Utama — Every name in History is I
SCREENING – TALK Utama — Every name in History is I And discussion between Ho Tzu Nyen and Virginie Bobin HO TZU NYEN was born in Singapore in 1976. Drawing from historical events, documentary footage, art history, music videos, and mythical stories, Ho Tzu Nyen’s films investigate how the fiction making is inherent to all historicization, and participate in the construction of identities. He also practices painting, performance, and writing, exploring the many possible relationships between stills, painted images, and moving images. His film The Cloud of Unknowing commissioned for Singapore’s participation in the 2011 Venice Art Biennale, is part of the Kadist collection. Screening Utama — Every name in History is I , 2003 (22 minutes) subtitled in English A Sumatran prince named Sang Nila Utama arrived on the shores of an island, where he spotted a strange beast. Utama’s aide, Demang Lebar Daun, informed him that the beast must be a lion. Utama thus decided to name the island Singapura—singa meaning lion and pura meaning city. Intertwining myth and history, the film questions the impossibility of ontology, the instability of all beginnings. Conversation with Virginie Bobin held in English Virginie Bobin, curator, writer and head of programs at the Villa Vassiliev (Paris) will discuss with Ho Tzu Nyen about his current work A Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia which proposes to constitute a new knowledge on that region beyond nation-state boundaries. This program is conceived in the framework of the exhibition curated by Biljana Ciric, Habits and customs of _______ are so different from ours that we visit them with the same sentiment that we visit exhibitions , presented at Kadist Paris until April 30, 2016. Media partner: