A Tale of Hidden Histories

A Tale of Hidden Histories - Broomberg & Chanarin, Omer Fast, Chia-Wei Hsu, Meiro Koizumi
Truth, facts, memories, reality: are they all constructions? The artists Broomberg & Chanarin, Omer Fast, Chia-Wei Hsu and Meiro Koizumi deploy not only film and video but also slide projections, photographs and sound to investigate and ‘unmask’ the past.
Reportage, re-enactment, documentary and filmic techniques are some of the strategies that these artists apply to expose the subjectivity of historical sources and the limitations of memory. In stories set in various places around the world, they investigate the construction of narratives and the manner in which stories change when told and retold from different perspectives.
The works on display shed light on the history of conflict zones, those places in the world where truth and fiction are brought into sharp focus. Broomberg & Chanarin, Omer Fast, Chia-Wei Hsu and Meiro Koizumi look at the representation of war. Can a war be recounted? Is it possible to depict a war? And what is the role of the artist in this regard? These questions act as catalysts for various stories, many of them unknown or forgotten, events that happened in World War II and the Cold War, as well as more recent events in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Attention: this exhibition was on display from 16 March through 19 May 2019.
Broomberg & Chanarin
Raised in South Africa and England, artists Adam Broomberg (b. 1970) and Oliver Chanarin (b. 1971) trained as photographers but now work with various media. Their work highlights historical, political and religious subjects in a provocative manner. In the process, they grapple with the role of representation, constantly reminding us of the power and many possibilities for interpreting images. The starting point for Dodo was the representation of war. A combination of archival research, archaeological excavation and unused footage from the film Catch-22 (Mike Nichols, 1970) has resulted in an impressive work about the depiction of war and the impact of the Hollywood film industry on the landscape of Mexico. The Day Nobody Died (2008) was made while both artists were embedded with the British army in Afghanistan.
Broomberg & Chanarin, Dodo, 2014
installation with video (HD video, transferred from 35mm, colour, no sound, 40 min. 18 sec.), B-25 Mitchell Bomber Propeller, excavations of airplane remains on the set of Catch-22, 5 black-and-white photos
courtesy Lisson Gallery, London/New York
Broomberg & Chanarin, The Day Nobody Died, 2008
installation with video on monitor (colour, sound, 23 min. 6 sec.) courtesy Lisson Gallery, London/New York
The Day Nobody Died, 10 June 2008
C41 print, mounted on aluminium
Private collection
Omer Fast
Contemporary trauma and war are key ingredients in the politically charged films of Omer Fast. Born in Israel in 1972, Fast is interested in the tension between reality and fiction, and he investigates the construction of stories, in particular the way they change when told from different perspectives. In Continuity (2012), a couple are reunited with their son after his military deployment to Afghanistan, but the awkward story soon becomes more complicated. The background to Her Face Was Covered is the evidence of a drone pilot who discusses the bombing of a convoy of trucks at an unspecified location.
Omer Fast, Continuity, 2012
HD video installation, colour, sound, 40 min.
courtesy James Cohan, New York; GB Agency, Paris; Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv/Brussels
Omer Fast, Her Face Was Covered (part I and II), 2011
installation with video on monitor (colour, sound, 6 min.) and slide projection with 80 slides
courtesy James Cohan, New York; GB Agency, Paris; Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv/Brussels
Chia-Wei Hsu
Taiwanese artist Chia-Wei Hsu (b. 1983) examines the cultural history and geopolitics of Asia. He tells forgotten stories as a way of investigating Asian history, important aspects of which are myths and legends. In Huai Mo Village (2012), a priest recalls the time he spied for the CIA to undermine the Chinese communists. In Drones, Frosted Bats and the Testimony of the Deceased (2017), former factory workers reminisce about World War II to images of an abandoned fuel factory in Taiwan, filmed from a drone.
Chia-Wei Hsu, Huai Mo Village, 2012
HD video installation, colour, sound, 8 min. 20 sec.
Chia-Wei Hsu, Drones, Frosted Bats and the Testimony of the Deceased, 2017
HD video installation with 4 LCD screens, 3 min. 40 sec. – 8 min. 40 sec.
Meiro Koizumi
Japanese artist Meiro Koizumi (b. 1976) uses his confrontational videos to break down deep-seated taboos and tackle difficult issues within Japanese society. His consistent body of work centres on recurring subjects such as individual and collective memory, Japanese attitudes to the past, Japanese media culture, and the depiction of ultimate Japanese heroes such as the samurai and the kamikaze. Defect in Vision (2011) and Portrait of a Young Samurai (2009) offer a disturbing picture of these combatants. The traumas and memories of American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the subject of Koizumi’s recent work Battlelands (2018).
Meiro Koizumi, Portrait of a Young Samurai, 2009
HD video installation, colour, sound, 9 min.
courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
Meiro Koizumi, Battlelands, 2018
HD video installation, colour, sound, 56 min.
courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
Meiro Koizumi, Defect in Vision, 2011
HD video installation, projected onto two sides of a screen, black and white, sound, 12 min.
courtesy Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
video registration
credits
The exhibition is curated by Jaap Guldemond and Marente Bloemheuvel.
Director of exhibitions / Curator: Jaap Guldemond
Associate curator: Marente Bloemheuvel
Project managers: Sanne Baar, Claartje Opdam
Exhibition design: Claus Wiersma
Graphic design: Joseph Plateau
Technical production: Rembrandt Boswijk, Indyvideo, Utrecht, Bo Jansen
Audiovisual equipment: Eidotech, Berlijn / Berlin
Installation: Syb Sybesma, Amsterdam
Lighting: Maarten Warmerdam, Theatermachine, Amsterdam
Full programme
From A to Z
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special
An Evening About Amar Kanwar
special, 2019 -
special
An Evening with Broomberg & Chanarin
special, 2019 -
special
An Evening with Omer Fast
special, 2019 -
opening
Chia-Wei Hsu - Shorts
compilation programme, 2019 -
film
La casa lobo
Cristóbal León and Joaquin Cociña, 2018 -
film compilation
Meiro Koizumi - Shorts
special, 2019 -
virtual reality
Sacrifice (VR)
Meiro Koizumi, 2018