Sung Tieu: Civic Floor

Sung Tieu employs sculpture, drawing, sound, video, and installation to examine a wide range of subjects in which social or political power is articulated through sensory and psychological realms.
Through various media, Tieu crafts a spatial narrative in each of her exhibitions that reflects her research into bureaucratic systems and the psychological or emotional impact of their use of space. Many of the artist’s works and past architectural interventions have served as evocative reconstructions of sites of control, surveillance, or bureaucracy-at times, subtly referencing her own lived experience with various administrative environments. Perception is a key node in Tieu’s work as she elaborates the often alienating effects of sound and our sensory experiences of architecture and design.
This interview with Sung Tieu, was conducted in conjunction with “Sung Tieu: Civic Floor” installed at the List Visual Arts Center (April 4, 2023-July 16, 2023).

[@mitievep.1924]

Oh man did I love this exhibition! I visited it a few months ago at the museum and will occasionally revisit the pictures I took of this beautiful art. The artist did so well captivating the isolate and often daunting presence of modern bureaucracy, specifically as observed in the immigration piece of this work. To think this same idea can also be explored within institutional architectures is even more clever and just spot on. It takes a talented and applied individual to have set this theme forth as well as she did. Also, I cannot express how much I loved the all-white theme. It made the subject feel all the more sterile and true. Great eye on the part of the curator as well!