Silent for a while e catalogue

Aung Myat Htay Htein Lin Maung Day Moe Satt Tun Win Aung Wah Nu Zun Ei Phyu

A VIBRANT LIFE PUBLICATION

What is art?

“Louise Bourgeois, a great friend and brilliant artist, once said: ‘I am not what I am, I am what I do with my hands.’ Art is a means to explore one’s identity. What’s incredible is that this can be an individual identity, a national identity, or even the identity of an entire generation. In the broadest sense, art can bring together a community and, on a personal level, it can shed light on one’s most intimiate thoughts. Art lives from the fact that it remains unexplainable, and that is what distinguishes it from science.”

Iwan Wirth, gallery owner, Galeries Hauser & Wirth, Zurich and London

10 Chancery Lane Gallery is proud to present Silent For A While: Contemporary Art From Myanmar curated by Moe Satt. This exhibition is the fourth curated group show focusing on Southeast Asia following Forever Until Now: Contemporary Art from Cambodia curated by Erin Gleeson, Time Ligaments: Contemporary Art from Vietnam co-curated by Dinh Q. Lê and Zoë Butt and Subjective Truth: Contemporary Art from Thailand curated by Iola Lenzi. Southeast Asia represents a vast diversity among its countries so that grouping them as one is paradoxical. Sharing geographic proximity does not coincide with cultural similarity. The politics, history and culture of the region cannot be grouped as a “Southeast Asian idea” or even “feeling”, rather each country should be looked at individually. Myanmar in particular is in a very special time in which artists are exploring their voices as contemporary witnesses of art within a fast changing economy and political environment. Their challenges are many. Most notably, that of a relatively absent contemporary art scene, with very few opportunities for artists to express themselves in a formal gallery exhibition or institutional environment. However, this has not stopped them from breaking boundaries that communicate a range of concerns related to the idiosyncratic cultural, social and political landscape.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is a fast-changing country since the government initiated a series of political and economic reforms in 2011 leading to a substantial opening of the long-isolated country. These reforms included releasing hundreds of political prisoners, concluding negotiations on a draft nationwide ceasefire with the country’s various ethnic armed groups, pursuing legal reform, and gradually reducing restrictions on freedom of the press, association, and civil society.

At least due in part to these reforms, Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to the national legislature in April 2012 and became chair of the Committee for Rule of Law and Tranquility. In a flawed but largely credible national legislative election in November 2015 featuring more than 90 political parties, the National League for Democracy (NLD) party again won a landslide victory. Myanmar served as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2014. All of these changes are forming a new context from which artists are expressing themselves and developing a new and renewed identity that reflects the past, present and future of Myanmar.

This exhibition of seven artists exemplifies a varied group in terms of age, that have different experiences articulated in their works. Ranging in age from 29 to 49 they have lived dissimilar lives. Htein Lin, now 49, is an established and recognized figure who was involved with the 1988 student movement, which led to his imprisonment for nearly 7 years. His soap carving of a prisoner crouched in a tiny cell was given

to a Red Cross inspector who saw him once during his internment. The soap block was then used by the Red Cross Magazine as their cover image bringing attention to human rights issues in the country. The young 29-year old, Zun Ei Phyu, is a medical doctor who does voluntary medical stints in isolated regions of her country. Her cut out paper works deal with a range of social issues within today’s Myanmar.

The couple, Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu, work in experimental video projects with a documentary and historical slant. Wah Nu’s father was a filmmaker in Myanmar and she has a great sensitivity to the medium. Their work using old archives of newspapers from the time when all press was government controlled is a profound and telling statement. Maung Day is well read; his apartment is strewn with books in English ranging from philosophy to literature. He works for an international charity organization and his fine pen drawings are curious imaginings layered in complex meaning. Aung Myat Htay was a professor of sculpture at the University of Art and Culture in Yangon. He has written many books on the subject of art history both in Burmese and English. His sculptural works incorporate religious iconography within the human form; Buddhism being pervasive within Burmese culture. Moe Satt is a full-time artist experimenting in film, photography, performance and sculptural installation. He was one of the 6 finalists for the 2015 Hugo Boss Asia Art Award for emerging Asian artists. His performance-based photographs, Bicycle Tire-Rolling, contradict the action of a childhood Myanmar game made of recycled materials and the auspicious traditional dress that is worn to special occasions.

Burma has resurfaced from its long slumber. With it comes apprehension of losing yet another of the world’s treasures to modernization. However, the depth of experience, even among the youth, is ever present and profound. They have lived through so much and their time has come. The artists that emerge are worthy of notice in this very special time of transition. As the exhibition title poignantly states they were Silent For A While but perhaps silent no more. Myanmar and its art is starting to make noise.

In the Quiet Land…

In the Quiet Land, no one can hear What is silenced by murder And covered up with fear.

But, despite what is forced, freedom’s a sound That liars can’t fake and no shouting can drown. ¬From Aung San Suu Kyi’s poem “In the Quiet Land” There were times when our eyes, ears and mouths were shut. They were the moments of perpetual transfixion, the instants of complete silence. We lived through those moments day in, day out. Now we would like to stop for a while and look back at what happened. This is the time for reflection, so let’s stop for a while.

Artists participating in this exhibition are Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu, Htein Lin, Maung Day, Zun Ei Phyu, Aung Myat Htay and Moe Satt. The artist couple Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu are known for their multimedia works. Htein Lin is a former political prisoner, and Maung Day is a poet who does drawings. Zun Ei Phyu, a young female artist, makes paper cut-outs. Aung Myat Htay has his sculptures and Moe Satt his performance photographs in this exhibition.

Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu “Let’s march towards a new socialist society in our own way, in Burmese way.” You may still remember this resounding slogan of the Burma Socialist Programme Party.

This slogan embodies the military dictator General Ne Win’s concept of Burmese Way to Socialism—a ‘unique’ socialist framework that denies to be measured or comply with any other standards of socialism practiced anywhere in this world.

Essentially, it was just military dictatorship wearing a thin skin of socialism.

After seizing power in 1962, Ne Win’s government started to propagate peace, which was a bogus move to divert people’s attention from the coup. The government was only trying to show the olive branch, the symbol of peace, in one hand, while hiding the other hand, blood-stained and murderous, behind the back, wrote Win Tint Htun in his book ‘Myanmar in the Dark’. Shae Tho, the then state-run journal whose name in literal translation is ‘Forward’, printed a photograph of the delegates from the Burma Communist Party walking with their backs to the camera. The photograph was captioned ‘Now they have turned their back on the peace process’, and emerged after Ne Win’s government one-sidedly stopped its peace negotiations with the Communist Party. The cover page of the aforementioned journal is the integral part of White Piece # 0178 by Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu. The work juxtaposes the title of the journal with the phrase “turned their back on…”.

Another landmark scheme of Ne Win’s government was the nationwide nationalization of private property: newspapers, hospitals, cinemas, printing presses,

schools, and a lot more. White Piece # 0178 highlights a photograph of Myanmar soldiers guarding a building they had confiscated. The photograph was printed on a cover page of the state-owned newspaper ‘the Mirror’. These photographs reflected upon a society fallen under dictatorship.

After ruling the country without any constitution but with a manner of despotism since 1962, Ne Win and 21 army chiefs decided to take off their uniforms and become a civilian government in April, 1972. It was done in anticipation of writing a constitution and extending their rule. The Vanguard daily Newspaper covered this news. White Piece # 0177 uses two pages of this newspaper, with one covering the news of the generals retiring from the army and the other about their forming a new civilian government.

All these works emphasize the names of propaganda newspapers, and the artists have used them to create their works. The newspapers include Forward, the Mirror, The Vanguard, the New Light of Myanmar, Workers Daily and Co-operatives. Their six works are part of an ongoing project called ‘A Thousand Pieces (of White)’. The couple cut pictures from newspaper and put white patches on certain parts of these pictures. These are work of erasure. And what do they want to achieve by doing that? Do they want to correct the wrong history? Or are they trying to put spotlight on specific facts from the country’s history? I am certain that a significant day or event in the country’s history has inspired them to do these works.

Htein Linn In 70s, 80s in Myanmar, a mother would shout to her son, “Son, can you cut the Shwe Wah soap in half and bring it to me?” The son would then go to the kitchen, pull out a bar of Shwe Wah soap, and cut it with a blunt cleaver. He might have had to carve out the spots where rats had chewed on the soap. This was a routine chore for a young man growing up in socialist Myanmar. After Ne Win established one-party dictatorial state and nationalized the private sector, the government’s cooperative shops sprang up together with black markets. Thus, two classes of people—one smuggled goods from the border and the other queued at cooperatives—emerged.

The items available for sale at the cooperatives included Shwe Wah and carbolic soap. The first was for washing the body and the second for washing clothes and dishes. It is very difficult to find them at markets today. Htein Linn claims that once you get a whiff of Shwe Wah soap, your memories of the socialist dark age will come back. If you look closely at his work, the map of Myanmar made from small bars of Shwe Wah soap, you will see that each bar represents misery of a political prisoner who has been in a prison for years.

Htein Lin has reconstructed his soap sculpture that he modeled in prison. Just simply, he calls this work ‘Soap blocked’. Inside the map made from yellow bars of soap, you will see white bars of soap which show the locations of prisons in Myanmar.

Soap connotes cleaning, and so does the prison for the government. Cleaning times, cleaning political activists, cleaning the public, monks and students. Under the

previous military government, so many university students did only the half of their studies at university, they did the rest in prisons that are also called ‘university of life’ or ‘university that you mom does not want you to go to’*. Htein Lin used to be a political prisoner for seven years after being involved in student protests. He said in an interview, “We all got involved as student activists fighting for human dignity, good education and freedom, at a very dark time.” He did so many paintings during his spell in prison using whatever piece of cloth was available to him, for instance, prisoners’ shirts and the longyis of those who were executed by hanging.

His works in this exhibition will also include paintings done on prisoners’ shirts.

But you may be wondering how he managed to get these paintings out of the prison. Maybe he bribed the warden as there are corrupt officials everywhere in this country. Maybe he didn’t. It does not matter, does it? What matters is these paintings are in front of your eyes now. “Artist, prison and drops of paint”**. *Taken from the title of a book written by Poet Saw Wai ** Titled of Htein Lin’s interview from self-published magazine in jail

Maung Day Everything is concerned with the president.

And everything isn’t concerned with the president.

These lines are from a poem by Maung Day. We have seen a lot of writings addressing directly to the president in this transitional period. Prisoners who were granted amnesty by the president have become the government’s stooges. These young and old thugs wore red armbands and staged violent crackdowns on protests and demonstrations. Maung Day’s drawing ‘The Thug Nation’ condemns this. The thugs in this drawing wear on their bodies the tattoos of eagle and phoenix, which symbolize bravery, as well as bad scribbles like ‘mom’, ‘love’, and ‘courage’.

Maung Day’s drawings give a narrative account of the present political issues with images. ‘The Portrait of the Country as a Snake Queen’ utilizes the imagery from folk tales and myths, creating a sense of awe and fear while it is also concerned with rituals and sacrifices. It raises so many questions. Who is this fearsome snake queen, or ogress? Does the picture of paddies and stars on her breast have something to do with the socialist government of old? Is she a mother? And what about the fish scales on her throat, her longyi with traditional patterns, and the snake coiled in the shape of a halo? She carries wounds from civil wars and political turmoil too. This work comments on the history and current issues of Myanmar.

Women security is a big issue in Myanmar today. The parliament has recently passed the Interfaith Marriage Law, restricting women’s rights to marry whomever they wish to. Maung Day’s work ‘Salmonella’ discusses this. This law, in my opinion, is just a ‘vagina guarding law’. Pardon my French. Why should the government have signed this law? Was it really necessary? Or was it a move to use religion for political gain? I think this drawing, which consists of the images of two monks with a Pyiyt Tine Htone—a traditional doll that always lands on its feet when tossed— between them, denounces this law and supports women to stand up to it. It also portrays violation of women’s rights as a disease; that is shown with a woman’s head vomiting. Regardless of all these issues, life goes on, and love goes on. Love cannot be stopped. As in the lyrics of an old Myanmar son, grandpa will say ‘I love you’ to grandma with a kiss, dad will say ‘I heart you’ to mom with another kiss, and love birds in the parks keep on kissing, losing the track of time and forgetting to eat.

Meanwhile, cataclysms, both social and political, wait for a good time to pounce on

these lovers. This is the story told by Maung Day’s Kissers in a Park (Kissing through Time). I remember that most songs recorded during the reign of the military regime were love songs. A protest song hardly came by because of the state censorship. A friend of mine once said love is also political. What do you think?

Zun Ei Phyu Zun Ei Phyu’s work called ‘Hidden Face 1’ consists of three layers in one piece. Hidden Layers talks about hidden things, both straightforwardly and subtly. The first layer is conspicuous whereas the other two layers are vague to the eye and merging with each other. On the top layer are children rolling hoops. The second layer shows houses caved in and destroyed after the recent landslide in the hilly areas of Chin State. The third and last layer shows people praying and asking for forgiveness from God in a football field for they thought the disaster was God’s punishment. Look how simple these folks are; they still connect natural disasters with God. ‘There was always fun and happiness when you were a child. You were content, ate when it was time to eat, and always had a good sleep at night. I want it back, my childhood without any worries,‘ sang the late singer Sai Htee Sai in his famous song ‘Paradise Lost’. Yes, we all want it back, but it is not possible. Children know no worry.

They can paly and have fun anywhere anytime. You can say the same thing about refugee children. They use everything they can find to make toys, and of course, they roll hoops too. Recently, heavy rains caused serious floods and landslides in some parts of the country especially the hilly Chin State. The disaster destroyed houses. In some towns, 50 per cent of the houses were knocked down, therefore no longer suitable to use. They need to be resettled elsewhere. The town in Zun Ei Phyu’s work is located in a hilly area, underdeveloped. Due to bad transpiration routes, the inhabitants did not receive humanitarian aid in time. It was largely ignored by the government initially too. Development workers needed helicopters to drop food stuffs and other accessories from the sky. In this dire situation, the first thing the inhabitants did was go to the football field and prayed together.

They believed they were punished with this disaster. Some observers may view this as naivety or superstition, and for some, this means that they are still embedded in their own spiritual and cultural roots. What can we do for people who live in remote areas without any proper mode of transportation and underdeveloped?

What kind of positive changes will the new government bring to them? This newly elected government has declared ‘it’s time for a change’. So let us wait and see what changes they can implement in reality.

Aung Myat Htay Aung Myat Htay has named his three bronze works ‘My Heat’. They are life size sculptures, 6 feet tall, and have the faces of an ogre and a celestial being on their chests. The face of the ogre represents ‘evil’ and the celestial being ‘good’, the two sides of the same coin. The controllers of mind, the slave driver of action. “The beast in us transfigures & roams the earth. The beast as eternal twin, as perpetuation of internal bleeding, as continuity of seismic story,” wrote Maung Day for one of his performance pieces. Aung Myat Htay’s work takes us back to the origin of human being. In her book ‘Humanism for Children’, Nada Topic Peratovic wrote that according to Chinese folk tales, the earth was created by an enormous man who came out of a giant egg floating in the universe. The Andean tribes from Japan

taught their children that the earth came into being when mud on the back of a huge turtle dried up. Likewise, Norwegian myths say that the first man and woman were made of a tree’s bark, while Jews and Christians, based on the Bible, believe that God Almighty created the earth in six days. The Koran says the first man was sculpted from clay. For Scientologists, humans came from different planets from the universe. This work by Aung Myat Htay may have originated in one of his earlier work which was human-figured cut-outs. He made holes in the chests of those cardboard human figures and covered the holes with colored plastics, making them see-through. In his another series of work exhibited at the Museum of Fukuoka, he again made human-figured cut-outs with holes, but this time, he inserted the images from Buddha’s life stories in the holes. The three sculptures for this exhibition can be viewed as extended versions of the previous cut-outs, by using bronze plates in stead of cardboard, probably to make it last longer.

Moe Satt “Hey brother, why are you doing this?” A man approached and asked me this question when I was doing a performance on the bank of Kandawgyi Lake for a performance photograph series. I simply replied that I was performing. Then the man said I should not be doing that because it was inappropriate to be wearing Myanmar traditional dress and rolling a tire like a child.

