Form Serves Content

The installations by Berlin-based artist Sung Tieu (*1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam) explore the reciprocal (coercive) relationship between bureaucracy and identity. Her research on the ­recruitment agreement for Viet­namese contract workers in the ­former GDR forms the starting point of her work. Against the background of her own biog­raphy, she began to examine the complex socio-political background of this specific migration context. Aspects of the labor ­regime, the ­regulation of housing, and the ­control of the private sphere overlap therein. Sung Tieu systematically ­traces these migration-political and economic contexts in her work with the archives and consolidates her research results in three-dimensional ­installations that combine ­objects, architectural interventions, documents, drawings, videos, and sound recordings to create atmospherically ­impressive audiovisual narratives. With regard to formal aesthetics, her works are based on Minimal Art and Conceptual Art. What at first seems to contradict the artist’s political-narrative approach, however, does in fact represent a form of critical analysis that challenges the conventional belief in the autonomy of art and its interpretation. For Tieu, form serves content. This is also reflected in the design of this publication, which reproduces some of Tieu’s research material and archival records, as well as her entire ­series of bureaucratic documents, in a strict grid structure. Art historical essays and an interview with the artist provide additional information about other important influences and refer­ences within her artistic practice.

Exhibtions:
Kunst Museum Winterthur, 16/9 – 19/11/2023
Kunsthalle Nürnberg, 9/3 – 9/6/2024