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Fiona Tan

The work of Fiona Tan (b. 1966, Pekanbaru, Indonesia) questions the relationship between personal history and collective history, the role of memory and the existence of the past in the present. Filmed on the Swedish island of Gotland, Island (2008) explores the relationship between the moving image and memory, which are each capable of transporting us to different places and times. The work is composed of a series of moments that Tan describes as ‘anti-cinematographic’. Tan pictures the island and its desolate landscapes, its trees distorted by the wind, and its heavy skies in a series of timeless and almost motionless fixed, repetitive long takes. A voiceover relates the story of a woman who came to the island to be alone, for a period of temporary retreat. The narrator discloses the intimate thoughts of this absent figure, her distant memories, her desire for exile, her often ambiguous relationship with the world and with time. The work underlines the gap between narrative and film and the way in which the two interact.

Artworks

  1. Fiona Tan, ‘Tuareg’, 1999. Double projection vidéo, noir et blanc, son 31 sec, en boucle. Collection Mudam Luxembourg. Donation 2023 – Gaby et Wilhelm Schürmann avec le soutien des membres du Cercle des collectionneurs du Mudam Luxembourg. Vue de l’exposition ‘Fiona Tan – Mirror Maker’, Brands Kunsthallen, Odense, 25.02.2006 – 21.05.2023 © Photo : Courtesy of the artist and Frith Street Gallery
    Fiona Tan Tuareg, 1999

    Installation composée d’une projection simple recto-verso, archives filmiques numérisées, noir et blanc, deux bandes sonores
    31 sec, en boucle
    Collection Mudam Luxembourg
    Donation 2023 – Gaby et Wilhelm Schürmann avec le soutien des membres du Cercle des collectionneurs du Mudam Luxembourg
    Vue de l’exposition Fiona Tan – Mirror Maker, Brands Kunsthallen, Odense, 25.02.2006 – 21.05.2023
    © Photo : Courtesy of the artist and Frith Street Gallery

  1. Fiona Tan Island, 2008

    Installation vidéo HD, noir et blanc, son
    15 min
    Collection Mudam Luxembourg
    Vue de l'exposition Fiona Tan. Geography of Time, Mudam Luxembourg, 20.02.2016 - 28.08.2016
    Acquisition 2016
    © Photo : Aurélien Mole | Mudam Luxembourg

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