Sung Tieu | Civic Floor

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Sung Tieu, “Civic Floor,” 08.10.2022 — 05.02.2023 Mudam Luxembourg

(© Photo: Mareike Tocha | Mudam Luxembourg)

Opening Reception: July 6, 7-9pm

Sung Tieu’s research-intensive practice investigates sites where human emotional and psychological experiences are shaped by state bureaucracy and surveillance. Her encompassing exhibitions of sculpture, video, sound, drawing, and text reference sites such as the penal system and immigration offices, places which alienate the individuals they intend to administer.

Entering Civic Floor is a cold and disorienting experience. Four black, abstract steel sculptures occupy the centre of the room. Each is a cross-section of a different prison design spanning from the mid-1800s to the 1990s. One might be inclined to read these designs as signs of progression and improvement. However, while their exterior shapes differ, Tieu emphasizes the similarities between these carceral systems. Their material, size, and presentation are uniform while their interiors are left abstract and enigmatic. Dry soil fills the interior void of each work, suggesting an abandoned ruin or the slow return of life.

On the walls are framed plaster reliefs of forms "I-589”, "I-602”, and "I-881” issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, pared down to reveal only the traces of their fillable boxes. These forms are used in the application of asylum or to appeal an applicant’s impending deportation. Each plaster relief is accompanied by a metal plaque that measures, in square millimeters, the space each applicant is given to fill in the form. By drawing attention to the design and construction of bureaucracy, Tieu interrogates how humanity is stripped away within its processes and illustrates the subtle violence within seemingly neutral procedures.

Simultaneously, the artist references the history of minimalism and the grid in art and design. Particularly, how places of confinement and surveillance have adopted aesthetics of simplified, cold detachment. Noteworthy are the steel stools mounted on the gallery walls. These stools, typically found in public spaces such as airports and playgrounds, offer only temporary respite for their users. Their minimal, and even hostile design is quickly rejected by the body.