sump, 2015
Kenneth Tamexpand_more
Single-channel color HD video with soundexpand_more
Bring Art to Life Fundexpand_more 2020.42
On View in Gallery 368expand_more
The work of Kenneth Tam takes shape as video, sculpture, and photography that challenges our received ideas and societal norms regarding the male body as it relates to physical intimacy, sexuality, vulnerability, and private ritual. His practice involves the participation of strangers—often recruited through online message boards and forums such as Craigslist and Reddit—in situations orchestrated by the artist that range from tender to awkward to absurd.
Recorded in the domestic space of the suburban basement, sump (2015) documents a series of invented rituals between the artist and his father. The video uses physical interactions ranging from playful to strange to explore the unspoken intimacies and tensions between father and son. sump investigates the fraught space occupied by parent and child, using their bodies as a way to examine the interpersonal tensions that exist in the Asian father/son relationship. Their wordless exchanges typify the way such dynamics have come to communicate through acts of silence.
Details
- Title
- sump
- Artist Life
- born 1982
- Role
- Artist
- Dimension
- 7 minutes, 32 seconds
- Accession Number
- 2020.42
- Curator Approved
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