Exhibition | God’s Army (and other suffering loves) by Jumana Emil Abboud and R for Resonance by Ho Tzu Nyen

Opening on Thursday, October 17th, 2019 | 3:00pm at Mina Image Centre

Exhibition dates: October 17th, 2019 - January 18th, 2020



God’s Army (and other suffering loves) by Jumana Emil Abboud

2018-2019, Drawings, folded paper sculptures, wooden sculptures, video (1’24’’)

Unravelling the space between vessel and void, as well as desire and emptiness, God’s Army (and other suffering loves) draws its inspiration from the locust invasion of 1915 and other collective and personal misfortunes that enforce a state of exile, longing, and unrequitedness. The project draws our attention towards the question of how we move amidst extremes and between times; or rather, how we are forced into such states of being when circumstances are beyond our control. The artist’s research, drawings, sculptures, and video works stage an environment fixated in multi-layered and coded imagery. The works speak of entrapments, bilateral dimensions, gesturing language, loves unrequited, passions starved, and healing bruised—mapped out across a deprived territory that is masquerading as abundance as it sways inside and outside of time.

Commissioned by Ashkal Alwan for Home Works 8 and Al Ma'mal Foundation for the Jerusalem Show iX 

Jumana Emil Abboud (b. 1971) is an artist based in Jerusalem. She engages drawing, video, and performance to navigate themes of memory, loss, and resilience. Her interests lie in oral histories and the investigation of personal and collective mythologies and their re-telling. Abboud has recently participated in numerous group exhibitions and festivals, including Intimate Terrains, The Palestinian Museum (2019); When animals talked to humans, Gallery Travesia Cuatro, Madrid (2018); BMW Tate Live, Tate Modern, London (2018); Subcontracted Nations, A.M.Qattan Foundation, Ramallah (2018); Qalandiya International (2012, 2016, and 2018); Shifting Grounds, Sharjah Biennial 13 Offsite, Ramallah (2017); While We Wait, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2017); and the 53rd and 56th Venice Biennale (2009 and 2015). Solo exhibitions include Bildmuseum, Umeå, Sweden (2017); Darat Al Funun – Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman (2017); Kunstraum Gallery, London (2016); and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2016). 

R for Resonance by Ho Tzu Nyen

2019, Installation with VR video 360 degrees, ambisonic sound through headphones, single-channel video projection, 6-channel sound

Gongs are ubiquitous ritual and musical objects found everywhere in Southeast Asia. To tell the story of the Gong in this region is to embark upon a story spanning at least 5,000 years, beginning with the Southeast Asian Bronze Age. In R for Resonance (2019), this complex tale of cultural diffusion, technological adaptation, and social domination is condensed into a dream-like visual dictionary unfolding in Virtual Reality, in which the recurring form of the circle opens to everexpanding rings of associative vibrations.

R for Resonance is the 9th volume of an ongoing project, The Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia (CDOSEA). This project begins with a question: What constitutes the unity of Southeast Asia, a region never unified by language, religion or political power? CDOSEA proceeds by proposing 26 terms for the 26 letters of the English/Latin alphabet; each is a concept, a motif, or a biography, serving as a thread that the artist uses to weave new tapestries of this region that isn’t one.

Commissioned for Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber

Courtesy of the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong

This presentation is made possible with the support of Sharjah Art Foundation.

A plethora of historical references dramatised by musical scores and allegorical lighting make up the pillars of Ho Tzu Nyen’s (b. 1976, Singapore) complex practice that primarily constitutes video and installation. Featured in their own right, each work unravels unspoken layers of Southeast Asian histories whilst equally pointing to our own personal unknowns. Ho Tzu Nyen has been widely exhibited with one person exhibitions at the Kunstverein, Hamburg, (2018); the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2015); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2012); and Artspace, Sydney (2011); amongst others. He also represented Singapore at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011). Recent group exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 14 (2019). He has participated in numerous international film festivals including Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah (2012) and the 41st Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival in France (2009). He was an Artist-in-Residency at the DAAD Berlin from 2015 to 2016, and the Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong from2012 to 2015.   

This event is part of Home Works 8: A Forum on Cultural Practices.