Sung Tieu (*1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam) develops spatial installations consisting of objects, drawings, videos and sounds. Based on her own family history, which is shaped by her Vietnamese origin and her migration to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1992, she began to explore immigration, border protection and surveillance systems. She is interested in the influence of architecture and design on the individual and society. Her artistic research focuses in particular on structures and strategies developed by the police, military, and state administrative agencies to control, condition, and manipulate people.

The aesthetics of the works play ambivalently with the formal vocabulary of Minimal Art. Sets of rules, patterns of order, and systems of classification are very important in finding form. She uses materials such as steel, concrete and glass to create an impersonal basic mood. She reduces objects inspired by utilitarian design to their essence. However, she subverts formal rigor by incorporating private objects, universal symbols, text fragments, and videos into her spatial installations, weaving them into a multilayered cluster. She further integrates sound collages whose sources are not revealed, leaving a sense of disorientation. In Sung Tieu’s work, form is at the service of content, which deals with socio-political issues and critically reflects on systemic constraints.

For her first solo exhibition in Switzerland, Sung Tieu will conceive an installation in several chapters. The exhibition is produced in cooperation with Kunsthalle Nuremberg; a publication will be published by Snoeck Verlag.

Curator: Lynn Kost