When I was doing the same performance in Mahabandoola Park, older women taking their morning exercises shout to me, “Hey the boy in a bridegroom’s dress, we have a bride for you. Tell us if you need one.” One of them asked whether I was taking photographs for the imminent SEA Games. These are people’s response to Moe Satt’s performance in public spaces.

In the photographs of his performance “Bicycle Rolling Tyre Event from Yangon”, you can see Moe Satt rolling a tire, wearing the full traditional dress the color of a chick. The backgrounds change, but it’s still him rolling the tire in that dress. He has worn traditional dresses in most of his performances. He chose the color of a chick because people of Myanmar regard it auspicious. His dress contradicts his action in most people’s eyes for people only wear such dress to attend special events and ceremonies, such as religious events and weddings. Or they may wear it because they are senators.

The artist explains of this performance, “I am trying to put a socio-political twist to a child’s game, one that I liked most when I was young.” This work, which also embodies the artist’s childhood nostalgia, was done in the setting of Yangon City, where the artist was born. He chose four landmark places to do the performance and photographed it. The places include the bank of Inya Lake where students were shot by the Myanmar Army back in 1988. The artist joked that he liked the place because this was where he hang out with his girlfriend when they were high school students. All these four places have some kind of important history. He ha also picked Mahabandoola Park adjacent to Sule Pagoda and in front of the City Hall.

The Sule Pagoda area was considered to be the center of Yangon when the city was first built in the old days. This is a heritage place and rich in history. So you may say Moe Satt has entered the country’s history and rolled his tire in it.

Edited by Nathalie Johnston

Zun Ei Phyu As Jeremy Hawthorn states: “interpretation is a process of creating something new and personal to the interpreter as an extension of a pre-existing text,” we should place it as one of the theories in criticism and interpretations of theories for interpretation.1 The way one interprets a work may face the difficulty of transcending the horizon of meaning deliberately produced by the artist and the historical context of that given work. Rather, the interpretation today would undertake invention of something with thousands of possible meanings. In this way, we are trying to expand a pre-existing work so as to invent a new kind of work. Put differently, the interpretation process as the main task of Theory, doesn’t necessarily follow the so-called artwork, artist and intention trilogy.

In his ‘The Death of the Author’ essay, a symmetry of theoretical interpretation overwhelmed Roland Barthes. That is why Barthes emphasized the said point in his essay “From Work to Text” as his preference to make similar approaches for interpretation. Barthes contemplates that only text, which opens to infinite interpretations, exists in a given artwork. Here, Zun Ei Phyu’s work should not be seen as a work full of meaning lead by a certain conventional approaches, which follows the way an artist’s intention reflects her work. Instead, her paintings should be seen as a work being opened to infinite interpretations when we read it. Emotionally warm and deep composition in her painting is the mélange of white on the children playing with blue background of local Chin ethnic people practicing animism. Suddenly, this composition reminds me of Chapter 10 in ‘Gargantuan - Concerning the Significance of the Colors White and Blue’ by Rabelais who asserted that ‘white color bears the meaning of happiness, consolation and delight. Because white is antithetical to black which bears the meaning of mourning.’

In her work, the bright white color overwhelms the children. One may interpret the relation between leisure, playing, delight and the children having a good time. In his pentalogy mentioned above, Rabelais claimed that Romans usually depicted their cavalries riding white horses to show a conquest in war. In the case of Zun Ei Phyu, she did not use black mourning color as a direct contrast to the white happiness of the playing children. Of course, on the side of local Chin people worshiping 2 supernatural beings, one sees the black and blue mix of silhouette. Even when an artist’s inspiration for a given color choice may differ, the white color used by Zun Ei Phyu for the playing children is a Rabelaisian approach. Moreover, the color composition sheds light on the innocence and leisure in the future for the children (i.e. only if you have formal education you will later have middle-class leisure.). In the same pentalogy, Rabelais said, “Of course, blue signifies heaven and heavenly

1. Hawthorn, Jeremy. Unlocking the Text: Fundamental Issues in Literary Theory.

2. Chin refers to an ethnic group located in Chin State, in Western Myanmar on the border with India and Bangladesh. Within the Chin groups there are many sub-groups, with multiple languages. They keep the practice of Animist practice alive, though many have converted to Christianity in the past century.

things.” The ancient Greeks defined the blue color as bearing grief. In a sense, the black and blue hues, being shaded on people and their practice of animism, can be defined as a traditional cult casting a shadow happiness, leisure and education of the local children. Only collapsed homes and societal collapse can associate local Nat worshippers and the children in this painting. However, animism (or Nat worship) could not induce any reasonable association with the happiness of children: any association between them can only be achieved through the situation of societal collapse.3 Htein Lin He used to make politically oriented art works, and tried to incorporate the political conflicts of Myanmar today as well as the suffering of political prisoners into his works – politics become metaphorical art in his work. Prisons became metaphors.

Like renowned magician David Copperfield who made everything under the terms of magic, including his actual attempt to go through the Great Wall of China, one may notice in Htein Lin’s map made of soap blocks transforms our imprisoned country into an art work. Likewise, the way he successfully added time (or timeframe) into an artwork necessarily based on an imagined space like a map is most significant. The prisoner figures in each block of Shwe-Wah soap (a mass-production of the soap started and widely used in military government-led Socialist era) say more than being a prisoner; these figures also remind one of a fetus in uterus. This means more than the implication that our country itself was imprisoned in a sovereign territory called Myanmar; in the same way the unborn child in a mother womb is serving his term. The way he arranged the soaps in the form of a map itself shows a yellowishgolden outline of Myanmar – obviously parodying the symbolic name of our country ‘The Golden Land’, after its thousands of golden stupas. Against this very golden backdrop, is the prisoner-fetus, the imprisoned nation. Being in violation of freedom becomes the golden symbol of Myanmar. The meaning of the Golden Land here in his work is a metamorphosis. The state in his work is not one with glittering golden stupas, but sparkling with prisons and prisoners. A nation full of prisoners means the absence of state, the non-existence of a good government. That is why the prisoner in the soap blocks looks like a fetus in uterus. These prisoners in the soap blocks have an ambiguous sense; they are imprisoned unborn on one hand and await delivery on the other. Breaking out of the confinement means the birth of a statethe birth of a good government.

Maung Day Mythical religious images operating in our society can be vividly seen in Maung Day’s works. The way he deals with these religious images becomes intertwined with the collective mix of ancient signs and symbols so as to produce a present-day meaning.

3. In Myanmar, Animist practice includes the worship of the Nat, one of 37 spirits who once walked the Earth in human form but met with a tragic death. Nats can also refer to spirits in nature.

One can see a shockingly deconstructive stance in ‘The Portrait of the Country as a Snake Queen’.

In a sense, by combining things dominating our society in the past into his work, Maung Day lets us understand the way Myanmar-ness is operating as such in present-day society. At a time when extremist religious views and conventional values surfaced, Maung Day indeed attempts to question these religious and traditional manipulations. Just as he said that his work reflected a mix of Freudian repressed memories kept in his inner voice, any critics using an approach equipped with strong and serious points of view will apparently discharge interpretations.

However, if and when a given society has no tolerance for freedom of expression and maximizes religious extremism in response to meanings aroused from this) work, Maung Day will have to be ready to gather his belongings to seek asylum as a third country national artist. When a given society judges him (and his work) as an enemy of the state, his works are equivalent to antibiotics that can destroy poisonous microorganisms roaming free.

The way Maung Day questions the establishment came when he combined the manifestation of traditional signs and ideograms with other religious symbols – in the form of a hybrid version. The two most significant concepts are postmodernist distortion based on symbolic undertakings in the form of postmodernist parody and hybrid. You can see the coiled snake like the halo usually shown around the head of highly venerated beings. Dwelling on the oriental symbol or venerated Buddhist person, the inherent destructive element indeed is people who misapply religious tensions in today’s society for their intolerant purposes. This figures into the work in the form of bony plates, sheep in hand, wrapped sarongs around on the breast.

Maung Day used these figures as a direct presentation and parody in his work.

