Green Zeng
Residency period
1 April 2020 – 29 September 2020
About
The works of filmmaker and artist Green Zeng (b. 1972, Singapore) scrutinise how history is written, interpreted, and disseminated. Focusing on issues such as student activism and the connection between archives, the state, and the individual, he reactivates fragments of the past and questions the artist’s role in “truth-telling”. His films have been presented in international festivals including the 30th Venice International Film Critics’ Week, Italy (2015) and Cannes Film Festival, France (2006) and his works have been included in group exhibitions at LASALLE’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore (2018, 2017); and Para Site, Hong Kong (2015) amongst other venues. His most recent solo presentation is Returning Revisiting and Reconstructing, Foundation Cinema Oasis, Bangkok, Thailand (2019).
Focus
The national archives contain numerous documents related to public assemblies (strikes, sit-ins, student protests, demonstrations, etc.), and yet collective gatherings aimed at voicing dissent have disappeared from the streets of present day Singapore. How do today’s youth address social issues and global emergencies? Where do they voice concern and manifest disagreement? Focusing specifically on student bodies, Green Zeng plans to investigate the history of public expressions of dissent and assess their relevance for younger generations. His efforts will be first directed at creating an archive of public assemblies in Singapore. This will allow him to engage university students on a series of workshops and participatory platforms aimed at understanding the performative function inherent in such actions. Ultimately, he will devise strategies of (re)enactment to reflect on how public assemblies embody the often strained relations between power and the people and shape our understanding of democracy, freedom, and civil rights.
Residencies brochure: (April – June 2020)
Residencies brochure (October 2020 – February 2021)
Image credit: Green Zeng, Students' Confession, 2018, video still. Courtesy the artist.
Public programmes
PUBLIC ASSEMBLY
Artist talk by Green Zeng (Singapore), Artist-in-Residence
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In this talk, Artist-in-Residence Green Zeng will discuss the creative process behind the making of a series which spans from participatory workshops to re-enactment strategies. He will introduce his current research project which surveys the history of public assemblies in Singapore and seeks to understand how younger generations express their opinion in the public sphere. Zeng will also present excerpts of Students Confession 1 and 2 (2018), artworks from his series TV Confessions that explores power relations embedded in the political arena through the lens of parrhesia, the act of speaking the truth.
We have reached full capacity for this event. The registration is now closed.
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BIOGRAPHY
The works of artist and filmmaker Green Zeng (b. 1972, Singapore) address how history is written, interpreted, and disseminated. Focusing on issues such as student activism and the connection between archives, the state, and the individual, he reactivates fragments of the past and questions the artist’s role in truth-telling. His films have been presented in international festivals including the 30th Venice International Film Critics’ Week, Italy (2015) and Cannes Film Festival, France (2006) and his artworks have been included in group exhibitions at LASALLE’s Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore (2018, 2017); and Para Site, Hong Kong (2015) amongst other venues. His most recent solo presentation is Returning Revisiting and Reconstructing, Foundation Cinema Oasis, Bangkok, Thailand (2019).
He is Artist-in-Residence at NTU CCA Singapore from April until January 2021.
Image: Green Zeng, Students Confession, 2018, video still. Courtesy the artist.
23 Jan 2021, Sat 02:00 PM - 07:00 PM
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Residencies OPEN offers a rare insight into the artist’s studio. Through discussions, performances, installations, and presentations of works-in-progress, Residencies OPEN showcases the diversity of contemporary art practice from around the globe and the divergent ways artists conceive an artwork with the studio as a constant space for experimentation and research.
Featuring Artists-in-Residence:
Kin Chui (Singapore), ila (Singapore), Sim Chi Yin (Singapore/United Kingdom), Marvin Tang (Singapore), Boedi Widjaja (Indonesia/Singapore), and Green Zeng (Singapore).
Also joining Residencies OPEN is Beatrice Glow (United States) thanks to a new partnership between the Centre and the Yale-NUS College Artist-in-Residence Programme. For more info, refer to https://artsandhumanities.yale-nus.edu.sg/artists-in-residence/about/.
Image: Studio of Fyerool Darma, Residencies OPEN, 17 and 18 January 2020.
The Return
Film screening and Q&A with director Green Zeng (Singapore), Artist-in-Residence
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Wen, a political detainee, is released after many years of imprisonment. Arrested without trial for being an alleged communist, he returns, an old man, to an uneasy reunion with his children. Wen also wanders through the city to see how his homeland has transformed into a shining metropolis. He is philosophical about his long detainment without trial and is ready to move on. But as the past collides with the present, unforeseen circumstances force his journey to take a tragic turn.
In 2015, The Return made its international premiere in competition at the 30th Venice International Film Critics’ Week, a parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival. It was first screened in Singapore at the 26th Singapore International Film Festival in 2015.
Limited spaces available, please register at https://the-return-green-zeng.eventbrite.sg.
Image: Green Zeng, The Return (2015), film still. Courtesy the artist.