, eight protagonists act out their daily lives. The setting is a soon-to-be-demolished public housing facility in Singapore, a country in transition from a mindset of Eastern collectivism to global neoliberalism. These individuals have lived hermetically and absurdly in their apartment space until this moment, when a magical and mysterious cloud appears, connecting their seemingly disjointed lives. It is a story about the tension between solitude and togetherness, privacy and communal experiences. The symbolic cloud embodies both divine illumination and hallucination.


Drawing from historical events, documentary footage, art history, music videos, and mythical stories, Ho Tzu Nyen’s films investigate the construction of history, the narrative of myth, and the plurality of identities. Nyen often collaborates with theater professionals, and the lighting in his films is meticulously orchestrated, the compositions highly aesthetic. Ho also practices painting, performance, and writing, exploring the many possible relationships between stills, painted images, and moving images. His first feature film, HERE , premiered at the 41st Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. He has exhibited widely, including at the Bienal de São Paulo (2004), the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2005), the Singapore Biennale (2006), the Dojima River Biennale (2009), and the Singapore Pavilion of the Venice Biennale (2011).


Colors:



Making Chinatown
© » KADIST

Ming Wong

2012

Making Chinatown (2012) is a remake of Roman Polanski’s 1974 classic neo-noir film Chinatown ...

Exquisite Eco Living (executive Properties series)
© » KADIST

Vincent Leong

2012

The photograph Exquisite Eco Living is part of a larger series titled Executive Properties in which he digitally manipulated the images to insert iconic buildings of Kuala Lumpur in the view of derelict spaces also found in the city...

War Footage
© » KADIST

Mauricio Ancalmo

2010

War Footage is a series of wall-mounted works composed of 16mm film leader, tightly bound to flag-shaped panels by the artist...

One Minute To Act A Title: Kim Jong Il Favorite Movies
© » KADIST

Mario Garcia Torres

2005

Mario Garcia Torres films a game of Charades among professional actors guessing the former North Korean dictator’s favorite Hollywood films...

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Making Chinatown
© » KADIST

Ming Wong

2012

Making Chinatown (2012) is a remake of Roman Polanski’s 1974 classic neo-noir film Chinatown ...

Exquisite Eco Living (executive Properties series)
© » KADIST

Vincent Leong

2012

The photograph Exquisite Eco Living is part of a larger series titled Executive Properties in which he digitally manipulated the images to insert iconic buildings of Kuala Lumpur in the view of derelict spaces also found in the city...

I can’t believe we are still protesting
© » KADIST

Wong Wai Yin

2021

Drawn from the widely circulated images of protests around the world in support of women rights and racial equality, the phrase I can’t believe we are still protesting is both the title of Wong Wai Yin’s photographic series and a reference to similar messages seen on protest signages...

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Holly Solomon, the Glamorous Collector Who Became an Influential Dealer - Artsy
© » LARRY'S LIST

Holly Solomon spent most of her life supporting and championing artists; a new exhibition in London charts her influence....

The Cloud of Unknowing
© » KADIST

As part of Asian Contemporary Art Week, Kadist presented The Cloud of Unknowing by Ho Tzu Nyen, a Singapore-based artist and filmmaker...

Kerosene Triptych
© » KADIST

Natasha Wheat

2011

Natasha Wheat’s Kerosene Triptych (2011) is composed of three images, one each from the digital files of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Field Museum tropical research archive...

Geneva Court Overturns Dismissal of Collector Dmitry Rybolovlev’s Suit Against Yves Bouvier - via ARTnews
© » LARRY'S LIST

Given the recent court ruling, it seems unlikely that the legal saga will come to a definitive end anytime soon....

Related artist(s) to: Ho Tzu Nyen » Anton Vidokle, » Guy Ben-Ner, » Hans Ulrich Obrist, » Vandy Rattana, » Ali Cherri, » Basim Magdy, » Biljana Ciric, » Cao Fei, » Chen Chieh-Jen, » Cosmin Costinas  
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Endless Falls
© » KADIST

Ali Cherri

2017

As a discipline born at the same time as colonialism, archeology is struggling to rid itself of this sad context...

Wild Boy
© » KADIST

Guy Ben-Ner

2004

Wild Boy is the story of the education of Amir, the artist’s son...

Prey Veng (Bomb Ponds series)
© » KADIST

Vandy Rattana

2009

Vandy Rattana’s Bomb Ponds series was made following a transformative encounter with the craters left over from 2,756,941 tons of bombs dropped by U...

La Town
© » KADIST

Cao Fei

2014

Cao Fei’s video La Town, 2014 depicts a mythical metropolis that has been destroyed by unknown forces...

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Clouds paintings
© » KADIST

Benoît Maire

The series Clouds paintings by Benoît Maire features oil on canvas works in varying format, in which the artist depicts clouds, using a variety of tools, including a spray gun, paintbrush, or palette knife...

Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness
© » SLASH PARIS

Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness — Almine Rech Gallery, Matignon — Exhibition — Slash Paris Login Newsletter Twitter Facebook Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness — Almine Rech Gallery, Matignon — Exhibition — Slash Paris English Français Home Events Artists Venues Magazine Videos Back Previous Next Tia-Thuy Nguyen — Sparkle in the vastness Exhibition Painting Tia Thuy Nguyen, série I, my, me, cloud (2018-2023) Courtesy de l’artiste et galerie Almine Rech Tia-Thuy Nguyen Sparkle in the vastness Ends in 13 days: January 11 → February 24, 2024 “Sparkle in the vastness", Tia-Thuy Nguyen’s first show with Almine Rech presents a suite of more than twenty multi-media paintings from the artist’s ongoing series “I, my, me, cloud” (2018–)...

Sideways Time
© » KADIST

Olivia Erlanger

2016

Sideways Time by Olivia Erlanger is the result of the artist’s interest in networks, seen and unseen, financial and ecological, the collapse of which has resulted in the fracturing of a middle class American identity...

Untitled 1
© » KADIST

Pratchaya Phinthong

2009

Phinthong made four photographs depicting fragments of meteorites of which the faces have been polished to reflect the sky...