Paddies, being a state symbol in the past, and shown as if sticking like a tattoo on the right side of chest, witness a parody saying that the artist is not detached from contemporary tattoo culture. All these characteristics play an important role in his work.

Even if the work ‘A Thug Nation’ is the symbol suggesting political instigators, his way of using parody as a technique in his work will not end with this limited suggestion. As he addresses the fabulous myths and the ‘courage’ tattoos, which are omnipresent in BSPP (Burmese Socialist Program Party)-led era, his painting shows how the episteme sank its teeth into the skin of people of a given era. Likewise, the best parody can be seen in ‘Salmonella’. In this picture, Maung Day made a comparison of religious symbols so successfully that the traditional toy image Pyit-

Tain-Daun (Burmese Tumbling Kelly) was neatly mixed with a Muslim woman wearing a burka. A similar combination of present and past can be seen in ‘Kissers in the Park’. Again, the way Maung Day depicted a young couple kissing in a park being juxtaposed with the image of wolves – a canning creature according to Jataka tales – in this work is a hybrid.4 So, ‘Salmonella’ shows how religious connotations had cast a shadow over the freedom of youth as human beings. Indeed, when only signifiers operates in myths that his works tends to portray, an anarchist nature is aroused.

The artist himself seemingly became anarchist.

Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu They chose to reconstruct episteme of a given era together with fragmented pieces in their work, so as to make a reinstated expression. In the absence of reexplanation for their works or their artist statement, their work would have no difference but a mere reinstallation of propaganda newspapers from military dictatorship starting from 1962 coup until 2011, when a new quasi-civilian came in 5 power. However, their artist statement became noteworthy: they are reconstructing an episteme, which gives shape to the knowledge of people under half a century of military dictatorship. The two most significant points: their sharp artist statement writing and the front pages of decade-old newspapers that the artists chose with careful consideration at their disposal. From theoretical point of views, these front pages are fragments. They used a special scrutiny used in picking out these front pages, reconstructing all the fragments of episteme imposed by decades of military dictatorship. In other words, though each fragment of the front pages is not complete, these fragments became a narrative structure under their scrutiny.

This narrative structure had been reinforced much by their artist statement on the other. Their presentation assumed a counter-argument to the whole episteme imposed by the 50 year old dictatorship. They used a counter-discourse carefully crafted or a new scrutiny under a narrative structure for their work: that is why they reinstated important historic events on the front pages in their artist statement. As they deployed the fragments, their works took on a counter-narrative structure.

This operational structure is most important in their presentation. In this respect, what the artist duo conceptualized as the BSPP socialist period (1962-1988) and the military dictatorship period (1988-2011) means more than a period concept; these are periods when the mindset of a dictatorship was inculcated in the general public in the form of grand narrative structure. More narrative structures are needed if one tends to response to such a grand narrative structure. Although it is difficult to estimate exact amount of counter-narrative structures, it is sure to conclude that Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu are trying to counter these grand narrative structure by

4. The Jataka stories are those told and written about the previous lives of Buddha.

5. In 1962, General Ne Win took over the civilian government in a military coup. The military has ruled the government of Myanmar ever since, only recently installing a semi-civilian government

creating a counter-narrative structure in their work. The advent of counternarrative approach being made of many fragments and having temporary narrative structures made this artwork conducive to the collapse of authoritarian narrative.

Moreover, their work suggested getting the measure of every individual fragment.

Aung Myat Htay His work tends to ask spiritual questions and let the audience to think about those questions. When art and religion become entangled in a given artwork, questions arise from most: What is the place for man in the universe? What is the significance of a religion and the role that it plays? Which role does the god play? How do we think of gods? These questions come from a metaphysical outlook.

In his works, Aung Myat Htay chooses what he wants to reflect on Lord Buddha and the artist’s deepest state of mind. One recognizes this in the first painting where he reflects on a human’s heart and other figures as Buddha image sculptures. One may question the way these hearts are shining and their different forms. How do his Buddha images (or figurines) express faith and doubt? You may find the heart of man bearing more doubt than faith: a heart that is made up of only strong excitement and dismay with a reasoning mind.

Faith, enthusiasm, the Dhamma and peace can be found in the images of ‘Stories (Life of Buddha)’.6 In the middle of the figurines, you can see both immortal and mortal signs that these types of signs are indeed the deepest question of religion.

The artist’s reality that can be seen in the life of Lord Buddha and religion means more than the historical evolution of the religion or doctrine of Buddha. The most prominent creation of these figurines is the way they show images in hearts, by making the mélange of traditional metaphors and impressionist signs.

Moe Satt He explained in his artist statement the places he chose for his performance. The places and materials he singled out for his works are, in fact, operating like myths used by contemporary cultural theorist Roland Barthes. Myths, according to Barthes, do not follow the traditional Oxford English Dictionary definition but instead are “ways of communicating that implies a particular ideology or ethos – a cultural representation.”7 In other words, myths are cultural meanings that operate through anything within culture – story, film, object or person, can become the vehicle of myth in a given society. In Moe Satt’s performance, one sees ‘bike tire rolling’ or ‘hoop rolling’ (in Burmese- gway-hlane), the most rudimentary thing since antiquity and one of the most widely played traditional children’s games in Myanmar.

6.Dhamma, or Dharma, is the law and order of living in Buddhist doctrine 7. Barthes, Roland. Mythologies.

Furthermore, he also juxtaposed the gway-hlane game with political and cultural monuments, which are still playing a prominent role in the country. That is to say, when his work shows a way to place cultural myths and hoop rolling close to one another, the myths grow to produce multiple meanings.

The sites that he chose for his gway-hlane performance are culturally and politically important ‘heritage’ sites. Sad to say, these heritage sites were treated as insignificant during military regime. That is why these monuments lost their fullgrown status and become ‘empty signifiers’. As an artist and a full-grown citizen in tite-pon and gaung-baung, (Myanmar jacket for men and turban) dressed like a local gentleman, Moe Satt is still playing this game which is ubiquitous in impoverished outskirts and rural areas in Myanmar. By placing empty signifiers and cultural images side by side, he is trying to talk about the loss of identity for citizenship in our society. Although he is in a traditional suit or with something facile, his performance process shows that his full-grown life as a citizen could never be found: that is why only empty signifiers are left, while all other materials he used and the contexts in which he made his work are losing their meanings.

The artist as a gentleman in a traditional suit lost his human life: his existence as a human was distorted under dictatorship, as he did not have a pastime. That is why his muddling, topsy-turvy situation does not end even when he is grown. Moe Satt as a gentleman in a traditional suit is rolling the hoop in public places. In fact, his work is a sarcastic act for the loss of pastimes in Myanmar society. Trivializing the public places for citizen’s pastimes means disclosing the fact that these places are losing their existence, like his trivialized citizenship.

8

A local Burmese poet Lusan once wrote a well-known poem ‘Rolling the Hoop’.

But gway-hlane in Burmese language has also a slang version, which means ‘masturbation’. This poem with dual meaning reportedly passed the Board of Censorship (Sar-pay Kempeitai in local epithet) under the military dictatorship. In this way, Lusan successfully made a fool of the censorship authorities. Here, one can see the intertextuality between Moe Satt’s ‘rolling the hoop’ performance and Lusan’s poem ‘gway-hlane’. As a gentleman in a traditional suit, Moe Satt is ‘masturbating’ or ‘rolling the hoop’ in front of the state, for his loss of identity as a citizen.

8. Lusan is a contemporary poet living and working in Yangon, Myanmar

Moe Satt lives and works as a visual and performance artist and curator in Yangon, Myanmar. Moe started creating art after graduating from East Yangon University in Myanmar with a degree in Zoology in 2005 and is part of a new generation of emerging Burmese artists.

In 2008, he founded and organized Beyond Pressure, an international festival of performance art in Myanmar. As a performance artist, Moe has performed in galleries and also on the streets of Yangon. He has been actively participating in live arts festivals in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and on the international stage.

Through his travel encounters, Moe sees the differences between performance artists from both open and those from more restricted societies. While contemplating the regional landscape of performance art and on the artistic mindset of individual countries in the region, he has developed a greater understanding of his own identity as an artist and as a person.

