The Tongue Has No Bones
A Solo Exhibition by Tan Zi Hao
6 July – 27 July 2024
A+ Works of Art, KL
Tan Zi Hao, “Anthropophagic Strategies II”, 2024,Denim jacket, jeans, embroidered patches, plush spikes, wire mesh and Kamus Dewan (1st edition) Dimensions variable
A+ WORKS of ART is proud to present The Tongue Has No Bones, Tan Zi Hao’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. Featuring new mixed media installations and video works that highlight the artist’s preoccupation with language politics. In this exhibition, viewers are invited to explore the bane and boon of multilingualism in Malaysia.
Exhibition Summary “The Tongue Has No Bones”
Every now and then, the perennial subject of language rouses Malaysia from slumber. Disputes over Malay proficiency, the constitutionality of vernacular schools, and the public visibility of multilingual signs, have all unleashed bouts of tongue-lashing. As a tool known for bridging divides, language has unwittingly sown discord. This friction is typically ascribed to the fundamental failure of enforcing a unifying language across Malaysia. Reminiscent of the scene of the Babel, multilingualism is viewed with suspicion for impeding peace. Bad reputation precedes the tongue. For its immediacy in spitting malice, for its dexterity in creolising speech and language, the tongue carries the likelihood for inflicting chaos.
In The Tongue Has No Bones, Tan Zi Hao puts our common wisdom about language under scrutiny. Does a language truly unite its speakers? Does speaking distinct tongues pit us at odds with each other? What classifies a language? What do we expect language to perform for us? And why do we place so much faith in our tongues? A phrase equally idiomatic in Malay, “lidah tak bertulang,” or the tongue has no bones, readily suggests an untamable organ. A cautionary proverb, it reminds one to be wary of what the mouth lets slip. The tongue has no bones, and yet, it wreaks havoc. It usurps power. As counterintuitive as it may seem, Tan is precisely interested in the erratic nature of language in transgressing reified cultural and linguistic barriers. To begin with, why do we harbour such faith in our tongues that elude control?
Extending from Tan’s sustained interest in the politics of text, The Tongue Has No Bones probes the intersection of language and nation amidst escalating ethnic and generational divides in
Malaysia. For the artist, the multiplicity of tongues and their unruliness are both a curse and a gift. Language does not bridge. It puts us in touch with others, but in so doing, implicates us in a position of responsibility where we must attend to others for a still undetermined outcome. There is no guarantee that our tongues will impart ideas and speech with fidelity, thereby presenting ourselves as who we are. Because language falters and struggles for clarity, language is always already translated. Inhered in language is an inadequacy, beckoning us to acknowledge the risk of mistranslating ourselves in the face of the other. Language difference, much more than a source of division, is an open invitation for subversive listening, for experiencing selfhood in the tongues of others, for rethinking care critically and tenderly.
Artist Biography
Tan Zi Hao (b. 1989, Malaysia) is an artist, writer, researcher, and educator. His works have covered a wide range of subjects from translingual practices, imaginary creatures, to posthuman entanglements. Dwelling on issues of ontological insecurity, his works present a deep investigation about what it means to be singular-plural in an age of global and ecological interdependence. As an artist who moves across different disciplines, he also holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. His scholarship has been published in ARTMargins, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Indonesia and the Malay World, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, and Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, among others.
Past exhibitions include Prosthetic Memories, A+ Works of Art, Malaysia, 2023; Dream of the Day, Ilham Gallery, Malaysia, 2023; Synthetic Condition, UP Vargas Museum, Philippines, 2022; Kathmandu Triennale 2077, Nepal, 2022; Phantasmapolis: 2021 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, 2021. In 2023, Tan’s work was selected for the Singapore Art Museum S.E.A. Focus Art Fund.
A+ WORKS of ART is a contemporary art gallery based in Kuala Lumpur, with a geographic focus on Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Founded in 2017 by Joshua Lim, the gallery presents a wide range of contemporary practices, from painting to performance, drawing, sculpture, new media art, photography, video and installation. Its exhibitions have showcased diverse themes and approaches, including material experimentation and global conversations on social issues. Collaboration is key to the ethos of A+ Works of Art. Since its opening, the gallery has worked with artists, curators, writers, collectors, galleries and partners from within the region and beyond, and continues to look out for new collaborations. The gallery name is a play on striving for distinction but also on the idea that art is never without context and is always reaching to connect — it is always “plus” something else.
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For more information, please contact:
TQPR Thailand
Tom Van Blarcom or Nuie Titichayapon
Tel: 0 2260 5820 Email: tom@tqpr.com | nuie@tqpr.com