Moe Satt was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award 2015 and participated in the 2nd CAFAM Biennale at CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, China, in 2014, and in the group exhibition “A Journal of the Plague Year” at Para Site Art Space in Hong Kong in 2013. The artist also curated the exhibitions “General / Tiger / Gun” at Rebel Art Space in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2014, “Forward/Backward: 8 Myanmar Second-Wave Contemporary Artists”, H Gallery (Thailand, 2011). “On/Off: Myanmar Contemporary Art Event”, The Almaz Collective (Vietnam, 2010). He writes regularly on art in Myanmar and contributes to magazines across the region.

Thaw Thaw Myo Han (Pen Name: Min Khet Ye) was born 4 May 1979. He entered Yangon Technological University in 1996. He began writing for Hmyar Nat Maung (Cupid) Magazine in 1996. His featured articles included subjects based around political philosophy in monthly journals such as: Atway Amyin, Han Thit, Faces, New Spactator, Sabai Phyu, Mahaythi, Padauk Pwint Thit, Hlaing Thit, New Ni, Colorful Rainbow, Kabyar Lawk bimonthly and The Journal of Human Rights and Democracy.

Since 2004, he published his most famous academic articles on ‘Literary Theories in Practice’ - studying Burmese classic novels and writings. He later published these articles as a book titled ‘Rereading Classics’ in Burmese. In 2005, he published his first book ‘Modern Literary Theory and Criticism’. Since then he has published 26 books on Literary Theory and Philosophy including Postmodern Outlook (2006), Rereading Classics (2007), Maung Chaw Nwe Study(2009), Kyi Aye Study (2014), Continental Political Philosophy(2014). Presently, he is the Editor-In-Chief at The Journal of Human Rights and Democracy and Myanmar Knowledge Society Publishing. He lives and works in Yangon with his wife and daughter.

My Heart (God), bronze 180 x 55 cm 2016

My Heart (Ogre), bronze 180 x 55 cm 2016

My Heart (Face), bronze 180 x 55 cm 2016

Soap Blocked, soap 120 x 360 cm 2016

Father, Mother and Their Daughter, paint on prisoner’s clothes 44 x 48 cm 1999

Map of Rat, paint on prisoner’s clothes 49 x 39 cm 1999

Shadow of Hope, paint on prisoner’s clothes 38 x 44 cm 1999

Biology of Art, paint on prisoner’s clothes 52 x 61 cm 1999

The Portrait of the Country as a Snake Queen, pencil and colour pen on paper 75 x 55 cm 2016

Salmonella, pencil and colour pen on paper 55 x 75 cm 2016

Kissers in a Park (Kissing Through Time), pencil, colour pen and watercolour on paper 55 x 75 cm 2016

The Thug Nation, pencil and colour pen on paper 55 x 75 cm 2016

Bicycle Tire Rolling Event from Yangon: Bank of Innya Lake, photograph 60 x 91 cm, Edition of 5 2013

Bicycle Tire Rolling Event from Yangon: Kan Daw Gyi Park, photograph 60 x 91 cm, Edition of 5 2013

Bicycle Tire Rolling Event from Yangon: Bogyoke’s Bronze Statue, photograph 91 x 60 cm, Edition of 5 2013

Bicycle Tire Rolling Event from Yangon: Independent Park, photograph 91 x 60 cm, Edition of 5 2013

White Piece #0153: Forward, acrylic and journal on canvas 41.6 x 59.2 cm 2012-2013

White Piece #0181: The Working People, acrylic and journal on canvas 68.3 x 50.5 cm 2015-2016

White Piece #0177: The Vanguard, acrylic and newspaper on canvas 60.6 x 46.1 cm 2015

White Piece #0178: The Mirror, acrylic and newspaper on canvas 51.3 x 39 cm 2015

White Piece #0179: The Cooperative, acrylic and journal on canvas 47.1 x 34.2 cm 2015

White Piece #0180: The New Light of Myanmar, acrylic and journal on canvas 51.3 x 39 cm 2015 -2016

Allergy, cut paper (three layers) 60 x 90 cm 2016

Hidden Face 1, cut paper (three layers) 60 x 90 cm 2015

ARTIST’S CV AUNG MYAT HTAY born in 1973 December 23, Mandalay, Live and work in Yangon, Myanmar.

Education 1998 B.A Art and Sculpture, University of Art and Culture, Yangon.

1993 Fine Art- State School of Fine Art (Mandalay) Solo Exhibitions 2014 Dining-Room Opera, Site Specific Installation, Rooster Gallery, Orchard Street, New York, NY. 2012 Calling Memory, Installation Art, Koganecho Bazaar Art Festival, Yokohama, Japan.

2010 The Stories (Lantern), The Stories (Life of Buddha), Wind of Artist Residency Program exhibition, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan.

2009 2009 Solo Acrylic Painting by Aung Myat Htay, Pansodan Gallery Yangon, Myanmar.

2008 Transparent Hearts solo Installation Show, New Zero Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar.

2005 OPERA watercolor Art show, Studio Square owned by Artist NCS, Yangon, Myanmar.

2003 Enchanting Dreams Acrylic and Oil Paintings Solo Art Show, AZADA Art Gallery, Yangon.

2001 IRREGULAR NIGHT Art Show, Judson Hall, Yangon, Myanmar.

2000 Aung myat htay’s PAINTINGS 41 solo Art show, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon Myanmar.

1997 Born in Myanmar Solo Art Exhibition (watercolor paintings), LokaNat Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

Performance Art 2014 2013

Flying, Private practice on Hudson River side, Bethune Street, New York, NY. Obsession, Asia Tour of NIPAF (Nipon International Performance art), Yangon, Myanmar.

2013

The Hands, Performance at international multimedia Art Festival, Alliance France, Yangon, Myanmar.

Calling, Performance at Koganecho Bazaar Festival opening reception, Yokohama, Japan.

Myanmar- Malaysia, Performance Exchange program, Mandalay, Myanmar.

In Yangon, Performance Event, Dagaung Art Gallery, Yangon.

LIVE ART 2011, International Performance Art Festival, Banglore, India.

Beyond Pressure International Performance Art Festival, Yangon, Myanmar.

Nippon- Asia Performance Exchange, Organized by NIPAF, NewZero Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar.

Home Sick & Sick Home, outdoor performance, Reizan Park, Fukuoka City, Japan.

Sound of Middle way, Ajibi Hall, Artist Residency Program, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan.

2012 2012 2012 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010

2010 2010 2009 2008 2008

Endless of Desire, Open Section, 3rd Beyond Pressure Performance Art Festival, Myanmar.

Bonds of the String at Body Reports Performance art Festival, Lokanat Art Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

Hanoi& Yangon performance Art Tour of NIPAF, Inya Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

Fake Eye Sunday performance Workshop at New Zero Art Space, Yangon,Myanmar.

Empty Bag Sunday performance Workshop at New Zero Art Space, Yangon,Myanmar.

Group Exhibitions 2015 2014 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2012 2012 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2009 2008 2008 2008 2008 2004 2001 1999 1

Planetarium Links, Site Specific Public Involvement Installation, My Yangon My Home Art Festival.

STRUCTURE#1, Beyond Pressure International Public Art Festival, People’s Park, Yangon, Myanmar.

Warehouse History, Art in the Warehouse, group contemporary art show, Yangon.

Constellations, Blanc Gallery, Manila, Phillippine.

Alternative Art Fair in Gwangju Biennale 2013, Korea.

Touch, Korea Myanmar Art Exchange program, New Zero Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar.

Old City, (digital art)20 Finalist of Sovereign Asian Art prize, South East Asian finalist show in Singapore.

Memory House, Video of the Installation, Multimedia festival, Alliance Francis Yangon, Myanmar.

Life in Illusion, Contemporary art making workshop, New Zero Art Space, Yangon, Myanmar.

Invisible way, Forward Backward 8 Myanmar Artist Group Show, H Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand.

Memorable Life of Lantern, Video Art, New Media Art show, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

A drop of Rain & Who Other: Two Installation, Dagaung Art Gallery Yangon, Myanmar.

Urban Reflection of Yangon 2011, Art Workshop, NewZero Art Space, Yangon.

Black Ant, NewZero Art Space, New Media Group Exhibition, Lo Ka Nat Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

Myanmar–Asean Art Exchange Exhibition, Tha Ma Da Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar NewZero Art Space Group Exhibition, Lokanat Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

NARGIS Relief Art Show, Thamada Hotel Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar. “ Fire” NewZero Group Art Show, Beithano Art Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

Art Tree UOC All Batch Group Art Show, Old Art School, Yangon.

Art Now Group Art Show, Art and Artisan Association, Yangon, Myanmar.

Lokanat Group Art Show, Yangon, Myanmar.

Depression Gray UOC Group Art Show, Lokanat Gallery.

998 1998 1996 1995 1994 1993

Asean youth Art Camp, Country Visual Art Site(Myanmar), San Pablo City, Philippine.

Wuthan Art Show, Treasure Art Gallery, Yangon , Myanmar.

Treasure Art Gallery group Art Exhibition, yangon, Myanmar.

Orient Gallery Member Art Show, in Yangon, Myanmar.

First Life group Art Exhibition at Orient Art Gallery in Yangon , Myanmar.

State School of Fine Art (Group Art Show), Mandalay, Myanmar.

Participated in a lot of group art show since 1995. A Mamber of NewZero Art Space Group and Freelance Artist base in Yangon, Myanmar.

Awards & Artist in Residency 2014 ACC Grant Award for research contemporary art, meet art professional, artist residency in New York.

2013 One of the 20 Finalist of Sovereign SE Asian Art Price Award, Singapore, Hong Kong.

2012 Koganecho Bazaar Art Festival, Artist in residency, Yokohama, Japan.

2011 Bar1 Artist in Residency for LIVE ART Performance Art festival, Bangalore, India.

2010 Artist in residency for (3) Month Program at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka City, Japan.

1998 Visual Artist from Myanmar for Arsean Youth Art Program in 1998, NATURE HUG Art Camp in Philippine.

Other Activities 2013 DVD Magazine on Contemporary Art In Myanmar, Published and Curate in Yangon, Myanmar.

2013 Cross the Crossing Myanmar-Thai art exchange program, Silperkong University, Yangon, Myanmar.

2012 Life in Illusion art workshop Program, New Zero Art Space, Yangon. ( 15 day long workshop in installation and new media , with 20 local participants) 2011 Urban Reflection art making workshop, Yangon.

As a writer, released an Analysis on Modern & Contemporary Art (2013), Color Harmony (2011), Life and Works of Monet (2010), The Art of Oil Painting(2009), Collection of all sketches of Van Gogh (2008), Text and illustrations Art Notes (2007), The Art of Watercolor Painting(2004), Basic Art Drawing Book 2002.

HTEIN LIN Born on 31 December, 1966 in Ingapu, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar Education Bachelor of Law, Yangon University Solo Exhibitions 2016 The Storyteller, Solo show (including premiere of ‘A Show of Hands), curated

by Nathalie Johnston Goethe Villa, Yangon July-August 2016 Happyland (paintings and video performance) Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, July-September 2014 Beyond the Itch, solo show, River Gallery 2, Yangon March 2014 Private group exhibition at Art Basel 2014 Miami, (in association with Pall Mall Art Advisors and Quintessentially), December 2011 Solo Show, North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford, June Group Exhibitions 2016 Gangaw Village group show, Yangon, January 2016 2016 Additions to A Show of Hands (multimedia project, including public participation) 2016 Asian Performing Arts Market, Setouchi Triennale 2016, Takamatsu/Seto inland Sea, Japan, July 2016 2015 Group Show at 20th anniversary of River Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar, December 2015 2015 Htein Lin’s 1999 prison soapblock carving (in the permanent collection of the ICRC museum) is included with pieces by inter alia Yves Klein, Ai Wei Wei, Magritte, Rauschenberg, and Dan Flavin in the exhibition ‘Experiments with Trust: Gandhi and images of nonviolence’ at ICRC Museum, Geneva curated

by Josef Helfenstein, now Director, Kunstmuseum Basel and at the time, the Director of the Menil Collection, Houston, where the exhibition was frst shown in 2014).

2015 Kamarado, Group show by the Clark House Initiative, September-November 2015 Stedelijk Museum Project Space, Amsterdam 2014 Dhaka Art Summit, February ‘A Show of Hands’ (performance courtesy of Samdani Foundation), paintings shown by Tasneem Gallery 2014 Rosary Bowl/Mastery of the Mind (installation) and paintings included in group show of Myanmar contemporary art at ‘Pagodas, Longyis and Nats’ at the taatliche Museum Funf Kontinente (Munich), Germany (September 2014- January 2016) 2014 Performance ‘Give us back our land’, opening of exhibition ‘Blank Mind’ by Soe Naing, A-hla Thit gallery, Yangon, October 2014 Capturing Only Merit, installation in group show, Peoples Park, Yangon, December 2013 Htein Lin and Ernesto Leal, El Fragmento Eliminado, Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, (April- June) 2012 Video Lounge, India Art fair, courtesy Tasneem Gallery 2012 Installation: The Triple Gem, Singapore Fringe Festival, February 2012 Asia House group show, London, July-August 2012 Workshops and performances in Rangoon and Mandalay, Burma August 2012 Shanghai Contemporary Art fair (courtesy Tasneem gallery), September 2012 Visiting artist, Charleston College, South Carolina, USA, October 2012 Prison paintings, video (Rises and Passes Away) and performance, Freedom Film festival, Copenhagen, October

2012 2012 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2007

2007 2007

Clark House Mumbai at ISCP New York, USA, November ICU Jest, collateral exhibition (installation and performance) by the Clark House Initiative at the 1st Indian Biennale, Kochi India, December 2012-February 2013 Burmese Group Show, Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong, April Brighton Festival, UK May Prison paintings, Chimay, Belgium, May/June TAMA Tupada Performance Art Festival, Philippines, November, Exhibition of prison paintings for Human Rights Day, Prague, December Installation: The Scale of Justice, Singapore Fringe Festival, January Let Me out of Hell, Burmese Theatre Workshop, London and Marseille Thavibu Gallery (with artist Chaw Ei Thein), Bangkok, November-December ArtAsia Miami, Karin Weber Gallery, December Regular performer, ArtEvict, London Beyond Burma II Group show, Menier Chocolate Factory, London, UK 9-14 Feb Outside In: Alternative Narratives in Contemporary Art, University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong 9 June – 19 July 2009 (group show including prison paintings) Group show at Karin Weber gallery, Hong Kong, July 2009 (tbc) Missing Asia, Observing Europe, Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain, November January 2010 (solo show) Beyond Burma’ Group show, Chocolate Factory, London 11-23 Feb Twenty Years On, Suwunnabhumi Gallery, Chiang Mai 13-18 March ‘The Cell’, Karin Weber Gallery , Hong Kong, 27 March-13 April ‘Out of Burma’, Quest Gallery, Bath, 13 May-5 July (solo show) ‘Recycled’, Coningsby Gallery, London, 17-23 August (solo show) ‘Recovering Lives’, School of Art Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Aug-Oct (group show) ‘Crossings, Contemporary Asian Art’ Olson Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA 28 August – 3 October (group show) Museum of Resistance, Deportation, the War, Rights and Freedom, Museo del Carcere Le Nuove, Turin, Italy 24 October – 12 November (solo show exhibition of prison paintings) Paintings completed secretly while in prison on cotton cloth using a variety of media and techniques were exhibited in a solo show ‘Burma: Inside Out’ at Asia House, London July-Oct 2007 (see www.hteinlin.com for media coverage including Economist, Int. Herald Tribune/NY Times, Sunday Times, BBC, CNN, C4 News).

Venice Biennale 2007 collateral event: Migration Addicts group show (curated

by DDM warehouse Shanghai) Asian Attitudes, Poznan National Museum, Poland, July 2007 (group show)

Curatorial projects 2016 Curator, 2nd My Yangon My Home Arts Festival, Myanmar 2016 2016 Curator, Peace Festival, various sites in Myanmar, November 2016 (tbc) 2015 Co-curator, “My Yangon My Home “ Yangon Art and Heritage Festival, a festival of community art projects to explore heritage, culture and art in Yangon 2010 Curator, Burmese Arts Festival, Free Word Centre, London, October

Awards 2016 Nomination for entry into Sovereign Art Prize 2016 2013 Nominated artist, Absolut Art Award 2011 Nominated artist, Signature Art Prize. Asia-Pacific Breweries Foundation/ Singapore Art Museum Other projects 2016 Speaker, Living Arts in Post-Conflict Contexts: Practices, Partnerships & Possibilities, Forum organized by Cambodian Living Arts, Phnom Penh, March 2016 Two documentaries about Htein Lin currently being made by filmmakers in Switzerland and USA 2015 Autobiography: ‘Ma-Pa – the ABSDF Northern Branch Affair’, Yangon (published in Burmese - see ‘When I was a Lousy Millionaire’ (2012)) 2015 Collected writings on art criticism (in Burmese), Yangon 2014 Panellist and performance, Contemporary Dialogues festival organised by Fluxkit, Pun and projects and Institut Francais Yangon, October 2013 Art of Transition conference, Yangon, March 2013 Returned to Yangon, and commenced A Show of Hands project 2013 Advisory Committee, Artraker Fund, 2013, and judge for 1st award 2011 ‘When I was a Lousy Millionaire’ (translated extract from forthcoming autobiographical account of experiences of detention in the jungle) 2008 Featured artist, Himal magazine 2007 Artist in Residence, www.rimbundahan.org near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2006/7.

2007 Advisory Committee, INDEX on Censorship 2007 Judge, 2015 Yangon Film School-Goethe Institut Documentary Competition 2007 Judge, Murals, Koestler Trust Prison Art prize (UK) 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 2007 Meditation discipline guide for warders and prisoners, Insein Jail, December 2013 Juror, Yangon Human Rights film festival, June 2014; group performance at opening 2013 Selection Panellist for the first Artventure/Article 19 ‘Freedom to Create’ prize, 2008 Invited to submit works to Artists’ Pension Trust – Beijing collection 2008 Consultant, ‘This Prison Where I Live’ (about Burmese actor and political prisoner Zargana), Rex Entertainment Films, 2010 2008 Participated in NYU seminar: Imagining the Future: New Worlds, New Arts, New Models, co-curators Anna Deavere Smith and Gideon Lester, Abu Dhabi, April 2011 Established kaungkin.com to showcase the best of Burmese writing and art (in Burmese) live and online, in Burma and in London 2011 Adviser to Writers and Scholars Education Trust on arts capacity strengthening in Burma, 2012/2013, including convenor of the ‘Art in Transition’ seminar in Yangon, March 2013 2011 Founding member of Burmese Theatre Workshop, a London-based drama co-operative performing original plays in English (2008/9) 2011 Coach to young Burmese actors and comedians. Judge for awards to graduates of documentary and short film courses in Burma 2011 Regular contributor on the arts to Sone-Nan-Tha magazine (2013-4) 2011 Contributes articles, radio dramas, poetry, short stories and illustrations for magazines in Burma, Burmese vernacular radio stations and international media

2011 Awareness raising work with Amnesty and other human rights groups 2011 Educational work with primary and secondary schools, exploring themes of capture and imprisonment, and using printing techniques with found objects

MAUNG DAY Born on 1979, Myanmar. Poet, editor and visual artist based in Yangon.

Solo Exhibitions 2007 The Untrained & The Insane with Hit Talone, Yangon, Myanmar 2008 Co-founded & performed in Beyond Pressure: International Performance Festival, Yangon, Myanmar 2010 On/Off, Hanoi, Vietnam 2011 Forward/Backward, Bangkok, Thailand 2011 Beyond Pressure: International Performance Festival #4, Yangon, Mandalay, Myanmar 2012 Oligarchic Weather: Works on Paper, a solo exhibition, H Project Space, Bangkok, Thailand 2013 Metamorphosis and Flux: An International Exhibition on Translation, H Project Space, Bangkok, Thailand 2013 Oligarchic Weather: Works on Paper, Eat Me Gallery Restaurant, Bangkok, Thailand 2013 Beyond Words—Artists and Translation, Amelie Gallery, Beijing, China 2014 General, Tiger, Gun: A Group Exhibition by Myanmar Artists, Rebel Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand 2015 South by South East, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong 2015 Haunted Thresholds: Spirituality in Contemporary South East Asia, Gottingen, Germany Group Exhibitions 2013 Extrapool, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Selected Bibliography Poetry Pleasure Sea (2006) Surplus Biology (2011) Alluvial Plain of Ogres (2012) Poems (2014) Films: Poems (2015) Translation The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum Charlie and Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Charlotte’s Web by E.B.White The Fantastic Mr.Fox by Roald Dahl Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus The Pizh’duks by Vaclav Havel Pyongyang by Guy Delisle Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto Selected Poems by Maram Al-Massri Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki Selected Haikus by Kobayashi Issa

MOE SATT Born in July 20, 1983, Yangon, Myanmar Education 2004 B.Sc (Zoology), East of Yangon University, Myanmar.

2007 CDCE (Community Development and Civic empowerment), Chiangmai University, Thailand.

Solo Exhibitions 2006 Prayer (performance art), Mr.Guitar cafe, Yangon, Myanmar.

2007 Zero (performance art), Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

2008 Hands On/Off (installation art / performance art) Hooyong Performing Art Center, S-korea.

2009 F n’ B (performance art), Lokanat art gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

2010 Hands oxide (photo & video art / performance art), Hanoi, Vietnam.

2010 Happening In Rain _days & night (photo art), Gallery Cafe Ohoo, Seoul, S-Korea.

2011 Words/Dialogue (performance art), Botataung Jetty, Yangon, Myanmar.

2014 Chronicle of Moe Satt (performance art), Mullae Art Space, Seoul, S-Korea 2014 He said / She said (performance art), Asahi Art Square, Tokyo, Japan.

Group Exhibitions 2005 2006 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 2012 2013 2013 2013

Performance Site Myanmar, 05 Yangon, Myanmar.

Myanmar Performance Art Festival, Yangon, Myanmar.

8th Open International Performance Art Festival, Beijing, China.

9th Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Open Street performance art event, Kular lumpur, Malaysia.

4th Perforbunce International Group Performance Art Festival, Jogjakarta, Indonesia.

5th Tupada Action & Media Art Festival, Philippine.

Gwangju International Human Right Performance art Festival, Gwangju, S-Korea.

Mekong Art & Media festival, Cambodia.

KHOJ International Artist Workshop, Bihar, India.

Matsushiro Contemporary Art Festival, Matsushiro, Japan.

Public Eco Art Net, Tokyo, Japan.

9th Korea Experimental Arts Festival, Seoul, S-Korea.

On/Off� Myanmar Contemporary Art Event, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Burmese Art Festival, London.

Forward / Backward 8 Myanmar Second-Wave Contemporary Artists, Bangkok, Thailand.

Live Art Biennale Vancouver, Canada.

Multilog Performance Art Event , Liechtenstein.

TRACES, social memory in Southeast Asia, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand.

Busan Biennale, Busan Museum of art, Busan, S-Korea.

Beyond Pressure Festival of Contemporary Art, Yangon, Myanmar.

Metro-Sapiens : dialogue in the cave Chom Phon Cave, Ratchaburi, Thailand.

The Journal of the Plague Year and the Hong Kong story, Para / Site, Hong Kong.

Zurcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, Switzerland.

2013

2014 2014 2014 2015 2015

Concept Context Contestation: Collective-Driven Art In Southeast Asia, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Thailand.

Festival Bo:m, Seoul, S-Korea.

Festival Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

Beyond Pressure Public Art Festival, People’s Park, Yangon, Myanmar.

Arts International Cross-Border, Silpakaron University, Bangkok, Thailand.

A Journal of the Plague Year, Kadist Art Foundation and The Lab, San Francisco, USA.

Artist In Residency 2008 “Rimbun Dahan”, Kular Lumpar, Malaysia.

2008 “Hooyong Performing Art Center”, S-Korea.

2009 “Ground of Zenkoji Temple”, Nagano, Japan.

2011 “3331 Arts Chiyoda”, Tokyo, Japan.

2013 “De Deelstaat” , Nijmegen, Netherlands.

2015 “International Residency at Recollets”, Paris, French.

Selected Film Screening 2012 “Busan Biennale”, Busan Museum of art, Busan, S-Korea.

2013 “Metro-Sapiens : dialogue in the cave”. Chom Phon Cave, Ratchaburi, Thailand.

2013 “Exodos Festival: Asia Focus”, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

2013 “Zurcher Theater Spektakel”, Zurich, Switzerland.

2013 “Bangkok Asean Art & Culture Festival” , Bangkok, Thailand.

2014 “Chop Shots Documentary Film Festival_ Southeast Asia”, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Attended Confrence / Seminar 2010 “Burma/Myanmar after the elections: Growing space for civil society?”, Berlin, Germany.

2011 “Reflecting Conflicts through Cultural Initiatives: Perspectives from Southeast Asia” Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Thailand.

2011 “Asia Society_Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit”, New Delhi, India.

2014 “MITTing: Art and Cultural Network Forum”, Chung Shan Creative Hub, Taipei.

2014 Para Site International Conference “Is the Living Body the last Thing left Alive?”, Hong Kong 2014 “Something You Should Know”, Social Sciences school EHESS, Paris, French.

2015 “Curating – In – Depth” , Center for Contemporary Arts- Ljubljana , Slovenia.

Curated Events 2006 “Secret Yes/ Secret No” Performance art event, , Chaung Tha Beach, Myanmar.

2008 “Open Street” Performance art event, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2008 “1st Beyond Pressure Festival of Performance Art” Yangon, Myanmar.

2009 “Channel” Performance art event, Neon Hall, Nagano, Japan.

2009 “2nd Beyond Pressure Festival of Performance Art” Yangon, Myanmar.

2010 “3rd Beyond Pressure Festival of Performance Art” Yangon, Myanmar.

2010 “On/Off”_ Myanmar Contemporary Art Event, Hanoi, Vietnam.

2011 “Forward / Backward”_ 8 Myanmar Second Wave Contemporary Artist, 2011 Bangkok, Thailand.

2011 “F.I.V.E” Myanmar Contemporary video event, Yangon, Myanmar.

2011 2012 2012 2014 2014 2014

“4th Beyond Pressure Festival of Performance Art” Yangon & Mandalay, Myanmar.

“M.I.P_P.I.M” video works of 3 young contemporary artists, Yangon, Myanmar.

“Beyond Pressure Festival of Contemporary Art” Yangon, Myanmar.

“General / Tiger / Gun” group exhibition by Myanmar artists, Bangkok, Thailand.

“The Mirror” Contemporary Art in Myanmar, TS 1 gallery, Yangon, Myanmar.

“Beyond Pressure Public Art Festival” Yangon, Myanmar.

Workshops 2008 “Chen Pong Elementary School”, S-Korea.

2009 “Shinano Art Museum”, Nagano, Japan.

2015 “Silpakaron University”, Bangkok, Thailand.

Award 2015 Shortlist of Hugo Boss Asia Art, Award for Emerging Asian Artists

Tun Win Aung Born in 1975, Ywalut, Myanmar Solo Exhibitions 2001 Afternoon in Piano, Lokanat Galleries, Yangon, Myanmar 1998 Yellow #77622, Heaven Art Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar Group Exhibitions 2013 Welcome to the Jungle, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japan 2013 Re-Connect: Contemporary Photography from Myanmar, Jendela Visual Arts Space, Singapore 2010 Beyond Insights: Contemporary Art from Myanmar, Asienhaus, Essen, Germany 2010 plAy: Art from Myanmar Today, Osage Gallery, Singapore 2009 Contemporary Art from Myanmar, Kunstverein Bad Aibling, Bad Aibling, Germany 2004 11th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2002 The 2nd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan Wah Nu Born in 1977, Yangon, Myanmar Solo Exhibitions 2008 The Rising Sun, Art-U room, Tokyo, Japan 2005 Self-Identity, Art-U room, Tokyo, Japan Group 2011 2010

2009

Exhibitions Inner Voices, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan plAy: Art from Myanmar Today, Osage Singapore, Singapore Blue Wind, National Museum, Yangon, Myanmar Contemporary Art from Myanmar, Kunstverein Bad Aibling, Bad Aibling, Germany 2008 Artistiquement Femmes, Alliance Franรงaise de Rangoun, Yangon, Myanmar 2005 The 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan 2004 11th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu Solo Exhibitions 2013 Some Pieces (of White): The Cinematic, Chan Hampe Galleries, Singapore 2011 Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu, Meulensteen Gallery Project Space, New York, United States 2011 Some Pieces (of White), Art-U room, Tokyo, Japan Group 2015 2015 2015 2013 2013 2013 2012 2011 2011 2010 2010 2009 2009

Exhibitions Beyond the Source, Goethe Villa, Yangon, Myanmar Convergence, The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Building Histories, Goethe Villa, Yangon, Myanmar nnncl & mixrice, Atelier Hermes, Seoul, Korea No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States Re-Animators, Meulensteen Gallery, New York, United States The 4th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China Video, an Art, a History (1965-2010), Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Videozone V, The 5th International Video Art Biennial in Israel The Centre for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

Selected Projects 2013 Museum Project #4: Thingangyun Museum of Contemporary Art, Thingangyun, Yangon, Myanmar 2013 Museum Project #7: Taungyi Open Air Museum of New Media Art, Taunggyi, Myanmar 2013 Museum Project #5: Mingon Museum of Contemporary Art, Mingun, Sagaing, Myanmar

Zun Ei Phyu Born in 1986, Myanmar.

Solo Exhibitions 2015 “ Kazar ma lar Nar ma lar” 5 women artists exhibition, Gallery 65, Yangon 2015 Cross border international art exchange and workshop, Silpakorn University, Bangkok 2015 Convergence international art exchange exhibition, National Gallery, Bangkok 2015 Beyond Pressure Internation Public Art Festival, People Park, Yangon 2014 Young Talent Program Affortable art fair, F-1 Pit Building, Singapore 2014 The Mirror, TS1, Yangon 2014 Open Studio, R inbum D ahan, K uala L umpur, Malyasia 2014 Image of woman International woman art Festival, Alliance François, Yangon 2012 Blue Wind International art festival, Yangon 2012 Open Studio Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan 2011 Ongoing Echo Art exchange Indonesia-Myanmar, Bali, Indonesia Group 2013 2010 2009 2009 2009 2008 2007 2007 2007 2006 2002 2001 1999

Exhibitions S+Z I I, Lawkanat Art Gallery Blue Wind, National Museum IN OUT , Lawkanat Art Gallery Going Together, Lawkanat Art Gallery Step by Step, Lawkanat Art Gallery Going Together, Yadanarbon Ary Hall WINGS, Lawkanat Art Gallery Page 2007, Yadanarbon Ary Hall Performance art and opera show, American Center Page 2006, Lawkanat Art Gallery Artistist Touch, Lawkanat Art Gallery S+Z, IVY Gallery Artistist Touch, Lawkanat Art Gallery

Awards 2014 Artist in Residency at Rhinbum Dahan , Malaysia 1997 Golden Price in Fukuoka Child Art Competition

ALL WORKS OF ART COPYRIGHT © Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu, Htein Lin, Maung Day, Zun Ei Phyu, Aung Myat Htay, Moe Satt FOREWORD COPYRIGHT © KATIE DE TILLY INTRODUCTION ESSAY COPYRIGHT © MOE SATT CONTENT ESSAYS COPYRIGHT © MIN KHET YE PHOTO CREDIT BY THU REIN, MOE SATT TRANSLATOR (FROM BURMESE TO ENGLISH): MAUNG DAY, HTOO LWIN MYO, NATHALIE JOHNSTON A VIBRANT LIFE PUBLICATION / 10 Chancery Lane Gallery Designed by Frankie Leong Tsoi Chi This catalogue is published on the occasion of

Silent For A While: Contemporary Art from Myanmar group

exhibition Silent For A While: Contemporary Art from Myanmar at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong from February 3, 2016 - March 13, 2016.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 978-988-16893-1-3 Printed in Hong Kong, 2016